The Risen Christ conquers sin and death (recto). Our Lady of the Rosary (verso)

This picture, which is of great historical and artistic value, was intended for church processions. The date 1659, inscribed at the bottom of the composition with the Risen Christ, shows that it is one of the oldest processional objects in Lithuania. It is interesting that the picture was painted in a dramatic period of Lithuanian history, during the disastrous war with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, when the country was being ravaged by the Russian and Cossack armies.

The triumph of the Saviour is painted on one side of the picture: Christ, enshrined in heavenly light, is trampling the personifications of sin and death. Above, an angel is holding a victor’s laurel, and a palm, symbolising martyrdom; a second angel is stabbing a pennant of the Resurrection into Satan, the incarnation of sin. This composition was borrowed from the Dutch engraver Adam Bolswert (1580– 1633), and supplemented with two figures, absent in the original but apparently important to the client, the Franciscan saints St Anthony of Padua and St Francis of Assisi. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant are portrayed on the other side of the picture. They are handing strands of the Rosary to the Dominican saints St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. The angels above, crowning the Virgin Mary, are holding Rosaries too. The whole composition is surrounded by a wreath of yellow, red and white roses, symbolising the three Mysteries of the Rosary, Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. Fragments of inscriptions of donations give rise to the hypothesis that the work was commissioned by a Dominican friar.

Both the interpretation of the theme of the Risen Christ and the manner of portraying the wreathed Virgin Mary with the Infant are characteristic of Lithuanian and Polish art of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Very few such paintings have survived, and this particular picture, in terms of its purpose and iconography, is unique in Lithuania.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius. Curators: Dalia Vasiliūnienė and Skaidrė Urbonienė. "St Dominic and St Hyacinth in Lithuania: Eight Centuries of Memory", 17 August 2021 – 29 January 2022, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius. Curator of the exhibition Birutė Valečkaitė.

This picture, which is of great historical and artistic value, was intended for church processions. The date 1659, inscribed at the bottom of the composition with the Risen Christ, shows that it is one of the oldest processional objects in Lithuania. It is interesting that the picture was painted in a dramatic period of Lithuanian history, during the disastrous war with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, when the country was being ravaged by the Russian and Cossack armies.

The triumph of the Saviour is painted on one side of the picture: Christ, enshrined in heavenly light, is trampling the personifications of sin and death. Above, an angel is holding a victor’s laurel, and a palm, symbolising martyrdom; a second angel is stabbing a pennant of the Resurrection into Satan, the incarnation of sin. This composition was borrowed from the Dutch engraver Adam Bolswert (1580– 1633), and supplemented with two figures, absent in the original but apparently important to the client, the Franciscan saints St Anthony of Padua and St Francis of Assisi. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant are portrayed on the other side of the picture. They are handing strands of the Rosary to the Dominican saints St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. The angels above, crowning the Virgin Mary, are holding Rosaries too. The whole composition is surrounded by a wreath of yellow, red and white roses, symbolising the three Mysteries of the Rosary, Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. Fragments of inscriptions of donations give rise to the hypothesis that the work was commissioned by a Dominican friar.

Both the interpretation of the theme of the Risen Christ and the manner of portraying the wreathed Virgin Mary with the Infant are characteristic of Lithuanian and Polish art of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Very few such paintings have survived, and this particular picture, in terms of its purpose and iconography, is unique in Lithuania.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius. Curators: Dalia Vasiliūnienė and Skaidrė Urbonienė. "St Dominic and St Hyacinth in Lithuania: Eight Centuries of Memory", 17 August 2021 – 29 January 2022, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius. Curator of the exhibition Birutė Valečkaitė.