Ars Adriatica, No. 3, 2013.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Silver Fragment of the Gothic Proccessional Cross from Olim with the Image of St. Anastasia
Marijana Kovačević
; Odjel za povijest umjetnosti Sveučilišta u Zadru
Sažetak
This paper discusses an interesting silver fragment showing an image of a saint which was found a few years ago in the rectory of the island of Olib. Based on a thorough comparison of the fragment with similar liturgical objects from the wider area of Zadar, especially with the processional cross from Vlašići (Pag), the authoress proposes that the fragment once belonged to a Gothic proccessional cross dating from the end of the 14th century and that it was nailed as the middle part of its reverse side. The image of the saint depicted on this fragment is identified, based partly on the place of its discovery, with the patron saint of the parish of Olib, St. Anastasia. This identification is further strenghtened also by an iconographical analysis of various depictions of St. Ananstasia in Romanesque and Gothic art of Zadar and its area, especially in goldsmiths’ work of the time, where there are relatively many of her images considering that St. Anastasia was the patron saint of Zadar cathedral, where her relic was treasured for centuries, and also one of four main patron saints of this important Adriatic city. That analysis led to the conclusion that there was a certain evolutive change in the depiction of the saintly patroness during that era, and that, starting form our fragment and the end of the 14th century, she is more often adorned with a book as her standard attribute.
It was also noted that the image depicted on the Olib fragment may, perhaps, be identified with St. Catherine of Alexandria who was also often depicted with a book. Namely, she was the patron saint of a church in Novigrad, a small medieval town situated in the hinterland of Zadar, whence its inhabitants could have brought a whole cross, or solely this fragment, centuries after its making, as C. F. Bianchi recorded thet they brought to Olib a worshipped painting when fleeing from the Turks. This move of the local treasure from Novigrad to Olib in times of crisis and flight would thus coincide with the same practice of the move of the processional cross from Gorica to Pašman, as proposed by N. Jakšić. The stumbling stone of this theory is, of, course, the existence of the 14th century processional cross in Novigrad, with very similar image of St. Catherine on its reverse. Although she is iconographically coherent with the saintly image on the fragment from Olib, it is rather difficult to explain the making of two similar processional crosses in such a short period of time, since the evident stylistic and tehnical differences between the two images allow only for a short time difference. On the other hand, if the saint on the Olib fragment indeed is St. Anastasia, this would mean that the parish church of Olib regularly refurbished its liturgical equipment during the period of less than two centuries, since one processional cross from Olib older than our fragment has also survived, still partly Romanesque in its morphology and iconography, as well as has survived the late 15th century cross attributed to Toma Martinov, goldsmith from Zadar, whose style is already Rennaissance in many aspects. In course of the search for the images of St. Anastasia in the medieval goldsmiths’ work of Zadar it was also observed that the long established iconographical identification of the figures depicted on the luxurious bishop’s staff of the archbishop Maffeo Vallaresso (1460) has to be partially revised.
Ključne riječi
Olib; goldsmith; Gothic art; proccessional cross; St. Anastasia; Novigrad; bishop’s staff of archibshop Maffeo Vallaresso
Hrčak ID:
112099
URI
Datum izdavanja:
13.12.2013.
Posjeta: 2.113 *