Ars Adriatica, No. 2, 2012.
Original scientific paper
Mariegola (Statute) of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Tenderness and St John the Baptist in the Research Library at Zadar
Emil Hilje
; Department of History of Art, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zadar
Abstract
The Mariegola of Our Lady of Tenderness and St John the Baptist and St John the Baptist (Mariegola della B. V. d’Umiltà e di S. Giovanni Battista del Tempi in Venetia) was obtained at Venice in the mid-nineteenth century by Aleksandar Paravia. The Paravia Library was bequeathed to the Research Library at Zadar, where this work is kept today. It is a codex manuscript containing three painted miniatures and a large number of decorated initials. It is akin to similar mariegole of various Venetian confraternities from the second half of the fourteenth century. However, it happens that this codex has not received equal attention in the scholarly literature as those preserved at Venice itself or in well-known international collections, and, as a consequence, the artistic quality of the miniatures and their place in the framework of the heritage of Venetian Gothic illumination has been neglected. Most publications focusing on Venetian Gothic painting, even those addressing specific themes in Gothic illumination, mostly mention the Zadar codex only in passing, while others omit it completely.
With regard to the dates recorded in the mariegola text, it is possible to accept the dating of the manuscript to the last quarter of the fourteenth century, a date which is in harmony with the miniatures’ pictorial features. They reflect, in essence, a characteristic milieu of Venetian painting after Paolo Veneziano, in particular the painting circle of Paolo’s most significant follower, Lorenzo Veneziano. In that context, one can observe points of contact with the oeuvre of the Venetian painter Meneghello di Giovanni de Canali, who spent most of his career at Zadar, and it can be suggested that the miniatures may be related to his activity at Venice before coming to Zadar.
However, in the mariegola itself, the lists of confraternity members record the names of several painters (Antonio de Cristofalo, Antonio, Jachomo, Marcho de Lorenzo, Nicholo de Domenego, Piero) some of whom have remained completely unknown until now, while others might be tentatively linked to the previously known names. Nonetheless, the very fact that as many as six painters were among the members of the
confraternity points to the possibility that the creator of the miniatures might be one of them. At the same time, the name of the painter Piero de S. Lion is particularly intriguing as he might be identified with Pietro di Nicolò, Lorenzo Veneziano’s brother, and the name of the painter Marco de Lorenzo is also interesting as he
may have been a son of the well-known painter.
Keywords
miniatures; Zadar; Venice; fourteenth century
Hrčak ID:
102710
URI
Publication date:
10.12.2012.
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