Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1968, Page 21

ALTARISBRlK FRÁ STAÐ
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í Þjóðminjasafninu og þar til allar líkneskjurnar þrjár voru saman
komnar og settar í rétt samhengi. Þessi langa rakning á að sýna, áð
niðurstaða, sem virðist einföld og augljós, næst þó ekki nema með
langri og krókóttri eftirgrennslan hér og hvar, stig af stigi. Ef til
vill mætti svo þessi greinargerð verða til þess að hvetja einhvern
listfræðing til þess að rannsaka allar líkneskjur, sem varðveitzt hafa
úr íslenzkum kirkjum, svo að fram megi koma, hvernig þær voru og
hvaðan af löndum íslendingar fengu helgimyndir sínar.
SUMMARY
The Coronation of St. Mary from, Staður church.
One of the most remarkable acquisitions of the National Museum of Iceland in
1967 is a sculpture representing a crowned bearded person with a globe resting on
his knees. The right hand is missing, but it was supposed to have held an axe, an
assumption which led to the common belief that the sculpture represented St.
Olav, king of Norway. The author of the present paper was able to make clear that
the figure originally belonged to Staður church on Reykjanes, Western Iceland.
This again led to the conclusion that it was one of a group of three saints frequently
referred to in Staður church inventories. The church was still in possession of a
sculpture of a kneeling woman, and after some questioning the third figure. that
of a young bearded man, also turned up. When all three figures were brought
together and compared to each other it became clear that they were all carved
from the same kind of oak, and, without doubt, by the same hand. The group
obviously represents the Coronation of St. Mary in heaven, the figure formerly
thought to be St. Olav in fact being God the Father. The others then are St.
Mary and the Son, whose hands now are missing, but they have quite clearly held
the crown above St. Mary’s head. Certainly the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove
was in the empty space above the crown, but also he is now missing.
The author arrived at the conclusion that the Coronation group from Staður
church probably was the work of a sculptor working somewhere in the Hansa
area, most likely Lubeck, about 1500. Dr. E. S. Engelstad of Norway and Dr. Max
Hasse of Lubeck, both of whom were asked by the author for their opinion, con-
firmed this conclusion in all essentials. Dr. Engelstad writes: „the figures come
from a workshop somewhere in the Hansa area 1500—1510“. Dr. Hasse writ.es:
„the group is from the Hansa area, more likely from Hamburg than Lubeck,
roughly 1510—1520". The author thanks the two distinguished scholars for their
comments.
In addition to this it should only be stated that the article describes, step by
step, the progress of the author’s investigation from the moment he first saw the
socalled figure of St. Olav until he íinally succeeded in bringing the three figures
together and identifying them as the altarpiece from Staður church and establishing
their true meaning.