The copy of the icon of the Bakócz Chapel from the Esztergom basilica from the eighteenth century illustrates a profound tradition of religious handmade replicas. The collection includes numerous artworks made by nuns who copied holy objects from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. The importance of these works in religious culture is that they were thought to transmit the “sacrament.” Their preparation was time-consuming and needed a lot of patience. Motifs in the decoration of the relics and the styles of painting the miniature sacred images were produced from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries by the Sisters of Saint Clara, the Sisters of Saint Ursula, the Congregation of Jesus, and the Order of Saint Elisabeth. The popularity and the survival of the artwork by nuns was helped by students in schools run by religious nuns from the nineteenth century to the twentieth. These students learned the tricks of hand-crafting, and this knowledge was passed on to family members and their servants. The servants of the schoolmistresses, in turn, mediated the culture of the nuns to the peasants. The nuns’ works in the churches were used in religious ceremonies. However, talented peasant women often copied their motifs.
Location
Esztergom Mindszenty hercegprímás tere 2, Hungary 2500
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