As part of its presentation of older visual art in Slovenia, the
National Gallery exhibits, among other objects, the House Altar of the Annunciation, a work by an unknown carver from
the late 17th century. The piece is presented in the Exhibition Hall 2 of its Permanent
Collection. The style of the art points to the 17th century: the strong upward
momentum, the figures on the consoles with distinctly mannerist proportions,
the lace ornamentation of the altar crown, the volute motifs on the sides of
the central section and the small ornamental arrays (a rod motif, a diamond
motif and an egg, in various combinations) which decorate the frame of the
central section of the completely dematerialised altarpiece.
The miniature Early Baroque altarpiece is a sophisticated piece of
carving of Central-European origin, which was most likely primarily used for
private devotion of a wealthy client. We are unlikely to find out the identity
of this person. No unbroken provenance is recorded.
We do know, however, that this house altar was part of the rich
collection of antiquities of Baron Hans Karl Kometer (1850–1925), the former
owner of the Buchenstein / Pukštajn (Bukovje) manor house, situated on the
right bank of the Drava, not far downstream from Dravograd. The owner died
without issue, so the estate and the manor house with all its inventory were
inherited by his niece, Melita Feldmann (1881–1957), an American citizen, on
condition that "nothing may be sold or given away from the castle for 25
years". She and her husband moved from New York to Pukštajn, for which
they had bold plans. However, a number of unfortunate business decisions led
them into financial difficulties. The owner's legal representative contacted
the conservator general of the Drava Banovina, France Stele (1886–1972), and
asked him to appraise the collection. In March 1931, Stele inspected the entire
inventory and listed and photo-documented the most important objects; he also informed
the Banovina administration about the probable public auction and the
possibility of enriching the collections of the National Gallery and the Arts
and Crafts Department of the National Museum with valuable and important
objects from the Pukštajn collection.
On 11 November 1931, the Feldmanns declared bankruptcy. Shortly
afterwards, Ivan Zorman (1889–1969), then administrator of the National
Gallery, carried out an appraisal; his official minutes (preserved by the
National Gallery, inv. no. NG D 706-1) reveal a rich and precious collection
and the exceptional nature of individual pieces.
From 8 to 17 August 1932, a public auction of the movable property of
the Pukštajn mansion took place. At that time, Josip Mal (1884–1978), director
of the National Museum in Ljubljana, succeeded in acquiring many of the
important objects, with the help of the Chamber of Commerce, Crafts and
Industry. Among them was the House Altar
of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, listed in the valuation report
under the number 135 and valued at 6,000 dinars. In the National Museum it was
assigned an inventory number NM 10117. In the margins of the entry in the
inventory book, a pencil note was later added: NG 514/46. This note refers to
the protocol number of the document entitled List of sculptures transferred from the National Museum to the National
Gallery for safekeeping, with permission of the Head of Section for Art and Museums, dated 5 December
1946, where under the number 52 we find inventory number 10117, with the
statement 'Altarpiece, wooden relief, polychrome' next to it. The document was
signed on 16 January 1947 by the acting director of the National Museum Jože Kastelic
(1913–2003), and the director of the National Gallery Ivan Zorman.
The National Gallery later included the house altarpiece in its art
collection, specifically in its collection of
sculpture, and assigned it the inventory number NG P 75.