heritage Article Materials and Techniques of Selected Mural Paintings on the “Gothic Road” around 1400 (Slovakia) Anabelle Kriznar 1,2, * and Jana Želinská 3   Citation: Kriznar, A.; Želinská, J. Materials and Techniques of Selected Mural Paintings on the “Gothic Road” around 1400 (Slovakia). Heritage 2021, 4, 4105–4125. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/heritage4040226 Academic Editors: Nikolaos Laskaris, Georgios Mastrotheodoros, Maria Kaparou and Artemios Oikonomou Received: 22 August 2021 Accepted: 28 October 2021 Published: 31 October 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 Department of Sculpture and Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Seville, 41003 Seville, Spain 3 Chemical-Technological Department, Monuments Board of RS, 81406 Bratislava, Slovakia; jana.zelinska@pamiatky.gov.sk * Correspondence: akriznar@us.es Abstract: Mural cycles in the churches of Plešivec, ˇ Chyžné, and Štitnik from around 1400 were studied from the material and technical point of view. Stylistically, they show a mixture of Northern and Southern European stylistic currents, which were characteristic for the time around 1400 in East Central Europe. After a precise study in situ, an analysis of extracted samples was conducted by OM, SEM-EDX, and XRD. The plasters used for these murals were all made of lime and sand with different impurities; importantly, they different among each other in terms of their quality and stability. The pigments that were used in these murals were natural and organic: lime white, yellow and red earths, malachite, and azurite were identified, and some pigment degradations were also pointed out. The principal technique is a fresco, but all murals were finished a secco in different proportions, using an organic binder. Painting procedures and modelling were also studied, revealing a strong difference among all three cycles. The painting technique does not always correspond to the style. Keywords: medieval mural paintings; plasters; pigments; painting techniques; material analysis 1. Introduction Around 1400, the geographical area of East Central Europe (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia) was an important crossroad between political, economic, social as well as cultural and artistic currents from Northern and Southern Europe. This situation can be clearly observed through the complex style of contemporary artworks as well as in their technical execution and in the use of materials and painting procedures. The present research is centred on mural paintings in Slovakia, which provide a very good example of what was happening around 1400. It is a part of a wider project that is still going on that investigates the entire area mentioned above. Conserved artworks reveal a mixture of influences from the North—Bohemian, Hungarian, and Austrian art, as well as from the South, especially Italian Trecento, both of which are incorporated into the local style. This diverse artistic language can be appreciated in selected mural paintings from several localities in Slovakia, with a special interest on those found along the so called “Gothic road” in the area of Rož ˇ nava/Gemer: the former St. George church in Plešivec (1370-80), the church of St. Mary’s Annunciation in Chyžné (end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries), and in the Evangelical church in Štitnik (beginning of the 15th century), as the best examples. There is no direct stylistic connection among the three of them, but they all show strong Italian Trecento influence. A lot has been published about the style and history of all three monuments, especially in Slovak literature [1–4]. In Plešivec, the whole presbytery is decorated with murals, and some fragments have also been discovered in the nave. In this research, only paintings in the presbytery have been taken into consideration. They count among the best examples of gothic art in Slovakia. In the presbytery, scenes from Christ’s childhood and Passion are depicted, and these paintings were completed by two different Heritage 2021, 4, 4105–4125. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040226 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage