Images: Memo; Gedächtnis des Landes
Clavis number: ECMA 163
Category: frescoes
Related Literature: Acts of Matthias
Featured characters and locations: Matthias (apostle), Peter (apostle).
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: paint on stone
Size: not provided
Date and provenance: the church and the frescoes were created in the fourteenth century.
Images: four scenes from life of Matthias decorate the anteroom of the chapel.
1. The selection of Matthias by lot. Peter stands to the left, holding the key to heaven, then Christ and Matthias. The other apostles look on.
2. Christ releases Matthias from a dungeon. Two soldiers stand to the right.
3. Matthias preaches to a group from an unfurled scroll.
4. Matthias is struck by stones and an axe.
The north wall of the chapel features a depiction of the assumption of the Virgin.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The activities of Matthias appear in several Latin texts, some of which are yet to be published. The most well-known account is the Acts of Matthias, which is summarized in the Golden Legend 45. The account includes Matthias’s birth and upbringing (ch. 3), then his selection by Peter to replace Judas (from Acts 1:15–26) (ch. 4), his preaching in Judea (ch. 5), and his martyrdom by stoning and the strike of an axe (11).
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cartlidge, David, and J. Keith Elliot. Art and the Christian Apocrypha. New York: Routledge, 2001 (p. 219).
Landkammer, Miriam, Gábor Tarcsay, and Michaela Zorko. “Bilder, die Räume erschließen. Historische und digitale Erkundung der Wandmalereien in der Göttweigerhof-Kapelle (Krems/Stein).” Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture Online. Posted August 2018. Online: https://memo.imareal.sbg.ac.at/wsarticle/memo/2018-landkammer-bilder-die-raeume-erschliessen/.
Zabukovnik, Iris. “Die Wandmalereien der Göttweigerhof-Kapelle in Krems-Stein. Ihre Einreihung in den österreichischen Umkreis sowie die Stellung Österreichs als Land im Einflußgebiet zwischen Frankreich und Italien.” PhD thesis, Graz, Universität, 1999.
Zykan, Josef. “Die Malereien der Göttweigerhofkapelle zu Stein an der Donau.” Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 6 (1952): 97–112.
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Krems-Stein –Göttweigerhofkapelle.” Gedächtnis des Landes.
“Göttweigerhof: Ein Lesehof . . . ganz ohne Bücher.” Krems Kultur (includes video and images).
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 7 May 2024.