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YMAGO ANGELI BY TOMA RADOSLAVIĆ, GOLDSMITH FROM TROGIR
Kovačić Vanja
; Konzervatorski odjel u Splitu
Jadranka Neralić
; Hrvatski Institut za povijest, Zagreb
Sažetak
The authorship of a work of art can be determined on the grounds of two categories of evidence: the stylistic and the documentary. A surviving contract for a still extant work, which not only named the artist but also stipulated that the work in question was to be from his own hand, is the strongest form of evidence that satisfies both categories at once. Now, the Treasury of the Trogir cathedral still preserves a gothic silver statue of an angel, some 55 centimeters high, carrying the relic arm of Saint John the Confessor. In the eighteenth century the statue changed its aspect to conform to the contemporary fashion. It has always been exposed and carried in processions to be worshipped by the devoted citizens; nowadays it is being exposed on the high altar during the most solemn religious ceremonies.
In the most recent publication on the Trogir artistic masterpieces (Tesori della Croazia restaurati da Venetian Heritage Inc., edited in 2001) the precious silver reliquary statue with the arm of the Saint protector of Trogir, is described as the »partial reworking of a Gothic statue of St Lawrence, in the seventeenth century the sculpture was transformed into a baroque angel and destined to hold the relics of the Blessed John; the head and arms up to the elbows were replaced, and
large silver plated wings were attached to the back«. The author of this analysis supported the oppinion of Cvito Fisković, the best connoisseur of the Dalmatian artistic masterpieces. Because the angel figure was composed of several parts put together – the head, arms, hands, torso and the perforated base - he proposed that the original figure of St Lawrence dressed as a deacon, was transformed into the angel carrier of a relic, the head was exchanged, the hands were put in another
position, and the wings were attached. Obviously, this analysis was based only on the stylistic evidence. A parchment rotulus composeed of seven documents sewn together attracted our attention in the mass of recently restored and neatly preserved parchments in the Chapter archives of the Trogir cathedral. Although the rotulus has always been
there, its content was unknown until recently. The documents – dating from 23 October 1446 to 26 November 1453 - transcribed and edited in the appendix, reveal an intense and very important episode of the 15th century Trogir artistic life, concerning the commission and the making of the above mentioned silver statue. In the contract signed on Sunday 23 October 1446 by the archdeacon Luka, son of Ivan Škobalić, who acted as commissioner and executor of the last will of canon Grgur Duhović, and the goldsmith Toma Radoslavić, the silver statue of an angel to carry the relic, to be executed according to a design which the commissioner brought with him, is described in great detail; the terms of payments as well as the quantities of silver to be delivered periodically to the master goldsmith, were also stipulated precisely.
Thus, on the grounds of this documentary evidence – a contemporary contract - the authorship (can be attributed to th goldsmith from Trogir Toma Radoslavić), precise datation (the statue was commissioned on 23 October 1446, and was finally delivered on 26 November 1453) as well as its iconographic description (from the very begining it was supposed to be an angelus de argento cum allis et diademate ac nauicula in qua est dictum brachium insitum seu insertum) can
now be determined without any doubt. And above all, it might help us to identify the author of the first design of what the statue should have looked like that the artist-artisan Toma Radoslavić received from his commissioners. Very probably it was the painter Blaž Jurjev whose paintings decorated most of the churches in the town and its vicinity.
In the presence of such a perfect evidence, the name of Toma Radoslavić, highly gifted artisan with practical skills and creative artist possessing certain style, stands out. Regrettfully, apart from the silver angel reliquary for which the authorship is determined with certainty by this contract, there is not another extant work by Toma Radoslavić, for which such independent documentary evidence survived. Contemporary documentation of specific relevance to his biography
can be summarized along the few lines: the first surviving record of his name dates back to 1441 when he appears to be a member of the Holy Spirit Confraternity – the guild of artisans, builders, stone carvers, goldsmiths and painters. In 1443 he was a member of an embassy to the Venetian senate with a series of demands in favour of the commune. Together with Nikola Marković master Toma is present
in the document dated 22 Decembr 1449, related to the testamentary bequeaths of Nikola, son of Marko Scuto. In the same year he acted as executor of the testamentary bequeaths of Milica, wife of Novak who could be a close relative (if not a brother?) of magister Stephanus Radoslavich, barberius et supanus of the Trogir franciscans Confraternity of Saint Mary, who stipulated a contract with painter
Blaž Jurjev commissioning a polyptych for the high altar of their church on 15 November 1437. Master Toma’s last will was drawn by the communal notary Jacomo de Viviano in 1445; on the basis of the last document of the rotulus, written on 26 November 1453 in his house where he was lying seriously sick in his bed, it can be assumed that the death arrived soon after. The contract stipulated between the archdeacon of the Trogir cathedral and the gifted goldsmith offered the possibility to examine the ecclesiastical circles of Trogir in the 1440ies. Unedited documents kept in the Vatican Secret Archives, Chapter Archives of the Trogir cathedral and those of the State Archives of Zadar, were used to establish the pattern of the ecclesiastical careers and add information to the biographies of some of the most outstanding ecclesiastical personalities active in the town during the 1440ies. The study comprises a whole gallery of priests who occupied the most prominent positions in the town’s most important
ecclesiastical institutions: the cathedral with its chapter and the benedictine abbey of Saiunt John the Baptist. The reader will find some new elements for the biography of bishop Angelo Cavazza – appointed to the Trogir see on 11 April 1440, who arrived to his diocese after having achieved a very successful career in the Apostolic Chamber. Completely unknown data were offered for the biography of Nikola Lovrin, the abbot of the most important benedictine abbey in the town, - appointed on 22 March 1427 and very active in the life of the town for some forty years; and the members of the cathedral chapter: archdeacons Luka Elie and Luka Ivanov Škobalić, archpriest Grgur Naviačić, primicerii Zanino (Ioanino) Stojšić and Bertan Markov, canon Grgur Duhović and cleric Matej Mihovilić, whose private lives and personal strategies in pursuing ecclesiastical careers have been curiously intricated for decades. Bishop Angelo Cavazza, the key figure of the 1440ies Trogir, managed to gather the dignitaries of his chapter and some of the most prominent patrician families around the project of the reconstruction of the cathedral badly damaged in the summer 1420. While the efforts of the bishop were concentrated on the construction of the sacristy, the noble lady Nicolota Sobota financed the construction of the St Gerome’s chapel providing it with liturgical books, lavish decoration and a benefice. The members of the cathedral chapter, as this contract clearly evidences, engaged important local artists and artisans, who produced some of the most important liturgical objects in gold and silver, as well as precious devotional
works of art. The enthusiasm of the bishop and »his men« was followed
by that of the artisans active in the town – above all goldsmiths and painters. The activities of several goldsmiths close to the cathedral and major churches are reconstructed. The last will of master Stjepan, son of Juraj Chostion, close to the Franciscan friary outside the town walls, written in October 1435 revealed a very rich artisan, who bequeated conspicuous sums of money for important liturgical objects and works of art – silver crosses, calices, codices, paintings and statues to various ecclesiastical institution in the town. Master Stjepan must have been
a prominent figure in the town, and so were masters Andrija Vukoslavić, Juraj Ljubavčić, Ivan Rustić, Matej Pomenić, Lovro Stjepanov, Tvrtko Neorisdal (Neorić), Stjepan Petrov Rankolin, whose names frequently appear in contemporary contracts and notarial documents. The name of another master goldsmith, that of Toma Radoslavić, can now be added to the long list of the outstanding artists
active in Trogir.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
109702
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.8.2008.
Posjeta: 1.688 *