Izvorni znanstveni članak
Trogir and Hvar opus of TRIFUN BOKANIĆ
Radoslav Bužančić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4661-852X
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture u Trogiru
Sažetak
The Bokanić family became famous due to its many renowned members, and above all builders, the most famous of which was Trifun Bokanić (1575 – 1609), an architect and sculptor, who during his short life left an extremely rich opus. The bell towers and city loggias of Trogir and Hvar, the altars on the island of Hvar and Zadar,
the renovations of their cathedrals and squares, all of them are works of this master craftsman that number him among the greatest builders of his time. Trifun and his father Jerolim Bokanić worked in the 16th century together with Trifun’s brothers and cousins Vicko, Petar, Šimun and Stjepan, while in the 17th century, besides Šimun and
Stjepan, there are records about Ivan Bokanić who worked on the bell tower of the church of the Dominican Monastery in Bol on the island of Brač. Trifun Bokanić finished working on the bell tower of the Trogir Cathedral with stone from the Čiovo and Drvenik quarries between the years of 1597 and 1603.
He was paid 1800 ducats for his work. The signed contract regarding the building of the bell tower mentions his father’s workshop, builders from Pučišća and their co-workers: brothers Petar and Nikola, cousins Jeronim and Ivan, and Ivan Ozarević, a stonemason from Šibenik. In 1603, Trifun Bokanić finished the work on the bell tower according to his own drawings. The executive drawing in 1:1 scale is engraved
in the paving of the floor of the south loggia of the Cathedral. The drawing shows the top of the bell tower which is completely different from the present top, which was wrongly considered to be Bokanić’s work. The bell tower got its present appearance in the reconstruction, after its top was destroyed due to the strike of thunder on April
14th, 1653. The restoration of the loggia was done in 1669 for the bishop John Paul. According to the drawing, the Trogir bell tower from Bokanić’s time was finished with the loggia having a parallelogram layout which had eight biforates and above which there was a Late Renaissance wreath and a Late Gothic balustrade. At the top
floor, above the balcony with the balustrade, there was an octagonal tambour, the base of the eight-faced pyramid with faces that were much less steep than the present faces, like the top of the bell tower of the Dominican church of Saint Marc on the island of Hvar. The octagonal pyramid of the Bokanić’s bell tower is also confirmed
by the drawing containing the geometrical construction of the tumbled rib of thepyramid and reinforced corners of the bell tower which were made with stone diagonal blocks set up during the building of its loggia. We can recognize Bokanić’s hand on the preserved wreath of the bell tower’s loggia, with typical decorations from hisstatuary repertoire. Between the two profiles there are metope divided with two bent consoles and decorated with reliefs among which some display pears, melons, acanthuses and roses, while some display people’s faces, lion and ram heads and mascaron ornaments. One of them contains the coat of arms of the city’s Duke Girolamo Minio
(1596 – 1598). The inscription at the bottom of the bell tower mentions the Trogir Duke Dominico Minio (1598 – 1601).
The coat of arms at the bell tower’s loggia, which marks the completion of the work, belonged to the city Duke Alvise Bembo (1601 – 1604). Some other works from the Bokanić’s workshop were also recognized; the bell towers of the Benedictine Monasteries of Saint Nicholas and Saint Michael. The South City Gates, which together
with the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Nicholas, leads to the city port, were built in 1593, during the time of the Trogir Duke Delfin Delfino. The inscription on the lintel puts the gate in the time when Trifun’s father, Jeronim Bokanić’s workshop was active in Trogir. Its formative repertoire can be recognized in semi – circular pilasters with alternately placed “bugnato” and finely carved segments, lined with
the lintel with prongs and on consoles of the base of the relief with the Venetian lion, decorated with a ribbon on its main part with an ornament in the form of folded ducats. After the City Gate was made, the construction of the bell tower of the Benedictine church of Saint Nicholas was also finished in 1598. The architecture of the bell tower is defined by a characteristic octagonal loggia of the bell tower, closed
in the tradition of the Benedictine cloisters. On the four corners of the stone wreath of the loggia, there were the late Renaissance phials, conic elongated pyramids which resemble small obelisks. That was an architectural decorative element that Trifun Bokanić often used, for instance, on the City Loggia in Hvar. During the time of the city Duke Dominico Minio, Bokanić put the pyramid in the shape of an obelisk in
order to mark the square design in front of the big Cipicco palace, on the Trogir city square which was finished in 1600.
