Original scientific paper
Three phases of wall paintings in the Sorkočević villa in Rijeka Dubrovačka
Veronika Šulić
; Croatian Conservation Institute, Department for Wall Paintings and Mosaics
Abstract
The Sorkočević Villa is located on the left bank of the Ombla river in the vicinity of Dubrovnik. It is the most complex example of Dubrovnik country architecture, and the beginning of its construction is dated to the 16th century. Its ground plan differs from that of other villas with its markedly prolonged wing, which was subsequently added to right up to the 18th c. The wing ends in a loggia, 20 m long, rich in arches and valuable Baroque and Classicist wall paintings featuring mythological and Arcadian motifs.
The previously held information on the wall paintings in the loggia of the Sorkočević villa suggested that they were painted after the arches in the western and northern wall had been filled in, but the conservation-restoration research carried out by the Department of Wall Painting and Mosaics of the Croatian Conservation Institute in 2006 yielded some new insights. The painting of the loggia can still be viewed as a coherent concept, since its owners continued with the idea of philosophical and spiritual ties with the mythological stories by placing them in their arcadia, but the painting itself was executed in three distinct phases that can be proven by changes in the construction, and by technical, technological and stylistic differences of the painted layers. The motifs that belong to the first painting phase, dated to the last quarter of the 17th c., are: The Judgement of Paris, the Death of Adonis and
Venus and Paris. In this phase, the loggia was opened up with six arches: four to the north, one to the west and one to the south. Prior to the second phase of painting, the arches on the western and northern side were filled in, and the following paintings were done: Contest between Minerva and Neptune, Cerere, Pan, Bacchus, Flora, Love Triumphant. These are dated to the first half of the 18th c. and linked to the villa owner Marin Sorgo, a passionate collector of prints. The investigation of the wall painting between the arches of the north wall revealed the previously undiscovered motif Love Triumphant. In addition, the drawing that was used as a template for its painting was also found. The third phase of the loggia painting began after the arch on the southern side was filled in and the bathroom was built in the south-west wing in the second half of the 18th c. Here the motifs are: Ulysses Listens to the Sirens, Hercules at the Crossroads and Hercules Resting. All these paintings were executed according to print templates made after works by Annibale Carracci.
Keywords
Dubrovnik; Sorkočević Villa; loggia; wall paintings; Annibale Carracci; Agostino Carracci; Pietro Aquila; Jan Sadeler
Hrčak ID:
103570
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2010.
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