Magyarvista középkori templomának donátorképei
Frescoes Picturing Donors in the Medieval Church of Viştea

Summary/Abstract: Viştea , a small village near Cluj, was the property of the bishop of Transylvania. The frescoes of the medieval church were discovered in 1912, but later covered with plaster. In 2008 only two scenes were renovated. The first is a Crucifixion painted in Italo-Byzantine style. Christ is sided by Virgin Mary and Apostle John, and on the southern wall of the nave one can see Longinus and a second person dressed sumptuously and in modern style, supposedly the do - nor. The fresco seems to date from after 1320, when the 27 year old Andreas Széchy was elected as bishop. The second fresco, painted on the southern wall of the nave, exemplifies the influence of the Italian Trecento. It depicts standing saints (St. James the Greater, St. Nicholas, a holy king) and the Madonna Hodegetria while blessing a clerical donor, as well as a ship navigated supposedly by the same donor and by Our Lady of the Seas. The image combines iconographic elements from more sources (Navicella, Ecclesia Triumphans), creating an original composition in order to ask the protection for the donor’s longer trip to Heaven. He seems to be Imre Czudar, bishop of Transylvania between 1386 and 1389.

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