In the publication Baročni črni oltarji ljubljanskih kamnoseških delavnic, Stična 2001 are for the first time sistematicaly representet on one place the altars, pulpits and lavaboes made of black stone (limestone), wich represent a special category of monuments among the Baroque works of art. In Carniola they were growing in number towards the end of the 17th century, when the cultural trends of the then provincial capital Ljubljana had already become more explicitly oriented towards the Italian art, and were still being made in the first decades of the 18th century.
The review of the black Baroque stone altars, pulpits and lavaboes from the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, which includes materials from Slovenia, Northern Italy (the Kanal Valley), Austrian Carinthia (Vetrinj), Croatia (Zagreb, Karlovac, Remete), reveals that there are 82 altars, 6 pulpits and 14 lavaboes preserved and documented in this area.
The majority of stone altars, pulpits and lavaboes were most probably made in Ljubljana, where at the end of the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century there were numerous stonecutter workshops, e.g. the workshops of Matevž Potočnik (d. 1710), Mihael Cussa (b. ca. 1657, d. 1699), Luka Mislej (b. 1658, d. 1727), Franc Grumnik (b. 1671, d. 1755), Francesco Bombasi (b. ca. 1654, d. 1714), Jožef Angel Bon (1st half 18th c.).
The research of stonecutting in Ljubljana has thrown new light on the role of the town as the regional centre. Already at the end of the 17th century it was powerful enough to establish relations with art centres such as Venice, Gorizia, Udine or Padua.
Nataša Polajnar Frelih
