Wall painting in the former Franciscan Observants Church in Jemnice (Moravia) and its Silesian context
Abstract
A mural painting found recently in the St. Vitus church in Jemnice (South Moravia, Czech Re-public) is a monumental rosary picture (in a broad sense of this word), iconographically connec-ted with texts and forms of the devotion as disseminated by mendicant friars of the Franciscan Observants.
The sophisticated structure of the composition and the iconographic object of the mural picture can be explained in accordance with a predecessor model, which offers an exact idea about extant remains of this work of mural arts. The direct model for the mural painting of Jemnice was the board picture „Corona Beatissime Virginis Marie“ in the convent of Franciscan Observants in Wroclaw (Poland).
Both pictures show a scene with Virgin Mary in the midst of angels carrying a monumental crown. The crown is spangled with medallions with figures of the vita of Jesus Christ and Saints, which , by their iconography, refer to rosary devotion.
The extensiv mural was painted around A.D. 1500 in direct dependance on the Wroclaw picture. It is the top rung of the late gothic rebuilding of the monastery church in Jemnice.
Generally considerated, it is an exceptional monument of the mural painting arts in the countries of the Czech Crown. Also, it is a unique example of the transfer of arts between monasteries of an order vicariate.