The flagpole of the flag bearing the coat of arms of the Duke Ambrogio Cornaro carved among acanthus’ leaves on the capital was made in 1605. A year later, in 1606,
Trifun Bokanić restored the Trogir City Loggia for the same duke. He made benches alongside the eastern and southern walls, as well as the stone judge’s bench decorated with coats of arms of Ambrogio Cornaro and the city of Trogir which were carved on the volutes of its massive stone legs and luxuriously decorated stone coats of arms
hung next to the Florentine’s relief of the Justice. In that same year, Trifun Bokanić made a fireplace in the mannerist style, decorated with bent consoles with lion paws and mascaron ornaments. The fireplace is in the Quarco house, situated north of the Cathedral. The initials of Francesco Quarco and the year 1606 are carved in it. The following year, the construction of the Communal Palace continued; the
Palace bears the coat of arms and the inscription of the city Duke Alvise Morosini (1606 – 1609). Trifun Bokanić reconstructed the second floor of the Palace, which was, during the previous century, built by Nicholas of Florentine, as could be seen on the windows of the ground floor. Morosini’s coat of arms and the tablet with an
inscription are brought out on the front façade of the Trogir Communal Palace. An excellent stonemasonry and statuary work is the work of an exquisite stonemason andsculptor, while the ornaments characteristic for Bokanić’s repertoire point to Trifun, for whom that would be one of his mature works. The first floor of the Palace has elongated arched windows, from whose header stones watch carved faces so much like those characteristic heads found in headers
of Trifun’s altars. One of the last works of Trifun Bokanić, could be the coat of arms of Dominico Contarini, from 1609. It is placed in the yard of the Communal Palace, above the staircase which led to the hall of the City Noble Council. A typical mascaron ornament, which Bokanić often uses as a decorative element, is on the coat of arms. We also find it on the wreath of Trogir’s Cathedral’s bell tower, on the fire
place in the house of Quarco and on many of his other works.
In Zadar, Bokanić built the altar of the Benedictine church of Saint Mary which was later transported to the Nin church. Trifun signed on that altar with carved capital letters.
The building of the older and unfinished Zadar church of Saint Simeon (1572 – 1600) built on the city market south of the demolished church of Saint Mary the Great, is also attributed to Trifun. The project was commissioned after 1572 to a Venetian architect, while the actual construction was consigned to local craftsmen.
The Palladian classicistic project left an enormous influence on young Trifun Bokanić, who according to Marković, participated in the construction of the unfinished church around year 1600.
The front façade of the Church of Saint Simeon shows the influence of the Venetian architecture from the middle of the 16th century, with recognizable classical solutions. Sanmicheli and Palladio were in Dalmatia because of the building and studying classical antiquity architecture, while Bokanić could see the drawings of these two great architects in his homeland. Sanmicheli, the architect of Zadar’s fortifications and monumental City Gates erected all’ antica, had an undoubtedly great influence on Trifun Bokanić who saw his work during his stay in Zadar, during the building of the church of Saint Simeon. Sanmicheli’s influence is the most obvious on the Hvar City Loggia which was considered to be one of Sanmicheli’s works, until
the comparison of documents showed that it belongs to the opus of Trifun Bokanić.
While working in Trogir and Zadar, Trifun at the same time worked in Hvar as well. We can recognize his work in big interventions on the Hvar city square.
