The Names of Vanished Shapes. The Iconographic Features of the Altarpieces at the Vilnius Augustinian Church

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Abstract

The article explores the altarpieces in the Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Vilnius. Drawing insights from 19th-century visitation documents, it provides a comprehensive understanding of the iconography of the altarpieces, presenting the themes of the paintings, their original placement on the altars, and the principles governing the thematic combination of images. The research reveals that the iconography of the altarpieces aligns with Augustinian spirituality, featuring depictions of St. Augustine, St. Monica, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, St. Thomas, and St. Thecla. Simultaneously, it responds to broader thematic trends in 18th-century church art, incorporating saints like St. John Nepomucene, St. Anthony of Padova, and St. Peter, commonly found in many Vilnius church interiors from that period.

A particular emphasis in this research is placed on the titular painting of Our Lady of Consolation, situated on the high altar. This painting serves as the focal point of the Marian cult cultivated by the Vilnius Augustinians, a work of a complex and mul- ti-layered nature, which combines painting, metal settings, and other embellishments, and a larger phenomenon that includes various later replicas. Building on the insights of Vladas Drėma, the author of the article proposes a hypothesis that the image of Our Lady of Consolation, relocated to the Chapel of St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. John’s Church after 1852, underwent a process of “division and multiplication” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The painting part, along with fragments of the settings, potentially found their way to the Church of the Conversion of St. Paul in Vaidotai (Baltoji Vokė). Additionally, another Hodegetria-type painting was likely mounted on the base, adapting it to the remaining settings. The article also addresses a question raised by Drėma regarding the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Kanuty Rusiecki’s painting Lithuanian Girl with Palm Sunday Fronds (1847), proposing that a work with this iconography was indeed a painting that concealed the image of Blessed Mary the Comforter in the high altar after the 1844 renovation.