Original scientific paper

MINIATURES IN THE MISSAL OF DUKE NOVAK

Kruno Prijatelj ; Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, Split
Ivana Prijatelj-Pavičić ; Fakultet prirodoslovno matematičkih znanosti i ogojnih područja, Split

Abstract

In this study the authors analyse the miniatures of the Missal of Duke Novak from 1368 which is housed in the Austrian National Library in Vienna under reference Cod. slav. 8. The miniatures present the evangelists Matthew (fol. 74v), Mark (fol.79v), Luke (fol.84r) and John (fol. 9lr), the crucifixion scene (fol. 158v) and the Imago pietatis (fol. 159v). More detailed historical and stylistic analysis has led the authors to believe that the miniatures show the Gothic stylistic characteristics encountered in the works of the followers of the greatest Venetian painter of Trecento, Paolo Veneziano. The miniatures have even more similarities with the painting which developed at that time in the region between Padua and Emilia and have one of their sources in the painting of Giotto. This comparative analysis mentions the names of Catarino, Guariento, Nicoletto Semitecolo and some of the miniatures of the decorative codexes from those parts during the second half of the fourteenth century. After the iconographic analysis, particularly of the Imago Pietatis miniature and the problem of the large number of wounds on the body of Christ, the authors move on to their own attributive suggestions. The authors are of the opinion that the miniatures were not the work of Nikola Ciprianov de Blondis of Zadar, pupil of Paolo Veneziano who worked in Zadar and Nin, if he is the same painter responsible for the paintings in the Kynzvart Palace in Bohemia (which has not in fact been proved, though the possibility cannot be entirely ruled out). After listing several other Zadar artists of the period and mentioning analogies with a fragment of a painted crucifixion by an unknown artist which can be found in the Museum of Art and Craft in Zagreb, the authors move on to their own hypothesis which classifies the miniatures of Prince Novak's Missal as most probably being the work of a local artist working at this time in Zadar, and perhaps in Nin, in the service of the Croatian feudal lord whose name the missal takes. The true identity of the artist remains to be discovered.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

116062

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/116062

Publication date:

17.8.1994.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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