Marek Walczak
The portrait miniature of Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki on a Letter of Indulgence issued in 1449 for the Church of All Saints in Cracow Marek Walczak Illuminations in medieval documents have never been a subject of extensive research, because only a small number of them survived, and they are generally of poor artistic quality. For the same reason almost unknown are portrait miniatures in such carrier. The relatively greatest attention of researchers has been focussed on indulgence documents1, which had had a broad sphere of influence, owing to their wide dissemination among large audiences of the faithful.2 In Poland, a particularly interesting example is a document granting indulgences to all who would visit the parish church of All Saints in Cracow on the major feasts of the liturgical year, issued by the Cracow Bishop, Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki (1423–1450) in 1449 [Figs 1, 2].3 A piece of parchment of substantial size (75 × 44 cm) is adorned with a 1 Nikolaus Paulus Geschichte des Ablasses im Mittelalter vol. III: Geschichte des Ablasses am Ausgang des Mittelalters Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1923 pt. VII: Abläße von Bischöfen, Kardinälen und Legaten, 226ff.; P. Hippolyte Delehaye, ‘Les lettres d’indulgence collectives’, Analecta Bollandiana, 44, 1926, 343–379; ibidem, 45, 1927, 93–123, 324–344; ibidem, 46, 1928, 149–157, 287–343; see also Nikolaus Paulus, Der Ablaß im Mittelalter als Kulturfaktor, Köln: Bachem, 1920, passim (Görres-Gesellschaft Vereinschriften); the decorations of such documents have been dealt with by e.g. by: Pierre François Fournier, ‘Affiches d’indulgence manuscrites et imprimées des XIVe, XVe et XVIe siècles’, Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, 84, 1923, 116–160; Josef Rest, ‘Illuminierte Ablaßurkunden aus Rom und Avignon aus der Zeit von 1282–1364’, in: Festgabe für Heinrich Finke, Münster im W.: Aschendorff, 1925, 147–168; Leo Santifaller, ‘Illuminierte Urkunden’, Der Schlern, 16, 1935, 113–125; Idem, ‘Über illuminierte Urkunden’, in: Hans Tintelnot, ed., Kunstgeschichtliche Studien, Dagobert Frey zum 23.
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