Obraz z Legendą o świętym Walentym – śląska „ikona biograficzna”
The painting with the legend of Saint Valentine – a Silesian "biographical icon"

Summary/Abstract: The painting with The Legend of St. Valentine, now in the collection of The Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław, has never been subjected to a thorough analysis; therefore the following paper is an attempt at defining the place and time of its origins, ascribing the painting to a particular workshop, as well as giving reasons for such a rare in Silesian lands choice of presentation type depicting the saint surrounded by the scenes from his life, and eventually describing the role the monument could have played in the most probable, its original place. The discussed painting was handed down to the Wrocław collection from Toszek, where it had comprised furnishings of the hospital chapel which has not been mentioned in the sources since the early 19th century. Following the analysis of the underdrawing and a comparative stylistic analysis we may presume that the object was executed in the same Wrocław workshop which was responsible for the commissions performed in the 1470s and 1480s for St. Elizabeth Church in Wrocław. We are not certain when the object found its way to Toszek, still we are sure it was not later than in Early Modern Era. However, the most interesting issue about the painting is its composition with the sources in Byzantine biographical icons, especially those originated in Italian Peninsula, whose authors modified to some extent the above mentioned formula.

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