EXHIBITION "CHRISTIANITY IN LITHUANIAN ART"
(28 December, 1999 - 31 December, 2003)

ABOUT EXHIBITION "CHISTIANITY IN LITHUANIAN ART"

• The Oldest Sources on the History of Christianity in Lithuania
• The Gallery of Vilnius Bishops
• The Gallery of Samogitian Bishops
• The Treasury of Vilnius Cathedral
• Religious Painting of Western Europe
• Sculpture
• The Art of the Roman Catholic churches and Cloisters
• The Art of Other Denominations
• Restoration of Religious Art
• Icons
• Religious Works of Art

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The Oldest Sources on the History of Christianity in Lithuania

The opening hall of the exhibition and other rooms on the ground floor feature the written sources reflecting the long and complex coming of Christianity into Lithuania in its historical detail and intricacy. The manuscripts and copies of them on display reflect several centuries of Christianity in the country since 1009, the earliest record of the name of Lithuania and its historical circumstances to the early 20th c. The overview highlights the most prominent figures responsible for sustaining culture and religion in Lithuania.

The Gallery of Vilnius Bishops

The collection of 38 portraits of the bishops of Vilnius, originally property of Vilnius Cathedral, after closing of the Cathedral by the soviet rule was transferred to the museum. The portraits of the first bishops of Vilnius open the gallery; the images of the 20th century hierarchy demonstrate that until the WWII the gallery was consistently supplied by new portraiture pieces. The bulk of the gallery was probably formed in the late 17-eraly 18th centuries by incorporating the portraits from the more ancient collection of the 16-17th centuries. Ten images of identical composition inherited from a widely spread Renaissance portrait impart a feeling of congruity on the collection. The rest of the portraits were painted in different periods and vary in their stylistic features.

About the Gallery of Vilnius Bishops (widely):
In 1953, all the wealth of Vilnius Cathedral was transferred to the Lithuanian Art Museum. At that time the museum received 38 portraits of Vilnius bishops. For long years these portraits had decorated the Bishops’ Palace in Vilnius.
The origins and the founder of the collection still remain in obscurity. The first citations of the gallery date back to the 17 th century. In the light of research work performed by the restorers on the portraits, the bulk of the collection appears to be formed in the late 17-early 18 th centuries. However, this collection then absorbed ten portraits painted a century ago in the Renaissance style and showing the bishops sitting in armchairs with a rosary in their right hand and the other hand resting on the arm of the chair. Explanatory inscriptions at the top of ten pieces were made later when the gallery was formed.
The image of the first bishop of Vilnius, Beatified Vitas, revives the baptism of Lithuania under the rule of Mindaugas. The portrait is painted following the iconographic tradition: the bishop is depicted with a branch of a palm tree in his hand. At the bottom right, an oval cartouche contains an explanatory inscription. The background scenes show the baptism of Mindaugas and martyrdom of Beatified Vitas.
The first bishops of Vilnius Andrius and Jokubas are depicted full size against interior background; they stand next to little tables with miters and pastoral staffs on them. Both portraits are of the same size and painted as a pair, which should be displayed facing each other.
The long formation time of the gallery also took inevitable losses. The missing or decayed portraits were replaced either by copies or by the new canvasses following the same composition pattern. In the tumult of historical events, some canvasses ended up in the hands of private collectors or collections of public organizations. In 1941, the museum received collections from the Friends of Vilnius Learned Society, including portraits of the bishops Motiejus Trakiškis and Jurgis Tiškevicius. Today’s gallery features the images of almost all of the bishops of Vilnius, from the very first to the 20 th century hierarchy.
Ten canvasses of the 16 th century lend uniformity to the whole of collection. The rest of the portraits differ in style and represent different periods. Portrait of Vilnius Bishop Povilas Alšeniskis attributed to Giovanni dal Monte of Italian descent stands out by highly professional work and psychological impact of the painting.

The Gallery of Samogitian Bishops

The gallery is known from the 16th century. Motiejus Valancius, bishop of Samogitia and writer mentions this collection in his book Diocese of Samogitia. By the end of the 17th century, this collection, then in Varniai, contained 27 portraits of Samogitian bishops. In 1864, when the center of the diocese was moved to Kaunas, the gallery was transferred to Kaunas too. The collection was consistently enriched by new pieces. Before WWII the gallery of Samogitian bishops contained 43 portraits. Of them, 42 images of the Samogitian hierarchy have survived. Most of them are indebted in style the older portraits of the 18th centuries in other collections. All portraiture pieces show the sitter half-figure, but composition slightly varies. The same dimensions of canvass preserved throughout all the portraits and inscriptions in a band placed at the bottom of the painting lend uniformity to the overall impression of the gallery.

