In 1701,
the construction of a new Baroque cathedral replaced the old medieval church of
St Nicholas in Ljubljana and came to embody the new ideals of the Roman Baroque
in a small capital of a duchy on the outskirts of the Holy Roman Empire.
Both the
cathedral and its paintings are of exceptional importance, as they reveal the
ambition and scope of the then-patrons of the Carniolan capital. Through the
mediation of the new Ljubljana bishop Ferdinand Kuenburg, they managed to
obtain the plans from the most prominent of Roman architects, Andrea Pozzo
(1642–1709).
Pozzo, who
was also a painter and a theorist, was initially also considered for the murals
of the interior, but he had to decline the commission due to his engagement with
the Jesuit church in Vienna. Therefore, they turned to the then-very-well-established
Lombard painter Giulio Quaglio (1668–1751). His painting is the most important
Baroque decoration of the Ljubljana Cathedral and at the same time marks the
beginning of illusionistic Baroque painting in Carniola.
Especially
important is his painting of a dome (1703), as it represented one of the most
innovative solutions of Baroque illusionism. The budget did not allow for the
construction of a real dome, so they settled for an illusionistic one, the
so-called cupola finta, an innovation
that Pozzo had already used in the Roman church of St Ignazio. The cathedral
did not get a real dome until 1841, when Quaglio's masterful painting was
removed. Today, we can only imagine its appearance from the preserved oil copy,
which was previously transferred to canvas by the painter Matevž Langus
(1792–1855).
Quaglio's
frescoes are an excellent example of the cooperation of patrons in the creation
of the paintings. As evident from Langus' copy, the iconographic program was
tied to the local environment. The coronation of Mary with the patron saints of
the city, diocese and the region was shown. The painter completed the upper
part of the domed vault with an oculus, which became the backdrop for the Holy
Trinity and the coronation of Mary, the greatest patroness of Ljubljana. Below
it, St Nicholas, the patron saint of the diocese and the city, connected the
heavenly sphere with a cluster of saints. The saint just below him is said to
represent St Acacius, who became the patron saint of Carniola after the victory
over the Ottomans in the Battle of Sisak (1593), and on his left are the local
Emona saints – St Pelagius, St Vitalis and Bishop Maximus of Emona. On Acacius'
right are depicted Sts Hermagoras and Fortunatus, the patron saints of the
diocese, and below them, in military attire, sits St George, the patron saint
of the city of Ljubljana. In the lower part, three female figures are depicted
between the painted window openings. By the central window, the personification
of Carniola kneels with the archducal crown and the Carniolan provincial coat
of arms, and Emona with the coat of arms of the city of Ljubljana, as her
ancient predecessor. The last in line is St Varia, whose relics were kept in
the cathedral together with St Vitalis.
Quaglio
managed to paint the dome in only four months, and it was greeted with
enthusiasm by the public. His execution was so convincing that the chronicle of
the construction also noted that on 15 October 1703, a bird flew into the
cathedral and tried to fly out through one of the painted windows of the Dome.
Three
fragments have survived to this day – the Coronation of Mary, the
personification of Carniola (both exhibited at the exhibition Baroque in Slovenia) and the
personification of Emona, presented here in the form of a young woman with her
hands clasped in prayer, who prays to Mary for the city’s protection. Their
fate and transfer to the museum environment are noted by contemporary
publications and archival documents. According to the 1841 lllyrisches Blatt, the fragments of Emona and Carniola were transferred
to the Estate Museum in Ljubljana, the predecessor of the National Museum of
Slovenia, through the intervention of painter Langus and Henrik Freyer, the curator
of the Estate Museum. Freyer handed over the Coronation of Mary to Baron Jožef Kalasanc Erberg, who set it above
the staircase door of his Manor Dol near Ljubljana. The Quaglio fragment
remained in the manor until 1961, when, according to a report from the Archives
of the National Gallery of Slovenia, it fell to the ground. After the incident,
the work was partially restored and transferred to the National Gallery's
collection as a generous gift from the then-owner.