Northern and southern wall of the nave, chancel

There are no incisions or pouncings, and the halos are drawn with a single red line. Mostly, only the dark red contours have survived. These are certainly an underdrawing, as in some places corrections are visible – for example, on the chin of St Michael in the chancel. The horizontal and vertical lines of the bordure were stamped with a string dipped in red colour. This is still visible in the upper part of the Adoration of the Magi scene. It is possible to discern how the red colour diffused along a straight line where the string hit the wall (Fig. 7). The facial features have mostly disappeared, but can still be partially discerned in the Resurrection of the Dead scene (Fig. 8). The heads are angular or round, while the eyes are centrally placed and not excessively large. The lower eyelid is straight, and the upper one is semi-circular; the two lines do not always meet. The eyebrows are outlined with a single brush stroke in a semi-circular line, ending high above the outer corner of the eye without descending towards it. The same stroke continues from the inner eyebrow and forms a short, rounded nose; no additional modelling of the nostril is visible. Some figures feature a slightly upturned nose (the second female figure on the left). The mouth has only been preserved on the figure at the far right end of the scene; it is thin, and the upper lip is outlined with a longer upper zigzag line, while the lower lip is shorter. The corners of the mouth are bent downwards, but perhaps this was only the case with the figures on the right, as they represent the souls condemned to hell, which is why they express sadness or anger. The design of the hands is slightly sloppy, perhaps because it is an underdrawing. The broad palms end in short, thick fingers, whose height is outlined with a single line in some figures, as is best seen in the intercessors in the Last Judgement scene (Fig. 4a). All the feet are also shaped in the same manner, with a pronounced arch and a wider area for the toes. The colour of the carnation has not been preserved, while several blackened areas are visible on the intercessors’ hands and around their eyes and noses. They were obviously painted with some lead pigment, which has degraded, perhaps to dark brown plattnerite. Of course, this could also be the consequence of subsequent restoration works before the end of the 19^th century, when lead pigments were still in use. However, as we have already pointed out in the section on pigments, several darkened areas can be seen, suggesting that they are in fact the original colour surfaces. The underpainting is not visible even under the azurite (Fig. 6), which was most probably applied to a layer of limewash, visible already in situ under the blue colour residues. The colour surfaces are mostly the basic local tones, but only the yellow and red have been preserved. Joseph’s garment and the robe of the Virgin of Mercy with the mantle, which are also still preserved, have also darkened. Originally, Mary’s tunic could have been blue (as is iconographically common), in which case the darkening would be degraded azurite. This is definitely what happened in the case of the background behind the second figure on the right in the Resurrection of the Dead scene. However, there is no trace of blue on Joseph’s garment; the cross-section of the sample reveals only a red colour layer (Fig. 9). In this case, it may be a degraded lead pigment mixed with haematite. Using Raman analysis, it was only possible to identify the latter, so the black layer might have fallen off the sample. It would be unusual, however, for both his coat and tunic to be red; perhaps, a mixture of several pigments was involved, though the cross-section does not indicate this. The samples taken from the hand of the lower left intercessor and from St Michael (Figs. 3–4) also fail to reveal any black layers, while the darker pigment grains seem to be visible on the red layer of one of the samples (Fig. 4b – layer 4). This could indicate another, degraded lead layer, which, however, calls for further analysis. The similarity of the latter two samples is interesting, as it confirms that at least the murals on the southern nave wall and the northern wall of the chancel belong to the same artwork. Both samples were taken from the red underdrawing with the darkened colour layer (Figs. 3a, 4a) and reveal a bright plaster, a light red colour layer that could also simply be limewash, and a thin red layer. Even more precise methods will be required to establish whether the latter layer is the underdrawing or rather a part of the black colour. The colour modelling of the draperies has not been preserved, while the painter applied the basic colours with broad brushes. Regardless of certain doubts that remain due to the inconclusive results of the analyses, it is possible to conclude, based on the painting process and especially the painter’s decisive underdrawing strokes, that both the nave and the chancel belong to the same painting cycle.

