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Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 95 (2001): Our Past

Articles

"The Census at Bethlehem" in the Marian cycle of the church in Tarłowo

  • Lidia Kwiatkowska-Frejlich
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2001.95.135-166  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2001-06-30

Abstract

The walls of the Holy Trinity church at Tarłów in the Diocese of Sandomierz are adorned with an interesting cycle of pictures showing the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are executed in a variety of techniques, stucco, al fresco, and oil. The cycle includes "The Census at Bethlehem", a subject rarely found in art, although it is a biblical scene (Lk 2,1-5). Experts who have studied the few visual representations of the scene see the reason for its scarcity in the negligible doctrinal importance of the event and its small value for plot construction in the cycles. It seems to have been chosen merely to show why Joseph left for Bethlehem. The picture from Tarłów shows the chief participants of the event, Mary, Joseph, and the tax collectors. Surprisingly, the money is paid by Mary, and not by Joseph. Why did the artist decide to break away from the Jewish tradition? The answer must be sought in the circumstances of the foundation of the church. The cycle is an element of a homogeneous arrangement of the interior of the church, commissioned by Mikołaj and Zbigniew Oleśnicki and completed in 1655. They sponsored the Tarłów foundation after their conversion to Catholicism from Arianism. An iconographic analysis of the church interior indicates that it contains a reply, grounded in Catholic doctrine, to the ideas of the Polish antitrinitarians (known as Arians or Polish Brethren). The Marian cycle reaffirms the Catholic belief in the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. The way the characters are arranged in "The Census at Bethlehem" indicates that the artist's intention was to emphasize Jesus's Davidian descent on the distaff side, through Mary rather than Joseph. This can be seen as a polemic against the view that Jesus was Joseph's natural son while Mary descended from the line of Aaron, an opinion popularized among the Polish antitrinitarians by Szymon Budny. The Tarłów interior suggests that the scene "The Census at Bethlehem" may after all convey an important message in connection with the Catholic teaching about the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

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