Decoration of the vault of the nave and chancel

Description: The vault can be described as ribbed, with ribs imposed in a network arrangement on a barrel vault with a reduced radius, with lunettes. The ribs have a very simple profile – a narrow, flat plane at the top with two diagonally extending downwards also smooth planes. On the ribs, you can see painted friezes with floral motifs. The places where the ribs meet are accentuated with separately applied wooden pseudo-keystones with a rosette motif. The painting decoration of the nave’s vault covers six bays. The first bay, going from the east, is seamlessly connected with the vault of the presbytery. The chancel vault in the western part repeats the scheme of the central nave vault but with changed proportions resulting from the smaller width of the bay adjacent to the central nave. In the eastern part, a single, central chancel bay has a slightly modified rib arrangement due to its connection with the apse vault. The vault of the central nave ends from the west with the last, sixth bay, separated from the choir by an arcade resembling a rainbow arch. The last bay of the nave from the west is about half as narrow as each of the five main bays of the nave, but its vault repeats the basic pattern. In this way, the vault of the nave (partly including the presbytery) includes five wide bays flanked on the east and west by two smaller bays. The layout of the ribs in the seven spans mentioned in total is identical. On the longitudinal axis of the entire vault runs a series of slightly elongated rhombuses of almost identical dimensions. Only asymmetric rhombic fields on the border with narrow bays have different proportions and lengths (these fields have elongated sides from the side of the main part of the nave’s vault). The rhombuses in the center of the shorter vaults from the east (the presbytery bay) and from the west are also slightly smaller. In the entire sequence, rhombuses are alternated: in the center of the sections of the vault above each bay and on the border between the bays. The rhombuses located in the center of the span fields are surrounded by four rhombic fields each – the five described rhombuses form a slightly elongated hexagon on the transverse axis of the span. From the four sides of the hexagon located on the side of the aisles (two on each side), asymmetric triangles extend towards the walls, the vertices of which touch the line marked by the vertical axis of the pillars. In turn, the central diamonds on the boundary between the bays are surrounded by quadrangular, trapezoidal, elongated, asymmetrical fields – the five described fields on the boundary between the bays together form a hexagon significantly elongated on the transverse axis of the nave’s vault. The tops of the hexagons are visible on the border of the vault fields and touch the line marked by the vertical axis of the pillars. At the end of the central nave on the west side, next to the full arrangement analogous to the wider fields, only a half of the second of the described types of hexagons can be seen – this half adjoins the arch separating the nave from the choir bay. On the vault, there are still triangular surfaces adhering to the entire length of the shorter sides of the bays. These spherically bent fields form a kind of lunettes-sails. The network of described fields, separated from each other by ribs, closely fills the upwardly curved surface of the six bays of the central nave. In these fields, there is a painted decoration, which in the case of each field is a separate whole, not connected with the decoration of the neighboring fields, although in part similar to them. As for the main motifs, this decoration has a twofold character. Some of the fields contain representations of angels floating in the air among clouds, shown in lively movement, sometimes from behind, covered with scattered draperies. They are located in the central, rhombic fields in the middle of the sections of the vaults above the bays (except for the first bay from the east and the sixth adjacent to the arch separating the nave from the choir). Angels are also depicted in elongated, quadrangular fields surrounding rhombuses visible on the border between the bays. However, angels are not found in all four squares mentioned in all cases. The described decoration, consisting of four fields with angels surrounding a rhombus, is visible on the borders of the following bays (going from the east): the first and second, third and fourth, and fifth and sixth. On the other hand, on the boundaries of the bays: the western bay of the presbytery and the first bay of the nave, and then on the boundary of the second and third as well as the fourth and fifth bays, the angels fill only two quadrangular fields – those located to the west. To sum up – on the vault above the main nave (without the presbytery) there are a total of 22 fields with representations of angels. The angels are of various sizes adapted to their “age”, smaller individual angels appear in rhombic fields in the center of the sections of the vault above the bays. Some boxes show two anis axes (larger and smaller). All other fields (apart from the central rhombuses mentioned in the previous sentence) are filled with pairs of angels, except for the two eastern fields in the narrower sixth bay, where single figures of angels are shown. Some couples of angels