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A Wall Painting by Alberto (de Constancia) in the Parish Church of Saint George in Plomin (1475)
Srećko Greblo
; Državna uprava za zaštitu kulturne i prirodne baštine, Rijeka
Sažetak
In the course of rebuilding the parish church in Plomin (lstria) in 1994-
1995, a team of conservators from Rijeka discovered an imposing wall painting on the western lateral wall of the one-nave parish church of Saint George.
The large central area of this monumental composition (3,60 x 2,97 m) represents the seated figure of the Madonna and Child. The heavily damaged face of the Madonna is surmounted by a rich crown. She is flanked by two angels kneeling in adoration. In the upper left-hand part of the composition, stands the bearded and robust figure of Saint John the Baptist, complemented on the right by the representation of a youthful Saint John the Evangelist. Both figures are shortened rather clumsily.
Two inscriptions identical in content, one in Latin, the other in glagolitic, tell us that this work was painted in 1475 by Alberto de Constancia, in order to atone for his sins and honour Our Lady. The entire composition and some of its parts are decorated by borders. The “Master” Alberto is
known to Croatian art historians; he painted and signed two altar wall paintings in Paz (Istria), in 1461. The Plomin wall triptych was painted fourteen years later and is characterized by excellent drawing, and painted in true technique in a belated international Gothic "soft" style. Typologically and morphologically it follows the five-part two tiered triptych structure, pointing back to a Venetian Trecentesque manner, which however was revived in the 1440s. Thus, in this fresco depicting one of the favourite fourteenth-century motifs - the Galaktotrophousa - one also discerns some stylistic traits of the early fifteenth century.
Albert was an eclectic using various stylistic sources, but relying mostly on the combination of two influences: one coming from Northern ltaly, the other combining the Czech and German tradition of beautiful Madonnas. The former relies on the aesthetics of three Italian painters in particular: Nicolo di Pietro, Zanino di Pietro and Michele Gianbono, which is discussed in detail in the paper.
Although Albert clearly follows certain stylistic patterns of the first quarter of the fifteenth century, his style nevertheless bears some personal characteristics. His figures strike us as rather flat, but the artist tries to compensate for this flatness with the strength of line as a basic means of expression, and builds up the volume of the figures with tones and gradations enhanced by lighting effects. One can find certain new elements in some proto-Renaissance details: some attempts to deal with perspective, to foreshorten the figures of saints (not too successfully), to render the halos in perspective and perhaps give a "Renaissance" touch to the throne.
The triptych of Plomin is an imposing painted "tapestry" which has no parallel in Istrian wall painting and which has brought back from oblivion the insufficiently studied work of Master Alberto. In this wall composition he expresses a belated artistic ideal at his own artistic best. Therefore, his work must be included in the inventory of the Croatian artistic heritage as a contribution of the first order to the culture of a region which at that time was “marginal" for Europe. Within that framework the fresco from Plomin remains (at least for the time being) one of the most valuable examples of the international Gothic style in the painting of Istria.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
138677
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.1996.
Posjeta: 1.675 *