Obraz Zesłanie Ducha Świętego z ołtarza głównego kościoła św. Brygidy w Gdańsku. Komunikat

Abstrakt

In 2008, a private owner from Gdańsk offered for sale to the Gdańsk National Museum  a  picture  that  had  been  regarded  as  lost  since  1945  and  listed  as  such  by Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Shortly afterwards, the police confiscated the painting from this person in order to determine its authenticity as well as the manner in which the work of art from a public ecclesiastical edifice had ended in private hands; later it was returned to the owner.

At the same time, an attempt was made to attribute The Pentecost, once exhibited in the second storey of the high altar in St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic church in Gdańsk, to one of the most important local masters: Herman Han (1580–1627/28) – or one of his followers. The only more extensive mention in literature qualifies the picture, on the other hand, as a much later one (c. 1700) and mediocre in quality. The latter opinion, caused perhaps by the limited visibility of the panel formerly placed high in the early‑18th‑century altar (reconstructed in mid‑19th century), and probably darkened on the surface, must be completely rejected. In spite of its rather poor current condition, the picture displays expert painterly handling and formal traits dating it – as does the mixed tempera/oil technique – indeed back to the early 17th century. It was not executed by Han, however: the oeuvre of this artist displays much softer brushworks and warmer colours. The details of the discussed pictorial composition allow to attribute it rather to another prominent local master of the period: Isaac van den Blocke (before 1589 – after 1624), whose signed Amnesty from the Main Town City Hall in Gdańsk (1611), now lost, showed close affinities with the painting in question. Historical circumstances, namely the refurbishing of St. Bridget’s church in 1612–1617, could well point to the time of the execution of The Pentecost, later probably transferred to the newer altar in the same church.