embrace. In total, the figures of 38 angels were painted on the vault of the nave. The decoration of the vault fields (half in sails) has a similar general scheme. In each field along the edge at a different distance from it (depending on the type of field) there is a wide tape. In the fields with angels, it is straight and smooth for long stretches. In fields with only ornamental decoration, the band is densely interrupted and supplemented with segments of flagella and patterns of motifs characteristic of the Regency style (broken ribbon, pincer braid); the whole is complemented by cartouches and shells. Some of these motifs (but in a much smaller amount) appear in the fields with angels. In the center of the fields with ornamental decoration, rosettes or strings of small motifs of plant twigs were depicted. In the ventilation openings, arranged irregularly on the vault, plastic, metal, and gilded stars were embedded. In the fields on the border of the nave and the presbytery, angel heads among the clouds are depicted. The surfaces of the sails, apart from a wide band from the side of the main part of the vault, have two types of decoration. In the bays, with large paintings hung on the side walls, the surfaces of the sails have an ornamental decoration. In the remaining bays, the decoration of the walls goes to the field of sails (these are the top parts of large architectural and ornamental structures depicted on the vertical walls of the bays). Most of the angels in the fields hold objects in their hands that are the main attributes of the patron saints of the church: Wenceslaus and Stanislaus the bishop, or general religious symbols, and even, above all, decorative motifs (flower garlands). There are (generally maintaining the direction from the east in the calculation): trumpet and shovel, scepter and candle, scales and tied purse, crown and mitre, laurel branch and palm leaves, crown with intertwined palm leaves, written, torn page, flame or a piece of wood and a pagan idol (statue), a skull and a torch, a cross, garlands of leaves and flowers, a basket and a slice of bread, a sickle and a bundle of grain with poppies and cornflowers, a cornucopia with silver coins spilling out, a tall wooden stick wrapped in a branching vine with leaves and fruit, and a small sickle to cut the grapes. Single angels in rhombuses visible in the center of the sections of the vault covering the bays do not hold any objects, some of them gesticulate with their hands. The whole described rhythmically repeating arrangement of fields and motifs is disrupted in two places. In a rhombus in the middle of the last, sixth vault from the east of the nave (usually single angels were depicted in rhombs placed in this way) the “IHS” monogram was depicted with letters made of floral motifs tied with knots. On the axis above the letter “H,” there is a cross floating above the letter, directed with the end of the vertical beam to the west, thanks to which the monogram is visible in the correct position from the east. Below the letter “H” is a flaming heart. The second decoration disturbing the regular rhythm of the vault fields and representations in these fields appears in the eastern part of the first bay of the nave, going from the east, close to the border with the presbytery. Here you can see a composition of elements painted on plaster and separately made (of wood) and suspended in a round oculus. The center of this composition is located at the point ending on the west side of a rhombus occupying a central place in the field above the bay of the vault. As has already been mentioned, this rhombus, unlike others in analogous points, does not contain an angel, but only ornamental motifs. A circular wooden shield is superimposed on the central point of the described composition. In the middle of it, there is a triangular nimbus with the golden eye of Providence on a blue background. The nimbus is surrounded by a rim (in the form resembling a hoop) made of silver clouds. The whole, in turn, is surrounded by a circular golden glory growing from a triangular central nimbus, running under the clouds, made of bundles of rays of various lengths – the shorter ones also form a circular “internal” glory, the longer ones are straight and pointed (thus slightly narrowing). This whole separately applied central element of the composition is surrounded by motifs painted on the fields of the vault: at some distance, beyond the smooth background surface, there is a circle made of clouds, among which angel heads can be seen. This circle-ring of clouds is joined by two groups of two angels holding: from the north – a trumpet and a spade, from the south – a candle and a scepter. These two pairs of angels appearing strongly outside the aforementioned circle of clouds fill the four-sided fields flanking the rhombus located in the central point of contact of the first going from the east the bay of the nave and the west bay of the presbytery. The combination of colors used to fill individual motifs is not too varied and contrasting, local colors located in relatively small areas predominate. The whole is dominated by the colors of purely ornamental motifs: on yellow backgrounds, there are slats varied with ornaments in a shade of a very whitened and greyish lilac color, with shadows brought out by its darker shade and often underlined with brown lines. Some of the rows