Since 2009, the Sacred Art Center has been housing and exhibiting a unique collection of artwork and a rich personal library of Monsignor Albertas Talačka, a long – time priest of Anykščiai St. Matthew’s Church. Although the collection is not large, it is valuable: the artwork (mainly paintings) dates XVII – XX century; the legacy also includes some sculpture and graphic works.
The personal library of A. Talačka in the Sacred Art Center contains more than 4,000 books and about 400 manuscripts. It contains publications, valuable albums and books in German, English, Russian and other languages.
The Sacred Art Center regularly hosts cultural events: concerts, exhibitions, meetings, book presentations and educational classes.
Albertas Talačka was born in 1921, 19 November in Papyvėsiai village (Krinčino parish, Pasvalys district). After graduating from the Krinčinas Primary School, Pasvalys Gymnasium and teacher training courses in 1941-1942 he was a teacher at Kalneliškės Primary School. 1942 -1947m. studied at Kaunas Theological Seminary. 1947 m. 29 June Albertas Talačka was ordained as a priest in Panevėžys Cathedral and worked in Naujamiestis, Šeduva, Panevėžys, Lukštai and Rokiškis. Since 1969, he worked as the pastor of Anykščiai St. Matthew’s Church and the dean of Anykščiai Deanery. During the Soviet era, A. Talačka was known for supporting emerging young artists. Over the years, the Anykščiai Shrine has been decorated with stained glass windows, the Stations of the Cross carved out of wood by folk artist R. Idzelis, artistic monuments to the priests buried in the churchyard, and the memory of the famous Anykščiai priests K. Sirvydas and K. Kairis. Efforts were made to replace the worn-out organ and to erect a monument to Bishop Antanas Baranauskas — all of this is not only the result of vision, but also of unwavering determination, reflecting a deep understanding of true values and a clear sense of purpose. A. Talačka passed away in 12 of December, 1999 in Anykščiai. He was buried in the new Anykščiai cemetery.
Monsignor Albert Talačka’s art collection includes over 50 works of art. The most valuable part of the collection consists of seven 17th- to 20th-century works by unknown and well-known artists from Western Europe and Lithuania.
“The Entrance of Mary into the Temple”
The undisputed masterpiece of the collection is the composition “The Entrance of the Virgin Mary into the Temple” by the Flemish artist Frans Francken II (1581 in Antwerp – 1642 in the same place) and Philips de Marlier (c.1600 in Antwerp – 1667/8 in the same place), a work worthy of hanging in the permanent exhibition of any museum, not only in Lithuania but also abroad. Among the most valuable examples of Western European paintings preserved in Lithuania is the portrait of Prince Franciszek Sapiega (1772-1829), a popular portrait of the nobility of Europe from the late 18th to the early 19th century by the Austrian painter Johann Baptist Lampi (1751-1830), who was the elder of Užpaliai and a general of the Lithuanian army. Before the Second World War, this portrait was in the Rokiškis manor, where it hung alongside portraits of other members of the manor’s owners’ family (Franciszek Sapiega was the great-grandfather of Alexander Pšezdzeckis, who married Marija Tyzenhauzaitė). The exact same portrait of P. Sapiega painted by J. B. Lampis is kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It came here from the Sapiega collections (author’s replicas of the same portrait for different collections were commonplace at the time).
XVII century. I p.
St. Virgin Mary and Child
The collection’s unique and almost unique exhibit is a small picture painted on a wooden board depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary seated on a throne. The Virgin Mary and Child. Radiating sacredness, painted with sensitivity and great delicacy, it is reminiscent of the works of the Italian masters of the early Renaissance and relates to the revival and renewal of sacred art in the 19th century. vid. Works by European artists (Nazarenes, Pre-Raphaelites, Purists, etc.). There are hardly any examples of them (especially of such a high artistic level) in Lithuania.
XIX century.
“Self-portrait”
An equally interesting work in the collection of A. Talačka is “Self-Portrait” by Szymon Czechowicz (1689-1775), a Croatian painter who also worked for a time in Lithuania. According to oral tradition, the artist painted this self-portrait in 1775. just before death. It is known that before the Second World War it was in the collection of Jonas Pšezdzeckis at the Rokiškis Manor. XIX century. In the middle of the construction of a tombstone for S. Čechavičius in the Capuchin Church in Warsaw, one of the organisers of the installation of the tombstone borrowed the Autoportrait from Rokiskis. Several copies were then made. Is the “Self-Portrait” in the monsignor’s collection the original that was in the Rokiškis manor, or is it one of the 19th-century paintings? vid. copies remains an intriguing question for future research.
18th century.
Portrait of an unknown man
The portrait of Anton Henrik Radvila (1775-1833) by Jan Rustem (1762-1835), one of the most famous artists of the Vilnius School of Art and a long-time professor of the Department of Drawing and Painting at Vilnius University, also belongs to the golden fund of Lithuanian art. It is a small-format work depicting a bust of the sitter. It is painted in a lively and spirited manner, with a lyricism and dreaminess characteristic of the artist’s style. Many similar portraits painted by J. Rustemas were scattered around Lithuanian estates in the first half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. A number of them were also on display at the above-mentioned Rokiškis manor.
XIII – XIX centuries.
The Monsignor’scollection also includes 20th-century. Lithuanian art classics Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (1876-1966), Kazis Šimonis (1887-1978), Jonas Janulis (1888-1973), Česlovas Kontrimas (1902-1989), contemporary artists Bronius Uogintas (b. 1946), Vaidotas Žukas (b. 1956), Aistė Ramūnaitė (b. 1957), Egidijus Rudinskas (b. 1962), etc. works. The dominant theme is religious (K. Šimonis’s “Peace” and “Christ”, J. Janulis’s “Creation of the World”, V. Žukas’s “Crucified”) and Lithuanian landscapes. There are also more complex compositions with a poetic mood, suggestive of philosophical reflections (A. Ramūnaitė’s “Chess”, E. Rudinskas’s “Fruits”).
In addition to paintings and graphic works, Talačka’s collection includes several sculptures (statues of saints, bas-reliefs, crucifixes) created by professional artists or carved by folk masters. Professional church art is represented by the sculptures “St. Ambrose” and “St. Gregory the Great”, most likely formerly belonging to the sculptural group of the Four Church Fathers. Among the folk stylistic works, we should mention the carving of the Holy Virgin Mary by Lionginas Šepka (1907-1985), one of the most famous and original Lithuanian woodworkers. A sculpture of the Virgin Mary, the sincere and distinctive works of J. Mockūnas (bas-relief “Sacrifice of the Mass”, crucifix).
Art critic Dalia Tarandaitė
