Saint John of Nepomuk

religious

The attribute of the Czech saint wearing a canon's dress is the crucifix held up. On the right, there is a skull on the table; on the left bellows is a plump-cheeked putto holding his finger in front of his lips reminding us to the seal of confession with this gesture. In the course of restauration pentimenti were discovered proving that the painter had altered significantly the composition; on the first variation the saint holds the crucifix in his crossed arms.

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About the Artist

Johann Lucas Kracker

1719 – 1779

Austrian painter. He came from a family of artists in Vienna, his father was a sculptor. After his studies at the Vienna Academy in 1738-49, he worked in Brünn in the 1750s and in Prague in 1760. Kracker, a significant Austrian artist of baroque, spent most of his life in Hungary. He first visited Hungary in 1757 to paint three side-altars for the church in Sasvár and several frescoes for the cathedral and monastery in Jászó in 1762-65. He worked most of the time in Eger from 1765 until his death. He painted the high altar with St. Anthony and the side-altar with St. Anne for the Minorite church, Eger, in 1769-70. His major work is a fresco in the Library of the College in Eger (1778) which shows the council in Trident, and a fresco in the Podmaniczky Castle, Aszód. His late works prepared the way for classicism.

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