ALTORIŲ PROBLEMINIŲ TYRIMŲ GAIRĖS. XVII-XIX a. UŽNEMUNĖS BAŽNYČIŲ RETABULAI II
A Framework for the Study of Altars. Retables from the 17th to the 19th Century in Užnemunė II

Summary/Abstract: To date, there have been no scientific studies published in Lithuania on the subject of the altar as a specific type of church equipment. In the book entitled Old Wooden Sculpture and Ornamental Carving in Lithuania, Marija Matušakaitė has laid the basis for research about the development of artistic style in Lithuanian altars, but has not covered other aspects. Over recent years, apart from case studies, Lithuanian and foreign researchers have explored altars from a culture studies perspective. Their publications provide information necessary for the analysis of issues related to crafts history, the history of piety, social processes, patronage and visual rhetoric. Experts in provincial church art (in articles for Lithuanian Religious Art. Vol. I. Part I-VI. Vilnius, 1996-2006) have revealed the need for a contextual and systematic study of Lithuanian altars. The aim of this article is to shape the methodological framework for such a study, and to highlight some issues in altar research, dealing with its practical and theoretical aspects. The article draws upon sources and the heritage of one region of Lithuania - Užnemunė (the diocese of Vilkaviškis). They may serve as a micro-model for all Lithuanian provincial churches. The issues raised include the question of the authenticity of altars (the correlation between original parts of an altar and later reconstructions); aspects of the continuity of local traditions in 19th-century altars in Lithuanian provincial churches; the relativity of the traditional classification, based on the main artistic styles in the case of wooden church equipment; and the authorship of altars. The article traces the migration of traditions originating in the Baroque period, and repetitions of examples, to Neobaroque, from the old to the new church, and from professional religious art to the works of trained and folk artists. The second part of the article is devoted to the typology of retables from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

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