The poor pay homage to St. Wenceslaus

Description: A picture painted on a canvas in the form of a vertically positioned rectangle. The composition depicts St. Wenceslaus, the Czech prince coming to the poor who pay homage to him grateful for their generous gifts. A multi-figure scene with figures in various poses. The whole thing takes place in front of the brown walls of the room. On the right (from the viewer) side of the composition there is a wall with a portal shown in perspective foreshortening. Above the portal, high up in the corner of the composition, there is a shelf with a vessel and a bag tied. Below, in the background, is the corner of the room. The wall in the background, parallel to the plane of the painting, is partially obscured by a hanging line with drying laundry. Near the left edge of the image field, a glazed window is depicted at the top (two rectangular panels are visible, the lower of which is higher, additionally divided into smaller squares by narrow slats). A landscape can be seen outside the window. Below the upper edge of the picture, white-brown clouds have been painted that don’t fill the upper corners of the field. On the axis of this field, there is an angel covered with a white drapery, holding a green leaf in his hand. The bottom stage is the most important for the program of the entire performance. Through the door on the right (from the viewer) side of the composition enters the room of St. Wenceslaus with a servant: an elderly man with a beard, dressed in a green robe. Wenceslaus takes a step forward with his left foot, he is clearly shown in motion. The upper part of the silhouette and the head are 3/4 turned to the viewer; the visible face of a man in the prime of life, with dark stubble, beard, and long hair. The right arm of the saint is bent at the elbow, the hand raised vertically, visible at the height of the chest, and holds a bundle of wood, which he carries under his left armpit, with his left hand the prince holds the coat flap at the back, at the bottom. Wacław wears richly pleated robes (increasing the impression of movement): a green undergarment, a red cloak with an ermine collar, high brown boots, and a red miter decorated with an ermine at the bottom. A radiance shines around the saint’s head, by the light of which they entered the room. A group of poor people fills the left (from the viewer) part of the composition field (2/3 of the field at the bottom). Several people are gathered around a rectangular table placed at the bottom center in this part of the composition; set on a brown floor. On the table are crumpled gray and white tablecloths and brown dishes. Several people are visible in the background, with heads emerging behind the foreground and background figures. Among these people, in the foreground, the following are noteworthy: on the left (from the viewer) a crouching or kneeling man leaning towards the feet of the saint, and further to the right (heraldically) a young woman with blond hair, with a child, sitting on an armchair near the table. Behind the table, the next heroes of the scene: women and men visible in half-figures, turn towards the saint. The robes of the described poor people come in different colors: grey-white, blue, red, green, and brown.

History: The painting belongs to the series placed on the walls of the nave dedicated to two saint patrons of the church (and at the same time the patrons of the countries they came from): Stanislaus, the bishop of Cracow, and a martyr, and Wenceslaus, the Czech prince and also a martyr. The work in question was funded by the well-known Silesian magnate Christoph Ferdinand von Nimptsch. In 1706, the Jesuits commissioned an unknown painter from Opole to paint the painting.

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 funded only one painting, while the others were financed by e.g. representatives of the Silesian aristocracy. This group includes the discussed painting, donated by Christoph Ferdinand Count von Nimptsch. He chose a rather typical career path in the service of the Habsburgs, but he also had a considerable fortune inherited from his ancestors. The painting he financed was considered for a long time to be the work of Jeremias Joseph Knechtl, mentioned in the Jesuit archives as the author of paintings from the lives of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus. Only the recent research of Emilia Kłoda, the author of the monograph of the painter from Legnica, ruled out his authorship to this work (the case is similar to one of the depictions illustrating a scene from the life of St. Stanislaus – St. Stanislaus distributes alms). This means that for the series of large paintings from the nave, the Jesuits employed yet another Silesian artist. It should be mentioned that until recently, the theme of the work was misinterpreted, which was probably due to the difficult access to the high-hanging painting.