Original scientific paper
Stucco master Giuseppe Monteventi - works, suggestions, hypotheses
Radoslav Tomić
; Institut za povijest umjetnosti Zagreb
Abstract
The article discusses a large group of stucco decorations preserved in Dalmatian and Istrian churches and palaces. As they were made about the same time, use identical decorative elements and are similar morphologically, the stucco works in Poreč, Zadar, Trogir, Kaštela, Split and Korčula are determined to be by Giuseppe Monteventi. The stucco master is first mentioned in the testament of Archbishop Vicko Zmajević in 1745 in Zadar where he decorated the Archbishop's Palace with stucco that was later ruined. In Poreč in 1751 he decorated the ceiling of the former Franciscan church and in the Franciscan church at the island of Badija near Korčula in 1759 he decorated the altar and the Chapel of Holy Cross, designed by Giorgio Massari, by decorative elements and figures of angels. Documents confirm he fitted the choir in the Trogir Cathedral of St. Lawrence in 1771 built by the Trogir master builder Ignacije Macanović. At the same time, in 1772-1774 he deco rated the sanctuary of the parish church in Kaštel Štafilić where he also collaborated with Ignacije Macanović.
Based on documented works, the following are also attributed to Monteventi:
- decorations in the Benedictine church of St. Mary's in Zadar, 1744
- the altar of the Cross in the church of Our Lady of the Olives, Zadar, 1750
- decorations of the Benedictine church of st. