Žemaičių Kalvarijos Švč. Mergelės Marijos aplankymo bažnyčios paveikslai ir sieninė tapyba

LTŽemaičių Kalvarijos Svč. Mergelės Marijos Aplankymo bažnyčios paveikslai ir sieninė tapyba iki šiol nebuvo tyrinėti. Tai būtų pirmasis bandymas pagal galimybes rekonstruoti jų istoriją, nustatyti nors vieną autorių ar bent sukūrimo laikotarpį ir pateikti meninį įvertinimą. Kolekcija, kurios didžiąją dalį sudaro XVIII-XIX a. kūriniai, o kai kuriuos galima priskirti net XVI a. pab. - XVII a. pradž., atspindi vienos iš gražiausių ir įspūdingiausių lietuviškų bažnyčių istoriją. Kartu tai yra būdingas svarbaus provincijos kulto pastato sakralinės tapybos pavyzdys. Dabartinę Žemaičių Kalvarijos bažnyčios kolekciją sudaro 4 vyskupų portretai, 19 stacijų paveikslų bei 16 įvairaus dydžio altorių puošybos darbų. [p. 157].

ENPictures and wall-painting of the Church of the Virgin’s Visit have not been studied yet. This is the first endeavour to reconstruct their history, ascertain the authors and submit the artistic appreciation. Collection, the great part of which constitutes the works of art of the first half of the 18th and the beginning of the 20th centuries and several creations ascribed even to the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, reflects the history of one of the most attractive and impressive Lithuanian churches. In addition, it is a characteristic instance of the sacral painting in the influential sanctuary of the province. The up-to-date collection consists of 4 portraits of the Samogitian Bishops, great contributors and guardians of Calvary Town, 19 Dominican stations and 16 bigger and smaller altarpieces. The fact that the Dominican library with a lot of various manuscripts, documents and old books, kept in the communicating vestry were lost in the flames in 1896, also complicates the studies. Fortunately, only the inventory of the years 1891-94 has been preserved to be compared with those of the years 1906, 1922-23(?) and 1936. It has been successfully established by the author of this report that J. Szyrma had painted 19 Dominican stations. The abovementioned artist from Telšiai was doing his creative work at the Church during the years 1872-74. One can find J. Szyrma’s copies of the original portraits of J. Tiškevičius and A. Tiškevičius as well as the portrait of M. Valančius, whose appearance was inspired by an ordinary photograph. The portrait of J. D. Lopacinskis seems to be painted by an unknown artist of the local school of painting in the 18th century. All these portraits are marked with long panegyric Latin epitaphs.The oldest altarpieces depicting the Divine Mother and the Christ Child as well as St Mary’s Rosary are dated from the end of the 16th—beginning of the 17 centuries. These are not originals but the copies made in much older times. The attempts to establish the authors of the altarpieces dated from the 18th century have failed, though they are the most beautiful ones at the church. At the same time, scarce information concerning the painter Przeslanski in 1915 was uncovered. The artist’s hand is surely seen in the paintings of St Francis of Assisi and St Bernard images. Most of the pictures in the church were painted in the style of Neoclassicism, while the strong influence of Baroque, Romanticism to be followed by the Modernism of the 20th century is also widely observed. In spite of their stylistic diversity, solid unison is felt as well. Four static figure compositions make the ceiling look more attractive. Neoclassical and Baroque volutes, acanthous leaves shape the ceiling ornamentation. It was made by the joint efforts of artists from Kaunas, Riga, Warsaw. The wall-painting was obviously restored in 1939 and 1982. Yet much research should be carried out in this field.