"Raymundus de Sangro...invertit"

• Published in: Ars Decorativa Vol. 13; pp. 205 - 211
• Main Author: Prékopa, Ágnes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Hungarian
• Published: 01.01.1993

In the rich collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts there are still several interesting, though problematic and for this very reason unpublished objects. Some of the questions raised by them, however, can be cleared and publication may help solving the other, more difficult problems. The picture painted on marble can not be grouped into either of the "classical" genre. Having been taken over from the national Hungarian Department of Antiquities, it was first listed in the inventory of the Museum of Applied Arts in 1888. This extraordinary piece shows in an etched, lace-like frame a scene known from the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila: an angel pierces the heart of St. Theresa with the hot spear of God's love ("transverberation"). As the details show, the illustration was printed on the exceptionally good quality white marble plates with the help of a cliché; with certain of acidic procedure the paints were absorbed by the deeper layers of the base and then the surface of the marble was polished. The back of the marble plates shows an inscription made with the same technique, which seems to help us find the answer as to the origin of the painting: "Raymundus de Sangro princeps Santiseveri invenit Neap." [Publication Abstract]