Megjegyzések Erdély korai falképfestészetéhez: esettanulmány négy szászföldi román kori templom kifestéséről
Notes on the Early Wall Painting in Transylvania: Case Study of the Decoration of Four Romanesque Churches in the Saxon Region

Summary/Abstract: While many recent studies have been dedicated to the rich and ever-growing heritage of medieval wall paintings in Transylvania from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, fragments surviving from the preceding period have received little attention in art historical literature. This paper focuses on four Romanesque churches from the southern part of the region populated by the Transylvanian Saxons, preserving fragments of their earliest layer(s) of medieval wall painting decoration probably datable to the thirteenth century or around 1300. In Alțâna (Alzen, Alcina) two fragments were identified by restorer Lóránd Kiss as being earlier than the wall paintings dating from the second half of the fourteenth century. A painted architectonic frame on the northern chancel wall probably served as the decoration of the sacrament niche in the Romanesque chancel. A figural composition including the heads of two kings on the western side of the southern pier of the chancel arch may possibly have represented the episode of the Three Magi before Herod. In Cincu (Großschenk, Nagysink) a representation of the Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence can be seen on the northern nave wall, above the entrance to the northeastern tower base. The head of one of the tormentors captured in profile, with caricatural features follows a similar type as a male head in the portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt (fol. 9v). A row of haloed heads preserved fragmentarily in the upper part of the western side of the chancel arch may have belonged to an apostle gallery as part of a Last Judgement scene. Of the wall painting decoration of the Romanesque basilica in Cisnădioara (Michelsberg, Kisdisznód) only a few isolated fragments survive. On the transversal arch between the choir and the apse probably two layers of wall painting are preserved, one including eight busts set in medallions with a tendril decoration. Traces of paint on the lower part of the apse semidome may have belonged to the lower decorative frame of a Majestas Domini composition. Based on the research by restorer Maria Dumbrăvician, Dana Jenei has recently pointed out that in Homorod (Hamruden, Homoród) a thirteenth century layer painted in red precedes the wall paintings in the former chancel of the church, generally dated to around 1300. The paper provides a description of both early wall painting layers and proposes a hypothetical iconographic reconstruction of the Christological cycle on the side walls and of the decoration of the vault.

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