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The central Pietà statue of the altar of "Mater Dorolosa" in the Chapel of Zólyom Castle was flanked by the painted and gilded wooden figures of St. Catharine, St. Barbara, two Jesuit and St. Francis of Assisi. The restorations uncovered a signature of the Pietà: V S 1650. In 1976 the altar was brought to the Slovenská národná galéria. Since then the statues are exhibited as dated works of Veit Stadler.
The little altar was probably ordered in Nagyszombat (Trnava) by the Esterházy family, the 17th century owners of Zólyom Castle. A close analogy on the Pietà can be seen at the side altar of Mater Dolorosa in Nagyszombat Jesuit church, while the figures of the saints are made after the bigger and better ones of the Nagyszombat high altar. The statue of St. Barbara is a complete one, with a crown and a little tower at her feet as her attributes, only the chalice may have been lost from her hands. The unmoved, frontal figure of St. Barbara at the high altar is transformed here into a figure out of a fairy tale, with coloured clothes and a lovable face.
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