The Iconography of the Former Main Altar of St. Martin by Georg Raphael Donner in St. Martin‘s Cathedral in Bratislava

Abstract

The sculptural group of St. Martin and the Beggar by Georg Raphael Donner, which was part of the eponymous altar in St. Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava commissioned by the Primate Emericus Esterházy in 1733, is one of the most important works of art of the first half of the 18th century. This article aims to analyse the probable iconographic models for the Bratislava sculptural group, the iconographic type of St. Martin on horseback and the beggar in the context of the researched work of art, and the atypical elements of the sculptural group, in which authors have searched for specific meanings to this day.