Baroque Art in Slovakia

The development of 17th and 18th century art in Slovakia was marked by numerous anti-Habsburg uprisings, battles against Turks and changing social, spiritual and economic conditions. In addition, the territory of present day Slovakia, Upper Hungary at that time, represented a conservative milieu with the absence of a permanent court centre and a strong bond to local Gothic tradition. Therefore Baroque was only slowly established, and until the end of the 17th century the local artistic production was undergoing a transitional period – the early phase of Baroque with its characteristic plurality of styles. The beginning was also accompanied by an anti-reformation that culminated in the Szelepcsény transformation of Hungary in Regnum marianum. Western Slovakia, the Central Slovak mining area (Vienna, Austria and southern Germany) and the Spiš Region (Poland and North of Germany) represented the main centres of artistic creation with different orientations. The new style was established by the end of the 17th century when after the defeat of the Turks (1683) Vienna – which leaned towards Italy – became the centre of cultural life of Central Europe. The influence of Vienna particularly affected the western part of present day Slovakia, where the conditions for the development of high-Baroque creation were distinctively improved after the oppression of the last Ferenc II Rákóczi uprising of the Estates(1711). At approximately the same time, the position of Bratislava on the artistic map of Central Europe changed. Imrich Esterházy, an important art patron and Hungarian primate deserves credit for that. Since such significant Central European artists such as J. R. Donner, A. Galli Bibiena, J. Kurtz, P. Troger as well as the Palko brothers worked for Ferenc II Rákóczi, he set the local form of high Baroque. The line of artists of the Troger school culminated in the work of F. A. Maulbertsch (1724 – 1796) who was designated as the genius of Austrian late Baroque painting. The eastern Slovak area (J. L. Kracker, J. A. Krauss) and the circle of the Central Slovak mining towns, where especially after 1711 we can monitor feverish artistic activities headed by M. A. Räsner, a sculptor of Tyrolean origin (around 1669 – 1746) and later by A. Schmidt, a Viennese painter (around 1712 – 1773) and D. Staneti, a Silesian sculptor (1710 – 1767), were the other centres of artistic creation of the 18th century in Slovakia. By the end of the 18th century, the twilight of the late Baroque in our country could be seen in the work of Kracker from the Maulbertsch circle; the popularized Rococo lingered with it supported by the interest of wide layers, but the inclination to Classicism based on Enlightenment aesthetics was already irrefutable (A. F. Oeser). The development of the art of sculpting in Slovakia in this period was concluded by the activities of F. X. Messerschmidt, one of the most significant Central European sculptors of those times, who by the end of his life had created a timeless series of Character Heads(1777 – 1783). One of the focal SNG permanent expositions presents the look of the outlined period in the form of preserved works of sculpting and painting in the appropriate form and extent corresponding with the collection.
Today’s permanent Exposition of Baroque Art in Slovakia is the outcome of its most recent modification in the first half of 2001, continuing in the changes from 1999 in the permanent expositions of the Old European Art and the Art of the 19th Century on the first floor of Water Barracks. The space, which in 1994 was dedicated to the presentation of the collection of the 16th – 18th century art in Slovakia, was composed of two exhibition halls and nearby hallways. The aim of the changes in the permanent exposition was to create new space for chamber periodical exhibitions of old art, as well as to make the expositions more attractive and update the information regarding individual works. The reduced exhibition area thus acquired a pleasant intimate character. And so, the SNG presents its representative selection of small but very interesting pieces of Baroque art in Slovakia in a “new” environment. The quality and pertinence to the period of Baroque were the criteria behind the curator’s selection of works. Therefore, several works from the previous exposition from the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, as well as certain workshop pieces and facsimiles were removed. The exposition offers an adequate picture of the look and transformations of fine art of the 17th and 18th century in our territory through approximately 80 works. Along with the works of well known artists (J. Bogdan, J. L. Kracker, J. I. Mildorfer, J. M. Rottmayer, D. I. Staneti and J. R. Donner’s workshop) which are already a permanent part of the expositions, the newly restored works (such as those ascribed to J. I. Cimbal and F. X. Wagenschön) are also represented in its new look. The set of casts of famous Character Heads by F. X. Messerschmidt was also extended in the nearby space of the exhibition hall. Thus, SNG visitors have a concentrated overview of the centres, figures, techniques and themes of Baroque fine art expression on the territory of present day Slovakia from its beginning until the end of the 18th century. It is accompanied by short texts regarding selected works of Central European masters who worked on our territory, as well as texts regarding the works of domestic artists who frequently found work only beyond the borders.