The Art of Painting

Church interiors had level wooden ceilings. The painted decoration on coffered ceilings, choirs, and pews pays tribute to the skill of local artisans. In the second half of the century, the symmetrical, Renaissance floral patterns became more elaborate, incorporating eastern flower and bouquet motifs. Motifs symbolizing celestial bodies and biblical scenes appeared somewhat later. Often there were Hungarian or Latin inscriptions on coffers giving information about the circumstances of the restoration.

The ceiling of the church at Nyárádszentimre was decorated with mythological and historical images, such as 'Alexander the Great riding on a raven, Saint David playing music in Hungarian ceremonial dress, sirens, naiads, and the spectre of death.'[169]169. L. Kelemen, 'Mennyezet és karzatfestmények a XVII. századból', in Kelemen, Művészettörténeti I (1977), p. 68. Similarly, the church ceiling at Tancs bears images of Noah's Ark in full sail, with a pigeon bearing an olive branch flying alongside; Adam and Eve under an apple tree the Garden of Eden; and Moses and Aaron wearing Tartar fur caps. All of these were the work of István Parajdi Illyés, an itinerant Székely carpenter. The admixture of human and animal figures and floral patterns — e.g. tulip-legs, calyx-mouths, waists bending like a flower stalk, or petal-beards — was a style common throughout Europe, and one that reached its apogee in Transylvania. When the church at Miklósszentmárton was reconstructed in 1698, its ceiling acquired a painted decoration at the hand of three Székely carpenters, Mihály Kozma, András Hunyadi, and János Sípos; one finds, inserted in its floral design, an interesting old motif, the Kleve wheel, which was the coat-of-arms of Kleve, a Dutch border province, and of its extinct ruling family. {2-483.} The ceiling, choir, and pews of the church at Kalotaszeg are painted in distinctive patterns and colours. The paintings at Nádasdaróc evoke the sunflower and rose patterns found in Jesuit printing, and bear some resemblance to the design, dating from 1705, on the nave's ceiling at the church of Bánffyhunyad. The colourful and harmonic flower patterns on the ceilings of the churches at Keresd, Magyarbikal, and Szánta, are the work of Gyalu's János Asztalos, as are the paintings in the choir at Vista. The carpenter-painter from Marosvásárhely who, in 1706, decorated the church ceiling at Póka included the names of the church's benefactors.

At Csíksomlyó, there is 'a unique 17th century ceiling, in baroque style, painted by an unknown artist'.[170]170. K. Vilhelm, Festett famennyezetek; alakos ábrázolások a XV-XVIII. századi erdélyi templomokban (Bucharest, 1975), p. 15. Decorations in Catholic churches preserved the style and images of earlier periods, going back to the Middle Ages; the altarpiece at Csíkszentlélek is a triptych dating from 1510. The coffered ceiling of the chapel at Csíksomlyó was painted in baroque style by a monk who probably came from Italy. In 1670, the painter Péter Lengyel was commissioned by István Lázár to design a baroque altar for the Franciscans' monastery church at Szárhegy. The Franciscans at Csíksomlyó had their altar made in Nagyszombat. The altar of the church at Segesvár was carved by a craftsman from Bartfa, János Vest, and painted by Nagyszeben's Jeremiás Stranoves. In his diary, István Wesselényi praised the medieval paintings in the churches of the Szászföld, and noted that the walls of the Saxon church at Almakerék are 'covered with paintings depicting the Passion [of Christ], for it once belonged to the Papists.'[171]171. István Wesselényi's diary, 19 April 1708, in Wesselényi, Sanyarú világ II: 1707-1708, ed. by L. Demény and A. Magyari (Bucharest, 1985), p. 502.

Icons and murals testify to the early flowering of the Romanians' religious art. Paintings in the church at Vajdahunyad, dating from 1654, are the work of the artists Konstantin, Caian, and Stan. The famous picture, in the church at Nagyiklód (Szolnok-Doboka County), of the miraculous Virgin of Nikula, was painted in 1681 by Father Lukács.

{2-484.} The redecoration in 1680 of the town hall at Kolozsvár reflected the taste of the contemporary urban middle class. The designer reached for effect with a complex blend of images and words, of figurative painting, quotes from classical authors, and didactic poems. A profusion of axioms and moral injunctions surround the depictions of a naked child standing on its head while playing a flute, of the goddess of truth, with a sword, of the angel of death with a scythe, and of the coats-of-arms of Transylvanian towns.

Secular painting was characterized by the decorative floral motifs of the Renaissance. Mihály Teleki commissioned works by a number of painters from Szeben and Régen. A Szeben painter, whose name is not known, produced nine works, and he may have been the target of the dissatisfaction expressed by the wife of János Teleki: 'I was happy to have the portraits of the children, but I would have preferred to see the children themselves. Perhaps the painter is not a good artist, for the pictures bear little resemblance to the children.'[172]172. J. Herepei, 'Adatok Teleki Mihály és udvara életéhez', in Herepei, Adattár III, p. 15.

György Apafi's tombstone, carved in the early 1660s, is one of the finest pieces of memorial sculpture in Transylvania. István Wesselényi allowed that it was a 'nice monument' and, in characteristic fashion, stressed its lifelike quality: the hair of the prone, armour-clad György Apafi was 'ad vivum', and 'all the veins in his hands are carved ad vivum'.[173]173. István Wesselényi's diary, 19 April 1708, in Wesselényi, Sanyarú világ, pp. 500-501.

One distinctive piece of monumental architecture in Transylvania was the ceremonial arch, in Kolozsvár's central square, that was commissioned by the Jesuit rector, Gábor Kapi, to welcome Rákóczi when the latter came to attend the electoral diet of 11 November 1705. Erected in front of the town hall, the triumphal arch was — in the words of György Vizaknai Bereck — a 'fine and glorious' construction.[174]174. Diary of György Bereck Vizaknai, October 1705, in Rákóczi tükör I, p. 362. It was adorned with inscriptions evoking Transylvania's history and the new prince's political objectives. Atop the arch, in the place of honour, stood the portrait of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II on horseback; it was flanked, on the right, {2-485.} by the portrait of General Simon Forgách, the principality's military commander, and, on the left, by that of an allegorical figure representing Transylvania. Portraits of Transylvania's former princes lined the frieze, but both Gabriel Bethlen and Mihály Apafi were missing, for the politically circumspect Jesuits wished to indicate that the prince inherited Transylvania's throne directly from his Báthori and Rákóczi ancestors. The defeat at Zsibó led to the destruction of the triumphal arch raised by Kolozsvár's Jesuits.