Votive offerings are individualised gifts given to the Church by people with a specific request or in order to give thanks. They express the greatest fears and concerns of the individual. They appear among the upper classes in the 17th and 18th centuries, and became widespread among the majority of the population in the 18th and especially in the 19th century. After the end of the First World War, and even more so after the Second World War, the custom became more rare, although it did not entirely disappear.
The oldest surviving votive offerings are metal, but wooden ones are also common. These two materials have been used only in certain regions. Offerings made out of wax were the most common, as wax was an important offering to the Church. Votive paintings, which first appeared among the wealthy nobility in the 17th century, represent the most prestigious form of votive offering.
Votive paintings were quite common among the nobility, the wealthy bourgeoisie and the clergy in the 17th century. They were used to express gratitude for help in sickness and for escaping accidents or captivity. These votive offerings were most widespread in the 18th century, when the upper classes were joined by wealthier peasants in this activity. Their votive offerings most often expresed concern for or gave thanks for their livestock. It is only with the increasing individualisation in the 19th century that the motifs of votive paintings startet to express concern for specific individuals.
There are 17 votive paintings preserved in the Loreto Chapel of Maribor Castle from the period between 1661 and 1732.
In 1655 count Jurij Jernej Khisl, who was the owner of Maribor Castle at the time, ordered the construction of the Loreto chapel with a sacristy on the south-west corner of the building. Some of the original furnishings have survived, including a statue of the Black Virgin and Child from the mid-17th century. The statue is depicted also in a votive painting from 1666 with a praying woman kneeling in front of it. From the initials and the family coat of arms on the pillar, it can be deduced that the painting depicts the wife of Jurij Jernej Khisl, Anna Marija Khisl, née Berka.
Votive painting from the Loreto Chapel of Maribor Castle. Unknown painter, oil on canvas, 1666. Inv. no. N 26.
The belief in the miraculous power of Mary is also evident in a votive painting from 1677, depicting Countess Charlotta Polixsena Khisl, wife of Janez Jakob II, Count of Khisl, in prayer. The infant on the red cushion is probably their daughter Marija Eleonora, born in 1676.
Votive painting from the Loreto Chapel of Maribor Castle. Oil on canvas, 1677. Inv. no. N 994.
The votive painting, dated 1685, probably shows Janez Jakob II, count Khisl, in his sickbed and his wife Charlotta praying to the Madonna of Loreto.
Votive painting from the Loreto Chapel of Maribor Castle. Oil on canvas, 1685. Inv. no. N 999.
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