Didactica picta : eine Untersuchung zur Bilddidaktik in der Jesuitenkirche in Olmütz

In 1716 the Olomouc Jesuit Church was dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows. Subsequently, a new interior decoration was commissioned which shows the faithful the miraculous power of Mary depicted on the altarpiece and the ceiling painting. The two paintings are linked by the Roman Salus Populi Romani icon, which is portrayed using a picture in picture motif in different situations. The correspondence between the archetype and the image – to which the painting of Luke refers – is crucial for the prototype's concept, since sacred pictures were only allowed to show the vera effigies of the saints. This is shown in the design of the ceiling painting by Johann Christoph Handke in the St Francis-Xavier Chapel. There, the vision of the saint appearing at a friar's sickbed resembles the image of the saint standing beside the bed. Thus the ceiling painting shows the visitor that the image of St Francis Xavier placed in the chapel also reflects the saint's real portrait. Ornamental pictures in sacred rooms could thus not only illustrate the history of salvation, they also conveyed Catholic dogmas to the faithful through pictures, showing that the Catholic veneration of saints and images was to be praised.