The handing over of yet another work of art recovered by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in cooperation with the Polish Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry took place on 16th April 2014 in the New Deputies’ Chamber in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. One of a series of 15 paintings portraying rosary secrets, by Michael Willmann (17th century painter called the Silesian Rembrandt) according to sources, the painting comes from St Martin’s Church in Siciny (Lower Silesia). Secretary of State in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and General Conservator of Monuments, Piotr Żuchowski took part in the press conference.

On 3rd October 2012, the Department of Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage received information about a sacred picture being put on auction on Ebay. The painting was most probably illegally transported out of Poland. It has been established that it is one of a series of 15 presentations of rosary mysteries from St Martin’s Church in Siciny, which was built in 1736 on the foundations of a 13th century Cistercian location. According to information conveyed by the Rev. Prof. Józef Pater, director of the Archdiocese Museum in Wrocław, the paintings were originally exhibited in the church foyer. After the theft of 2 of the series, which probably happened in the 80s or 90s, the remaining pieces were moved to the vestry. Later the paintings ended up in the vicarage. The American agency Homeland Security Investigations got involved in the case, which led to the recovery of the painting. The fortunes of the second painting remain unknown.

“The Resurrection of Christ” is one of a series of 15 presentations of the Rosary Mysteries. It is an oval oil painting measuring 31x23cm and was painted on wood. It is a bi-zonal composition - in the bottom half are the kneeling apostles, the one in the foreground lying down, and in the upper half - Jesus ascending to heaven (only the bottom half of Him is seen) among the clouds. Christ is in a red robe, the apostle lying down is in a blue cloak and a white robe. The whole presentation has an ochre-yellow-pink tone with colourful elements being the cloaks. The frame is gold-plated silver. In 1987 the painting together with the rest of the accessories from the church in Siciny were placed on the register of objects of cultural heritage.

Michael Leopold Willmann (1630-1706) is currently recognised as the most exceptional baroque artist in Silesia, closely connected with the counter-reformation and its resulting mysticism. His works can be found in many museums and monasteries mostly in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also in Germany, France, Austria, Romania and Hungary. In the most recent literature, in Willmann’s widest monographs, containing catalogues of the works of the artist and his style, there is no mention of this series of paintings  (A.Kozieł, Michael Willmann and his painting workshop, Wrocław 2013, published by Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego). For this reason, among others, the authorship of the Willmann school is doubtful. The painting most probably comes from the Axter workshop, which can be deduced from an initial dating of the painting. Ignaz Axter was a working artist in Silesia from 1735 to 1746. All of Axter’s works, known to researchers, have a religious theme: oil paintings destined for church interiors and fresco church decorations. His most important works are paintings on the domes of St Martin’s church in Siciny (1740) among others. They are characterised by a rococo decorativeness, light coloured tones and compositional schemes drawn from the works of Bentum and Felix Anton Scheffler. The painter’s works are filled by unnaturally lengthened human figures, shown without care for detail or depth of presentation. After 1746, Axter is impossible to find in source documents from Silesia.

The exact attribution of the painting will only be possible after appropriate research in the areas of conservation and history of art.