https://doi.org/10.21697/an.13463
The great altar in the Kaunas Bernardine Church, distinctive in its form and size, has received little attention from researchers. The date considered as the time of its construction turned out to be the date of the altar's foundation itself, not its actual realization. This article presents a hitherto unrecognized model for this altar, which was one of the engravings of Historische Bilder-Bibel by Johann Ulrich Kraus published in 1705. The degree of dependence on the original is exceptional, as evidenced not only by the repetition of the architectural structure, but also program, and the arrangement of the figures' gestures and clothing, albeit with a distinct provincialism of execution.
The engraving, entitled Königen in Jerusalem, constituted a frontispiece to the Books of Kings of the Bible. Noteworthy is the fundamental rearrangement of the composition's structure by replacing the figure of Solomon with that of the Virgin Mary, and selecting the figures of the kings of Judah not based on the pattern in the engraving but on the genealogy of Jesus given in the Gospel, as well as adding two female figures of Old Testament – prefigures of Virgin Mary: Rachel and Judith.
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