XIX a. vid. - XX a. pr. religinių paveikslėlių puošybos iškalba

LTStraipsnyje apžvelgiamos XIX a. vid.–XX a. pr. devocinių paveikslėlių dekoro tendencijos, sąsajos su tradicija. Mėginama aptarti paveikslėlių, ypač jų apvadų, puošyboje naudotų elementų ir simbolių reikšmę, dėl to atsigrįžtama į paveikslėlių raidą. Viena publikacijos projekcijų – minėto laikotarpio paveikslėlių paveldas Lietuvoje. Reikšminiai žodžiai: religiniai paveikslėliai, XIX a. vid.–XX a. pr., dekoras, simboliai, Jonas Kazimieras Vilčinskis, „Vilniaus albumas“. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe holy cards from 1840–1914 and their décor are important carriers of Christian traditions and symbolism, which is why this paper not only explores the meanings of the elements and symbols used in the décor of said holy cards and, in particular, their borders but also focuses on the evolution of these devotional images and discusses the production from the main publication centres such as Antwerp, Augsburg, Prague, Düsseldorf and Paris. One of the aspects discussed in this paper is the heritage of said holy cards in Lithuania and the décor of the holy cards from the ‘Album of Vilnius’ published by the leading publisher of this era Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński. During the period of 1840–1914, these holy cards were a promise from the increasingly strong Catholicism and, in a way, a ticket to the afterlife. The primary purpose of their pretty visual rendering was to surprise, attract and engage. Here, the key role was played by highly abundant and rich décor that even affected the shape of the cards and both served as an ornament and carried a charge of narrative and symbolism. Décor, the diversity of which was always driven by the competition between publishers, was a coherent alloy of various vectors such as imagination, eclecticism and mastery. Just like in the previous centuries, it remained a highly important part of framing and finishing the image. Quite often the décor and its iconography were organically integrated into the whole composition thus blurring the boundaries between the image and its decorations. This could primarily be said about the lace-imitation borders and elements of composition of the cards such as abundant religious symbols, ornaments and other motifs. The said paper “lace” was inspired by openwork paper or parchment cuttings produced by nuns in the Baroque era but now its manufacturing process involved new mechanic technologies that merged the pre-existing embossing and perforation techniques.The décor of the holy cards from the period in question was characterised by the plurality of styles and techniques and strong reliance on imitation. The mimicry of elements of the major styles, Gothic and Baroque in particular, was a very prominent feature. A different finishing of the same card could significantly change its visual impact. Colourfulness was also an important characteristic of said holy cards. With chromolithography becoming increasingly available, the appearance of the holy cards became simpler but they still retained a lot of décor elements. Flowers, flower bouquets and arabesques were the key constituents of holy cards manufactured by virtually any technique. The said devotional cards were influenced by the Light Romanticism; however, the divide between romance and sentimentality or triviality was blurry. Since 1840s, the holy cards became both the illustrative phenomenon of mass culture and the example of a mass-manufactured product: just like many other domestic objects of the era, they were lavishly decorated but their decorations were not just for decoration’s sake and usually had the semantic foundation of the Catholic traditions. Keywords: holy cards, 1840–1914, décor, symbols, Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, ‘Album of Vilnius'. [From the publication]