of ornaments on the sides of the ribs are yellow-brown, with a more intense color than the decoration of the fields. The figural motifs show a palette of a few not very varied, basic colors: yellow and brown, blue, pink and subdued red, as well as violet-lilac (in shades), which – apart from the first two mentioned colors – gives the tone to the representations of angels. Coats of arms are an additional, though poorly distinguishing, element of the decoration of the vault. Within the central nave, they are arranged in groups of four at the intersection of the vault ribs connecting with the axes determined by the vertical course of the pillars of the inter-nave arcades visible below. Only on the border of the fifth and sixth bays of the nave (going from the east), three coats of arms are depicted both from the south and from the north (the fourth fields in the aforementioned groups were left empty – those located on the west side). In total, there are 38 coats of arms in the main nave (more information in the study by Stanislaus Nowotny quoted in the bibliography). North row: coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the first and second bays of the nave from the north – 1st coat of arms of the Pförtner von der Hölle (Pförtner von der Hell) family; 2. unidentified mark (white emblem in a red field: a rectangle with the letter “T” growing upwards, above which a straight, horizontal beam); 3. unidentified coat of arms (in the field a rhombic lattice with alternating white and black fields – at the top and red – at the bottom; at the junction of black and red rhombuses, vertical strings of rhombuses in these colors pass each other); 4. coat of arms of the von Monau (Monden) family; coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the second and third bays of the nave from the north – 5th coat of arms of the von Rothenhut family; 6. coat of arms of the von Gellhorn family; 7. unidentified mark, possibly used by one of the clergymen associated with the church in Świdnica (yellow double cross in a red field); 8. unidentified mark (in a red field, a yellow mark made of intertwined forms of the letters “A” and the Greek letter sigma “Σ”); coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the third and fourth bays of the nave from the north – 9th coat of arms of the Wrocław bishopric; 10. unidentified mark (in a red field, a yellow-cream sign resembling the number “4”, the vertical staff at the bottom of which is cut by two beams, the lower one shorter than the upper one, and at the very end from the “number 4” stick, a heraldically left horizontal bar with a length corresponding to half the length of the upper and longer beam visible above – this section of the staff “number 4” with beams extending heraldically to the left is in the shape of the letter “E”); 11. unidentified mark (cream in a blue field – in this case probably “replacing” yellow – a sign composed of two separate, non-connecting parts: at the top, a horizontal rectangle devoid of a segment on the heraldic right side, below a horizontal bar slightly shorter than the visible one above the lower side of the incomplete rectangle, above the upper side of the rectangle additionally a monogram of the letters “TM”); 12. coat of arms of the von Seidlitz family; coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the fourth and fifth bays from the north – the 13th coat of arms of the von Monau family (in a different variant than the previously mentioned coat of arms of this family marked in this list with the number “4” – the coat of arms marked with the number “12” was used by the Wrocław line of the family); 14. mark of an unknown painter, probably the artist of the wall paintings in the nave in 1544, using, under the accepted custom, the coat of arms of the painters’ guild instead of his mark (in a pink field – in this case probably “replacing” red – three shields; two at the top, one at the bottom; gray-and-white shields – according to the rules of heraldry, white color is the same as silver; in the fields of the shields, two horizontal lines are visible in the middle, which may be a “pictorial” element of the emblems, or replace the full horizontal hatching of the shield – according to the rules of heraldry in black and white version identical with the color blue; coats of arms of guilds in different cities had a motif of three shields on the shield, filled differently depending on the tradition of the center); 15. coat of arms of the von Jordan und Alt-Patschkau family; 16. coat of arms of the Duchy of Świdnica; coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the fifth and sixth bays from the north – 17th unidentified mark, perhaps used by Lucas Schleyerweber (Schleierweber), a builder from Świdnica, who in 1535 rebuilt the damaged vault over the nave and presbytery of the present cathedral, but placing them at a lower height ( in the red field, a yellow mark consisting of two letters: a larger “S” and a smaller one – visible in the letter a polished reflection – the letter “L” crossed with the previous one in the middle of its height, the letter “L” arranged horizontally in such a way that the corner between its sticks is directed upwards); 18. unidentified mark (in a red field a yellow sign consisting of a cross with a long vertical staff, at the bottom forked into two parts touching the blade of a sword bent downwards with a cross-shaped