St. Stanislaus resurrects knight Peter

Description: The frame of the picture, in the shape of a vertical rectangle, in its main part is made of relatively wide slats, profiled in such a way that they create the illusion of a greater than the actual depth of the frame. On the outside and inside of the frame and in the middle, between the wider slats in the white color of the polished primer, there are three different, narrow, profiled gilded slats. The slats they cover are wider: the inner one is wider and concave and the outer one is narrower and set flat towards the viewer. On both of these slats, there are ornamental motifs placed within the width of the slats, flat, golden, made of wavy thin twigs with leaves and a few flowers; floral motifs are complemented by scrolls of slightly varied ornaments made of rod sections with volute endings. The described motifs occur near the corners and in the middle of the side and top sections of the frame. At the mentioned three sides of the frame, plastic, openwork “ears” are placed outside it – scrolls of acanthus leaves in a white color of polished primer with a rather dry styling, intertwined with sections of a rather narrow, golden, cross-grooved ribbon with ends wrapped in a volute; you can also see a few twigs with round fruits and saber-shaped leaves – both gold motifs. Small fragments of white acanthus leave overlap the outer, flat, white slat of the frame – slightly above the horizontal axis of the picture. The scroll of the ornament at the upper edge is supplemented with twigs with flowers and bunches of golden spherical fruits (probably grapes). This scroll was symmetrically shaped, and from the top on the axis, it was additionally decorated with a segmental arch made of a strip, with a frieze decorated with kimation, which raised it – flowers can be seen above the upper edge of this arch. The “ears” at all three edges have a different width and widen on the axes. At the bottom edge of the frame, on the sides, there are two partially openwork, white and gold garlands, the outer ends of which are attached to the lower ends of the coils at the side edges of the frame. Almost symmetrical garlands, made of various leaves, rosettes, and twigs with flower cups in the shape of bells. The inner ends of the garlands are attached to a symmetrical cartouche with two shields placed in the middle of the lower section of the frame. The top of the cartouche extends onto the field of the picture, and the bottom reaches below the line of the garlands, sticking out strongly from the surface of the frame. Not very numerous ornaments placed around the coats of arms are plastic and openwork, and their outer edge is irregular. In the center of the white and gold cartouche, there are two symmetrical rectangular shields, rounded at the bottom, with indentations on the line of the segmental arch at the outer sides. The shields are encircled with a gold roller, with volutes placed on the axes at the top; the roller is also decorated with small bows. The heraldic right shield of the main pair (visible on the left from the viewer’s side) contains the coat of arms of the abbots of the Cistercian monastery in Krzeszów – four fields with an additional, fifth field, the so-called heart. In the heraldic right and heraldic left fields, golden crosiers are depicted on a blue background, crossed with transverse beams studded with silver-plated diamonds (these beams refer to the white and red elements of the coat of arms of St. Bernard of Clairvaux). In the heart field, there is a black Silesian eagle with a band on the chest, placed on a golden background. The heraldic left and heraldic right fields contain a heraldic representation of a golden Czech lion on a black background, facing right, behind a rhombic, silver lattice. Above the described shield, there is a jewel made of a golden abbot miter (encrusted with stones) and a crosier. On the second of the main shields framed by a cartouche (heraldically left – but visible from the right side of the viewer), there is the coat of arms of the monastic convent in Krzeszów: on a blue background, there is the so-called beam of st. Bernard, studded with diamonds. The spaces of the two fields created by the division of the shield are filled with smaller blue fields surrounded by a golden border. In both shields, part of the background and motifs (blue and black) is decorated in shallow relief with thick coils of fleshy leaves. Below this pair of main shields, there is an oval horizontal field, rounded at the ends, in a cross-cut golden frame (at the bottom of the frame of the field there are additional symmetrically arranged motifs growing out of it, probably taken from the ironwork ornament). This field has the letters “D.A.&C.G.” in gold on a blue background. All three shields are bordered on the sides and bottom (as well as in the space between the pair of upper shields and the field at the bottom) with not very prominent coils of acanthus flagellum with a relatively sharp stylization and volutes made of a transversely incised ribbon. At the bottom, between the two main shields, the composition is completed by a white, winged angel’s head.

History: An extremely richly decorated frame encloses a large painting belonging to the cycle dedicated to two patron saints located on the walls of the nave of the church (and at the same time the patrons of the countries from which they came): Stanislaus, the bishop of Cracow and a martyr, and Wenceslaus, the Czech prince and also a martyr. The frame discussed here is framed by a painting showing the most famous of the miracles of St. Stanislaus: the resurrection of the knight Peter (Peterowina). The entire series was created on the initiative of the Jesuits, but except for one painting, all the others were funded by people and institutions (mainly the church) only sympathizing with the Świdnica college.

Characteristics: The decision to make large paintings illustrating the lives of its patrons for the church in Świdnica was obvious due to the lively liturgical cult of the saints mentioned in this church. The Jesuits, unable to commission all the necessary works due to financial difficulties, funded – perhaps for example – only one painting. Among the others, two were commissioned by well-known and influential clergymen, probably with the participation of the institutions they headed. As is indicated by the coats of arms and letters placed in the cartouche on the frame, the founder of the painting discussed here was primarily the abbot of the famous Cistercian monastery in Krzeszów in Silesia – Dominicus Geyer. However, the presence of an equally treated coat of arms of the Krzeszów convent itself allowed Sobiesław Nowotny, an eminent researcher of the history of Świdnica, to interpret – slightly differently than previously done – the letter abbreviations appearing on an additional cartouche below the coats of arms: “D. A. & C. G.” The quoted historian quite rightly sees in these letters abbreviations of words: “Dominicus Abbas & Conventus Grissoviensis” (“Dominik abbot and convent in Krzeszów”). Such an interpretation seems understandable if we take into account the fact that Geyer had to use the resources of the extremely rich Krzeszów Abbey when funding the large painting for the church in Świdnica. It is worth remembering, however, that decisions regarding the spending of specific sums from the monastery’s treasury always belonged to the abbots. However, in the Baroque era, Krzeszów was exceptionally lucky to have outstanding superiors. Dominicus Geyer (1662-1726), the 42nd abbot in Krzeszów, was born into a bourgeois family in Nysa, raised in Jesuit schools, and joined the Cistercian Order in 1680 in Krzeszów. He achieved the high position of professor of philosophy and theology in his convent, but he was also entrusted with the supervision of the construction of the church of St. Joseph, the second temple of the abbey. Highly regarded by his confreres, in 1696 he was unanimously (with his opposition) elected abbot – thus he became the successor of the famous predecessor Bernhard Rosa. Geyer held his position for 30 years and made an excellent contribution to the history of the monastery by increasing its assets. The most famous of the numerous buildings erected on his initiative is undoubtedly the 12 wooden houses (so-called Twelve Apostles) in Chełmsk Śląski, preserved to this day, for the weavers brought there on Geyer’s initiative. The abbot of Krzeszów was very friendly with the Świdnica Jesuits, his sacrifices for the convent and his care for the student congregation are known. To these expressions of interest and sympathy, the abbot added the foundation of a large painting – one of the most important in the entire cycle – for the Jesuit temple.