About the Galery of Samogitian Bishops (widely):
The earliest data on the Gallery of Samogitian Bishops is from the 16 th century. In his book Samogitian Diocese, Motiejus Valancius speaks of Bishop Vaclovas Virbickis (1534-1555), who built a wooden Varniai cathedral on the masonry foundations and “adorned the walls of the church by portraits of his predecessors, the bishops of Samogitia”. The inventory report of December 15, 1657 visitation of Varniai Cathedral besides other items off different allocation also has 27 portraits of the bishops. In 1680 the wooden Varniai cathedral was destroyed by fire. The fire was so big that it is only possible to guess if at least a single portrait of the old collection survived. Bishop Kazimieras Pacas (1668-1695) built a new masonry church, which still stands in Varniai and is decorated by the portraits of Samogitian bishops: Merkelis Giedraitis, the founder of the church Kazimieras Pacas, Antanas Tiškevicius, Steponas Giedraitis and Motiejus Valancius. It is also possible, that the portraits of Samogitian bishops decorated the Bishops’ Palace in Alsedžiai.
In 1864, with relocation of the diocesan center from Varniai to Kaunas, the portraits were moved there too. They were exhibited in the big hall of Samogitian Devotional Seminary. In 1901, Vaclovas Zatorskis, a famous Kaunas photographer, took pictures of the portraits. The same year he published pictures of 38 portraits in a publication called Icones Episcoporum…. The last inventory of the Devotional Seminary dated September 15, 1939 lists 43 portraits of Samogitian bishops. Thus it is possible to assume that the collection was constantly expanded.
When the second floor of the Rector’s Office building was allocated for a Church art museum, the collections of a newly founded museum also included these portraits. In 1958, when the exhibits of the Church Art Museum were transferred to the State History Museum in Kaunas (now Vytautas the Great War Museum), so were the 35 portraits.
All research and restoration work done on the paintings leads to conclusions, that most of them were painted in the 18th century following more ancient models from other diverse collections. However, similar size of the portraits and explanatory texts included in a band at the bottom of each canvass lend a feeling of congruity to the collection.

Dalia Tarandaite

Liturgical Vestments

The collection of vestments preserved by the Lithuanian Art Museum is biggest and the most valuable collection of this type. The majority of the garments are from the Cathedral of Vilnius, 659 pieces in total. Of them, some are full sets, other separate chasubles, Dalmatian, maniples, stoles, miters, copes and other attributes of liturgical ceremonies. The collection has vestments from several centuries, most of them are from the 18th century.

The Treasury of Vilnius Cathedral

The Treasury of the Cathedral was started immediately after Lithuania’s conversion to Christianity in 1387 and the founding of the Cathedral in 1388. The first liturgical objects the Treasury received, were presents by the dukes Jogaila and Vytautas from the Gedeminaiciai dynasty and their spouses, also presents that arrived from abroad as presents on the occasion of Lithuania’ baptism. Gradually the Treasury accumulated a sumptuous collection of liturgical vessels: monstrance, chalices, reliquaries and other guilt silver vessels set in precious stones. Besides, it has liturgical vestments (mostly chasubles) and numerous tapestry pieces. The collection was continuously enlarged. Today the Treasury of Vilnius Cathedral contains over 200 liturgical objects of the 14-20th c.

 Religious Painting of Western Europe

The collection of Western European painting was formed of the pieces of fine art originally in the private collections by Vladislavas Tiskevicius, Antonijus Kolba, Vladislovas Fiorentinio, Boleslovas Ruseckas, Vytautas Vagneris and other. The collection is dominated by Italian painting of the 16-18th century and also has several pieces of interest by Flemish, Spanish, Dutch and Austrian painters on religious themes. They are all were inspired by the centuries-old sources, the Bible and the lives of the saints.

Sculpture

The Lithuanian Art Museum has preserved a humble collection of ancient sculpture, most of the pieces in it originally decorated the interior of religious buildings. Unfortunately, only separate pieces of sculpture from the 16-17th century survived.

The Art of the Roman Catholic churches and Cloisters

Lithuania embraced Christianity during the Gothic period. The earliest pieces of Christian art were imported into Lithuania mostly from Central Europe (Poland, Germany). The imported art and artists who decorated the churches in Lithuania brought over new iconography principles and Christian aesthetics. These were soon taken over by the local artists who augmented the foreign heritage by their own experience. Besides western influence, the Lithuanian Christian art was also indebted to Byzantine tradition which spread from the Slavic lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Christian art flourished in the period of Baroque. Churches and cloisters built in the period are legion; most of them were sumptuously decorated. The heritage of the Baroque epoch in Lithuania is ample and diverse. The exhibition features pieces by Szymon Czechowicz (1689-1775) and a number of unknown painters from Vilnius and Vilnius province, also the paintings, which originally decorated Lithuanian cloisters.

The Art of Other Denominations

The Eastern Orthodox Church disregarded realistic tendencies of Western Christian art and had more rigid requirements for illustrating religious themes. It resulted in a more abstract and spiritual visual language. The content and form of religious images was controlled and the canons for religious paintings were observed. The artistic tendencies of the Eastern Orthodox Church were mostly spread in Russia. The ingenious Russian religious painting, which mostly flourished in the 14-16th c. was much indebted to the early Byzantine icon. The most solemn subjects of the Bible, like the ones of the Pantokrator, and the scenes of the Miracles of Christ were mostly widely spread. Gradually more subjects were introduced. Most favorite with the believers were images of patron saints accompanied by the scenes of their lives and martyrdom. The Lithuanian Art Museum preserves about 600 icons, most of them from 13-20th c. They were imported from different locations in Russia. Afterwards, the local craftsmen started painting icons, which were close copies of canonical models, adorned by my decorative detail or motif of every-day life.

Restoration of Religious Art

This part of the exhibition features projects of architecture restoration performed by the company Institute of Architecture Restoration. On display are museum exhibits and architecture restoration projects, also fragments of immovable cultural properties. Of them, the altar sculptures of angels and saints and the High Altar of Vilnius Bernardines Church, also the cartouche of and fragments of choir stalls from Kretinga Church are of interest. On display is also the sarcophagus of Elzbieta Radvilaite, originally from the Evangelical and Reformed Church in Kedainiai.

Photos by A. Luksenas and A. Varanka

  © Lithuanian Art Museum, Fund of Samogitian Culture, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics 
     Comments, remarks send to:  samogit@delfi.lt
     Page updated 2011.08.12