94 The Church of Our Lady od Špilice – St Mary retable / St Joseph retable in a double L-shape, were arranged along the walls. The two 17th-century retables, which will be discussed here, were reduced in size and placed on both sides of the triumphal arch. According to a description by the Jesuit Ivan Marija Matijašević from 1773, the St Mary retable had been standing on the western Wall near the sanctuary.67 The St Joseph retable was not mentioned in that source. Description68 Both retables are shaped in the form of the classical aedicula with a halfcolumn on both sides, corinthian capitals, ornamented architrave and a split gable. The columns are divided into an ornamented lower part of the shaft and a fluted upper area. The left retable is coloured in a reddish brown and gold, the right is bright blue with gilded ornaments. The general construction is based on the manufacture of separate elements, which were then combined to form the shape of the aedicula. Both retables follow the same general set-up. It is likely that there was once a predella on which the two columns and the adjacent jamb boxes were placed. On top of these, the entablatura is positioned as a separate carpentry element. The two elements of the split gable were mounted on top of the architrave. Every unit has been carpentered separately from coniferous boards. All elements which were decorated by carving are made from softwood like willow, poplar, etc. and were attached to the basic construction with nails. All joints between boards were made using hand-forged iron nails. In shape, construction and carved decorative elements these retables are closely related to the Annunciation retable in the church of Our Lady of Šunj (1637). They show great similarity and were most probably made in the same carpenter’s workshop, and during the same period. So far, no archival traces have been found that would give a more precise date of their making. But unlike the Annunciation retable, these two retables were not intended for the place in which they are now installed: they were modified and rearranged to fit into their present position. In the course of this modification, the current paintings were taken from somewhere else and transformed to fit the inner niche of the retables. The former (original) content of the aediculae is
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