Reference Type: Book Section
Author: Pál, Emese
Year: 2011
Title: Világosító Szent Gergely ábrázolásai Erdélyben
Translated Title: [Representations of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Transylvania]
Editor: Kovács, Zsolt - Sarkadi, Nagy Emese - Weisz, Attila
Book Title: Liber Discipulorum.Tanulmányok Kovács András 65. születésnapjára
City: Kolozsvár
Pages: 239-254
Language: Hungarian
Keywords: Armenian minority, art history, art, culture, religion, Catholic Church, traditions
Abstract: (En) Saint Gregory the Illuminator (also Enlightener), who is credited with conver-ting Armenia to Christianity, occupies a distinguished place in the Armenians' veneration of saints. Therefore, numerous Transylvanian Armenian and Roman Catholic churches preserve works of fine art (altar-pieces, statues, flags, stained glass windows, etc.) depicting his figure.
In the case of the Transylvanian altar-pieces depicting Saint Gregory the Illuminator, we can distinguish two large types of iconography. The first one is a rather simple type including altar-pieces depicting King Trdat as he receives baptism. The second type is made up of works presenting the baptismal scene embedded into the narrative framework featuring the tortures of Saint Gregory. The first category comprises the altar-pieces showing Saint Gregory the Illuminator in the Armenian church of Gherla (Szamosújvár), the Armenian Catholic churches of Dumbrăveni (Erzsébetváros) and Frumoasa (Csíkszépvíz), the Franciscan churches in Dej (Dés), Sibiu (Nagyszeben, Hermannstadt), and Odorheiu Secuiesc (Székelyudvarhely), and the Roman Catholic church in Nușeni (Apanagyfalu). The second type of iconography includes only three paintings, namely: the Armenian Catholic church in Gheorgheni (Gyergyószentmiklós), the altarpieces of the former Piarist church in Sighetu Marmației (Máramarossziget), and the oil painting that can be found in the collection of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Gherla. However, the Saint Gregory illustration found on the gable of the side-altar consecrated to Saint Anthony of Padua in tne Franciscan church of Făgăraș (Fogaras) cannot be included into either of these two categories; it may be interpreted rather as the enlarged version of medallion illustrations.
As a continuation of the medieval wall-paintings and miniatures, the beginning of the 17th century brought along a crystallization of the Saint Gregory-related iconography, the spreading of which was mainly attributed to the engravings of books printed in Constantinople and the centers of the Mechi-tarist Order found in Venice and Vienna. The Transylvanian altarpieces were also carried out based on engravings: the compositional pattern for the altarpiece in Sibiu was the engra-ving of a Saint Gregory biography printed in Venice in 1749, while the altarpieces in Sighet and Odorheiu Secuiesc were produced using Franz Karl Heissig's engraving from Augsburg.
Several counterparts of the above-presented altarpieces are also known beyond the frontiers of Transylvania - their collection and a comparison with the local records still needs to be investigated in the future.