Exterior, St Christopher, the Crucifixion

Both scenes are severely damaged, as they were hammered in the past to allow the more recent plaster to adhere better to the wall. Today, the hammered parts have been filled in and retouched. As the retouching covers an extensive part of the mural, it is difficult to evaluate it. There are no visible incisions or pouncings. The underdrawing is painted with a red stroke (Fig. 12a) and covered with a black final contour, although the latter has mostly fallen off. There is a question about Jesus’s figure in the depiction of St Christopher, as it appears to have been outlined with a black underdrawing. However, a closer look reveals a faint red line under the black in several places, suggesting that this is probably just a thoroughly faded final contour of his garment. There are no underpaintings, although perhaps one could be detected under the presumed blue azurite on the background of the Crucifixion scene. The shape of the faces is very specific (Fig. 12a) and different from the few preserved examples in the interior (Fig. 8). The broad, low foreheads, ending straight at the hairline, draw attention. The eyes are larger than in the case of the figures in the interior; their shape resembles half of a teardrop: the upper eyelid rises high above the large iris and descends steeply to the elongated corner of the eye, where it meets the perfectly straight lower eyelid but does not always touch it (compare St Christopher and Jesus). The eyebrows are semi-circular and set high above the eyes. The inner eyebrow continues into a straight nose, which ends with a nostril using a single wavy line in the case of the faces depicted in a three-quarter profile. Meanwhile, in the faces painted frontally, the nasal ridge terminates with a broad rounded tip, which continues into wide nostrils set too low. The second eyebrow continues into the nasal ridge but ends at the level of the inner corner of the eye. The mouth is shaped with a perfectly straight upper line, below which the artist outlined a small, pouty lower lip with a semicircle. The ears are also specifically shaped: they stand out from the line of the face and are set at eye level, while they appear very small for the size of the head. The painter outlined them with one wavy and two short semi-circular lines. No such ears are seen in the figures in the interior. Only in the Virgin of Mercy with the mantle scene, the contour of some of the intercessors’ heads might suggest that they could have featured such ears (Figs. 12b–c). The neck was obviously additionally modelled with a pale red and slightly semi-circular line, which is still preserved on St Christopher. The hands are slender and feature excessively long, narrow fingers, which are also completely different from the ones still visible in the interior (The Last Judgement). The body of Christ in the Crucifixion scene is designed schematically and shows that the painter was not skilled in anatomy: the chest is outlined with a wavy horizontal line, the ribs go too deep, while the abdomen stands out due to a semi-circular stroke and an accentuated navel. The arms feature prominent, strong forearms, while the palms are narrow, with long, parallel fingers, while the thumb is curved towards the middle of the palm as if it were boneless. They are also very different from Christ’s arms in the Last Judgement scene in the interior. The modelling of the hair is intensely linear, as can be seen in the figures of the holy bishop and the king in the Crucifixion scene and especially in the case of St Christopher and Jesus. The painter traced wavy strands of hair on top of the chosen basic colour with simple red or black lines while also creating short fringes using short parallel strokes. The colour modelling of the carnations has not been preserved, except for some pink colour around Jesus’ eyes and on his forehead. On the draperies, mostly only the basic colour layers have also been preserved. On Christopher’s cloak and Christ’s loincloth, broad red folds applied over the basic white colour are still visible, while Mary’s hood is modelled with broad yellow strokes. Christopher’s tunic is modelled with white circles on a red base; the painter may have used a stencil or a pair of compasses to outline all the circles. Only a diamond-shaped mesh is still visible on the holy bishop’s coat. The original decoration was probably richer but has unfortunately fallen off, along with most of the final black contour. Especially the modelling of the faces and hands reveals that the interior and the exterior feature two separate works. However, since we can only rely on the faces and hands of the secondary figures in the interior (the Resurrection of the Dead, the Virgin of Mercy with the mantle), which could have been painted by assistants, it is impossible to claim this with certainty. There are a few elements supporting the hypothesis that the murals could have been painted by the same workshop: (a) the red underdrawing in the exterior and the interior of the church; (b) the small ears that stand out from the line of the head along the hair and might be noticeable on a few figures in the interior (Figs. 12a–c); (c) the low foreheads, characteristic of the figures on the exterior, can also be noticed on a few outlines of the faces in the interior (Figs. 8, 12a, 13a); (d) the outlines of the heads of St Joseph in the Adoration of the Magi scene on the northern interior nave wall (Fig. 13a) and St John the Evangelist in the Crucifixion scene on the exterior are perfectly identical (the cheek line, low flat forehead, hair line); (e) the oval face of Jesus with its bare forehead (Fig. 12a) is reminiscent of the faces of some of the figures in the Last Judgement (Fig. 12c) and the Resurrection of the Dead scenes; (f) the same composition of the plaster and the supplementary use of the lime technique (Figs. 1–2, 10–11); (g) similar colour palettes, although no traces of lead pigments can be seen on the exterior. On the other hand, there is no doubt that both exterior murals are the work of a single painter or workshop.