hilt visible from the heraldic left side); 19. unidentified mark (in a red field, a yellow sign consisting of a cross with a very slightly elongated lower arm, above which an equilateral triangle, separated from it, is placed, from the top of which a cross with two horizontal beams, the higher one shorter than the lower one, is placed). Southern row: coats of arms on the axis of the pillar between the first and second bays of the nave from the south – 20th coat of arms of the Herdan (Herden) family; 21. unidentified mark (in a red field a yellow cross with a very elongated lower arm forking at the base, with short transverse beams visible at the ends of both sections); 22. unidentified coat of arms (a shield divided in the middle into two fields, of which the upper, blue one contains a monogram of white letters “PP”, and the lower one – a white-and-blue checkerboard); 23. the coat of arms of Nikolaus Lyndener, a doctor of medicine residing in Świdnica; coats of arms at the height of the pillar between the second and third bays of the nave from the south: 24th coat of arms of the John family; 25. unidentified coat of arms (in a blue field a brown vessel with a slightly elongated, rounded handle – maybe a cauldron or a basket; it is difficult to find out what heraldic color the painter wanted to show by depicting the vessel in this particular color); 26. the town hall of Świdnica, Ulrich Bulman; 27. unidentified mark (in a red field a yellow cross with an elongated lower arm crossed slightly above the lower end with a beam bent upwards, the main cross with a forked upper arm, with branches crossed at the ends with short beams, together forming two crosses); coats of arms at the height of the pillar between the third and fourth bays of the nave from the south: 28. coat of arms of the Ziębice dukes of Podiebrady; 29. unidentified mark (in a blue field yellow: an isosceles triangle pointing downwards, touching a horizontal beam, above the triangle a monogram of the letters “PA”); 30. the town hall of the mayor of Świdnica, Johannes Bernwaldt; 31st coat of arms of the Friese family; coats of arms at the height of the pillar between the fourth and fifth bays of the nave from the south: 32. coat of arms of the Duchy of Legnica; 33. coat of arms of the Duchy of Jawor; 34. unidentified coat of arms, possibly used by one of the clergymen associated with the church in Świdnica (in a blue field, three books – two at the top, one at the bottom – in red bindings with yellow details: crosses on the upper cover, clasps, and page edges); 35. coat of arms of the von Bolcze family; coats of arms at the height of the pillar between the fifth and sixth bays of the nave from the south: 36. unidentified mark (in the red field yellow: at the bottom an isosceles cross, at the top an arrow pointing upwards, with ailerons shown conventionally in the form of a short beam crossing the beam at the bottom forked, with two ends resting on a semicircular beam bent downwards); 37. business name of a burgher of Świdnica, Hans Jacob; 38. unidentified mark, perhaps used by one of the clergymen associated with the church in Świdnica, resembling the emblem of the Order of the Holy Sepulchres (in a red field a yellow double cross with upper arms of equal length and an elongated lower arm).

History: The painting decoration of the presbytery and the main nave of the cathedral in Świdnica was commissioned by the Jesuits in 1739 to the outstanding Moravian painter Johann Georg Etgens. The then rector of the church, Karl Scholtz, came up with the initiative for this commission. According to the contract signed by the artist, work on painting the walls of the church lasted for a year. The execution of the paintings ended the long-lasting process of decorating the Gothic temple with rich Baroque carving, painting, and sculptural decorations. There are certain indications that Etgens, painting 38 coats of arms, mainly noble and bourgeois ones, on the vault repeated the coats of arms that had been there earlier, probably made around 1544. These coats of arms and marks mostly refer to Silesian families and people involved in decorating the church after the fire in 1532.

Characteristics: The decoration of the nave vault described here, although being the most significant part of the painting decoration of the walls of the cathedral, includes only a fragment of Etgens’ work, very rich in motifs. A large part of these paintings has a well-thought-out iconographic program. In the case of paintings on the ceiling, the attributes visible in the hands of angels refer mainly to the patrons of the church and their glory in heaven. In two points of the vault, there are references to Christ and Divine Providence. The decoration of the Gothic vault of the nave is quite a unique realization in Etgens’s oeuvre because, in his entire oeuvre, this one time was about the possibility of decorating a Gothic temple. It is very interesting that Etgens respected the Gothic divisions of the vault and never crossed or masked the ribs with paint. Perhaps it happened at the request of the Jesuits, who wanted to preserve the Gothic character of the temple. As a result, the decoration of the vault seems more conservative than the paintings on the side walls, full of unusual illusionistic effects. It must be remembered that Etgens was above all a master of illusionistically painted architecture.