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Saint Elizabeth

Johann (Jan) Pfister

Basic information

ID: С-I-901
Author: Johann (Jan) Pfister
Name: Saint Elizabeth
Date of creation: 1630s
Technique: carving
Material: wood
Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm): 135 x 40 x 18

Additionally

Type: sculpture 3D
Genre: religious
Provenance: Expedition to the Ternopil region

Information about author

Author: Johann (Jan) Pfister
Artist's lifetime: 1573–1640/1642
Biography: Johann (Jan) Pfister was a German sculptor, born in 1573 in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) in the family of the painter and sculptor George Pfister. He studied under masters from the Netherlands and Germany, namely Hans Fleiser, Friedrich Gross, and Gerhard Hendrick. Jan Pfister is considered to be the most outstanding sculptor at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries who worked in Ukraine and Poland. In his works, the sculptor used marble and alabaster rather than wood. He performed the best works in Lviv, Berezhany, and Tarnow. In 1615, at the request of Adam Hieronim Sieniawski, the sculptor began working in Berezhany on the tombstones of the noble Sieniawski family, namely Adam Hieronim and his three sons – Alexander, Mikolaj, and Prokop. Besides, Jan Pfister taught at a carving school in the town. Working as a court sculptor of the Sieniawski family, he carved the altar compositions in the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary in the village of Bishche in the Ternopil region that also belonged to the family. In the 1630s, he worked on the decoration of the altar. Jan Pfister proved to be a professional sculptor who took the first steps in art under the influence of German and Dutch Mannerism.

Object description

The sculpture of St. Elizabeth, created in the 1630s, comes from the altar composition of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Bishche, Ternopil region; it was performed in the last period of Johann Pfister's life. The altar itself did not survive; however, several separate sculptures remained. The figure of St. Elizabeth is characterised by Mannerism, which is manifested in the excessively elongated proportions of the body, in grace and capricious foreshortening of the figure, as well as in the aristocratic position of the head with a slight tilt to a slightly lowered shoulder. A small crown with a tiara is on the head of the holy woman; soft hair waves fall to her shoulders. The sculptor skilfully carved the woman's left hand; the right one is lost. The horizontal line of the belt crosses the straight and vertical folds of Elizabeth's clothing, emphasising the frontality of the figure. An aristocratic elongated face with a straight nose, almond-shaped eyes, and small lips are specific features of the sculptor's style. The image of St. Elizabeth resembles Elzbieta Sieniawska, one of the founders of the church.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Saint Elizabeth

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