Tobsdorf Altar

Fortified church of Tobsdorf

The Tobsdorf Altar is a late Gothic winged altar from around 1470/80 , which originally stood in the church of Tobsdorf , Sibiu district in Transylvania , Romania and has been kept in the Margaret Church in Mediaș since 1999 .

history

The altar originally stood in the church of Maldorf ( Viișoara ), Mureș district . A note found inside the baroque altar case shows that the altar was acquired in 1720 by Pastor Johann Wellther, restored and placed in the Tobsdorf Church. Since church services have not been held there since 1991, the altar was transferred to the Margarethenkirche in 1999 to protect it from art theft and damage. There it stands today in the north aisle.

The bar above the wings bears the inscription:

“ Hanc aram inveteratam propriis Sumptibus comparavit et renovari ovravit et huic ecclesiae piamente [de] dicavit Johan Wellther domal [diensis]. PP Pastor HL Anno 1720. "

"Johann Wellther from Maldorf, pastor himself here in the year 1720, bought this venerable altar with his own funds and had it restored."

During the dismantling of the altar for restoration in Richter's workshop in Kronstadt , a note with the following message was found in the shrine:

" Hoc Altare procreari et renovari curavit propriis sumptibus Johannes Wellther Domaldiensis pt Pastor Ecclesiae Tobiensis, et in honorem Dei offert Ecclesiae. Anno 1720, mense Augusti m [anu]. pr [oprio]. Superintendens Ecclesiarum per Transilvaniam Saxonicarum Evangelicorum Lucas Graffius. "

“Johannes Wellther from Maldorf, at that time pastor of the Tobsdorf Church, had this altar acquired and renewed with his own funds, and donated it to the Church in honor of God. In the year 1720, in the month of August, personally confirmed by the superintendent of the Evangelical Church of the Transylvanian Saxons, Lucas Graffius. "

Lucas Graffius was Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Transylvania from 1711 to 1736 . Gisela Richter suspects that at this time the altar structure was redesigned and the crucifix was inserted in the central shrine. One of the henchmen in the flagellation table is holding a piece of paper with the year 1522 in Latin. Whether this reflects the date of origin of the altar remains open.

construction

The center shrine of the small altar measures 179 x 58 x 28 cm (height x width x depth), the side panels 89.5 x 27 cm, the altar wings 89.5 x 62.5 cm. It is constructed as a shrine altar of four with painted corner figures: four angels carry the instruments of suffering (Arma Christi) . Gisela Richter suspected that the angels, together with the narrow, azure-blue shrine opening, indicate that the shrine must originally have been a man of sorrows or a depiction of the “need of God” (Christ in the arms of God the Father). The sculptures in the middle shrine are lost today, as is the original demolition . A baroque altar crack was probably added during the restoration in 1720. The predella with a depiction of the Lamentation of Christ comes from another, unknown altar.

Painting panels

The panels on the feast day side, unique among the altars preserved in Transylvania, form a typological cycle of images in which the New Testament Lord's Supper is juxtaposed with a series of scenes from the Old Testament: The New Testament's Lord's Supper are depictions of the Passover, Mannalese and Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek assigned.

Painting panels on the holiday side
Altar wing	Intermediate panel	Central panel	Intermediate panel	Altar wing
Last supper	Angel with cross	Crucifixion round sculpture, 18th century	Angel with pillar	Passover meal
Mannalese	Angel with nails and a rod	Crucifixion round sculpture, 18th century	Angel with staff, sponge vinegar, lance	Abraham and Melchizedek

The weekday page of the Tobsdorfer Altar offers a cycle of passion:

Painting panels on the weekday page
Altar wing		Altar wing
gethsemane	Christ before Pilate	Flagellation	Crowning of thorns
Carrying the Cross	Undressing	crucifixion	resurrection

State of preservation

The paintings on the altar are original and have never been painted over. Before the restoration, the veil board of the shrine was 10% destroyed, the paint layer of the panel paintings was about 40% endangered by the unrolling of the primer and paint layer. The painting of the predella had become unrecognizable due to oxidation and candle soot. During the restoration in Richter's workshop from 1976-78, the veil board was added, the paint layer on the panels ironed off and cleaned. The varnish of the predella was lightened a little, but otherwise left unchanged because of the very thin layer of paint. The background of the central shrine was painted blue, so that the original design of the background and any existing outlines of the original sculpture are no longer comprehensible today. In 2005, Ferenc Mihály added chipped areas of paint.

literature

Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 46-57 .
Emese Sarkadi Nagy: Local Workshops - Foreign Connections: Late Medieval Altarpieces from Transylvania . In: Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia, Volume 9 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-8410-4 , p. 179-181 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 110 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 111 .
^ Emese Sarkadi Nagy: Local Workshops - Foreign Connections: Late Medieval Altarpieces from Transylvania . In: Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia, Volume 9 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-8410-4 , p. 179 .
^ Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 105 .
^ Image of the altar: feast day side
^ Image of the altar: weekday page
^ Emese Sarkadi Nagy: Local Workshops - Foreign Connections: Late Medieval Altarpieces from Transylvania . In: Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia, Volume 9 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-8410-4 , p. 181 .

[Richter_S110-1] Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 110 .

[Richter_S111-2] Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 111 .

[3] Emese Sarkadi Nagy: Local Workshops - Foreign Connections: Late Medieval Altarpieces from Transylvania . In: Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia, Volume 9 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-8410-4 , p. 179 .

[4] Gisela and Otmar Richter: Transylvanian winged altars . In: Christoph Machat (ed.): Cultural monuments Transylvania. Vol. 1 . Word and World, Thaur near Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 978-3-85373-149-9 , p. 105 .

[5] Image of the altar: feast day side

[6] Image of the altar: weekday page

[7] Emese Sarkadi Nagy: Local Workshops - Foreign Connections: Late Medieval Altarpieces from Transylvania . In: Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia, Volume 9 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7995-8410-4 , p. 181 .