Documents connect him to the building of the altar of the Madonna Chapel from the Hvar Cathedral from 1605, which was later transported to the Brusje church; Fisković connected written documents which mention the master craftsman and Bokanić’s manneristic style in which the City Loggia of Hvar is erected and finished during the time of Giulio Contarini, 1603 – 1605. The recent researches have connected Trifun Bokanić with the reconstruction of the Hvar Dominican Church and the bell tower of Saint Marc. The reconstructed loggia of the Saint Marc’s bell tower has typical ornaments of rosettes and angel heads.
Opposite the City Loggia, facing the city harbor, is the Arsenal building. It was built in the 16th century, in place of the earlier warehouse which was destroyed during the attack on Hvar in 1571. Its reconstruction lasted up to the beginning of the 17th century and the works were finished in 1607. The Arsenal building was up-built evenafter that, the inscription on its eastern doors mentions the year 1611, while above the entrance door on the first floor, on its terrace, the year 1612 was carved in, thus marking the end of the building of the Renaissance Theater which is situated on its first floor. The finishing of the Arsenal building and the building of Fontico, as well
as the construction of the Theater, are all connected to the proveditore Semitecolo, during the period between the years of 1610 – 1613, though the construction of the ground floor arches is mentioned in 1609 in the report of the proveditore general
Marcantonio Venier, who mentioned that during the time of his report, two more arches were being built for finishing the first part of the construction.
The workshop of the Bokanićs from Pučišća could take part in the reconstruction and renovation of the Arsenal building because it was active in there at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. The rare stylistic elements and forms that the Bokanićs often used also indicate to their participation. The profiling of the great arch of the Arsenal building with dents is the arch version of the Trogir lintel of the South City Gates with the completely same formation of profiles, while the ornament of its wreath, although much bigger, is a common decoration on ribbons which frame the fields of the coats of arms which are attributed to Trifun Bokanić.
The doors of the northern façade of the Fontico with arched openings between which are the stone benches on elongated bent consoles, are made in the manner frequently used by the Bokanić workshop with alternate rhythm of blocks and finely carved pillows. The drawing of the similar doors from the Bokanić production in 1:1 scale
is carved into the floor of the Pučišća church the Madonna of Batak over the smooth tablets of family tombstones of the distinguished builders, master craftsmen Petar and Vicko Bokanić, from 1546. Besides all the above mentioned, the characteristic shaping of the balustrade of the Fontico terrace goes in favor of the Bokanić’s work
on the Hvar Arsenal building. The present balustrade is not the original one, while the original balustrade of the Fontico remained on the drawing which shows the line of stone pyramids above the fence. Bokanić frequently used, as it was mentioned earlier, the motif of the conic elongated pyramid – phial. He made them on the balustrade
of the Hvar City Loggia, on the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Trogir, and the monument of the Trogir Duke Dominico Minio placed in front of the Trogir Cathedral has the same shape. From all the above mentioned, it can be concluded that the role of Trifun Bokanić in the renovation of Hvar was much bigger than has been
considered so far. He worked on the Cathedral, the church and the bell tower of the Dominican Monastery, the City Loggia, the Arsenal building and the Fontico. The renovation of the Hvar main city square points out to his urbanistic work, the same as the expansion of the Trogir city square in 1600.
The comparison of its proportions of the parts of elongated square which ends in the war harbor bounded with the City Loggia with the Duke’s palace and the Arsenal, leads us to think that at the beginning of the 17th century, the city of Hvar implemented the planned regulation of the city centre which was done in the mannerist style.
With that intervention, its urban bipolarity, very frequent in the development of port towns, is lessened by the new junction of Groda (city) and Burg (suburb).
The opus of the architect and builder from Pučišća on the island of Brač, Trifun Bokanić, is neither valorized enough, nor is his work monographically analyzed. Weare also far away from the recognition of his artistic expression as a personal contribution to the development of the mannerist style of Late Renaissance Dalmatia. For
the beginning, it would be enough to set his place within his family shop which, for almost two decades, was the leading building workshop of the middle of Dalmatia.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
64010
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.8.2010.
Posjeta: 4.906 *