UNKNOWN MASTER, altarpiece painter
(17th century)

Epitaph Tablet of Anna Rozsályi Kun, Wife of István Tárkányi

Second quarter of the 17th century
Oil on painted, silver coated wood, 32 x 189 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

The wooden epitaph is found in the interiors of many 17th-century churches. The most wonderful examples are displayed still in their original place in Csetnek a Lőcse. The "Epitaph tablet of Anna Rozsályi Kun, Wife of István Tárkányi" made in the second quarter of the 17th century and acquired from the Church of Kisszekeres, the burial place of the Rozsályi Kun, is very much like other wooden epitaphs originating from around the same time, as far as the composition, the architectonic design, and the decoration, both painted an sculptural, are concerned. In the central piece, which is a little larger than the usual size, we see Anna Kun wearing a widow's dress under the cross - the Tree of Redemption - accompanied by both of her husbands as well as all the children from both of her marriages. The frame is decorated with hermpilasters of a dynamic design and harmoniously coloured open-work carvings with element of the so-called pinna or cartilage style. The same set of motifs, originating from Silesia, are seen on the contemporary altars, choir-screens, pulpits, and organs. It is not inconceivable that the master making the Tárkányi epitaph also helped decorating the interior of the St. Jacob Church of Lőcse. The sharply defined features of the herms decorating the frame on both sides, as well as the grotesque grimace of the cherub above the carving, all derive from the herms decorating the steps to the pulpit of the St. Jacob Church.


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