Giedrė Mickūnaitė (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.53631/DIS/2014.6.1
The reconstruction of the parish church of Trakai undertaken in 1610 implemented the provisions of the Council of Trent: the porch was added on the western side, the new high altar was constructed at the eastern wall of the apse, and the naves were whitewashed along with Byzantine wall paintings from the early 15th century. The altarpiece of the Virgin Mary was also renewed by cutting its bottom part off and transforming the former Gothic panel into a pseudo-icon of the Mother of God. In fact, only the Virgin’s face survived the renovation, which also suggested the growing cult of the image, which from then was acclaimed as being one of the ‘Greek manners’. The article interprets the transformations of the image of the Trakai Mother of God through the investigation of written sources, the specific vocabulary used to describe images and by drawing parallels with post-Tridentine Rome and Venice. The image is considered both an object and a subject of power. The article traces how the power of clergy to change the visual appearance of the image eventually transformed into the power of the image itself, exercised over the minds of churchgoers, over those endeavouring to explain its origins, and over those who commissioned its replicas and were looking at them. It concludes that the power of an image lies in its ability to embrace oppositions beyond the eternal and historical time. The material witnessing the existence of the image signifies its authenticity, which is constantly reconfirmed by miracles and mercies.
Keywords: post-Tridentine Catholicism, Greek manner, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rome, Venice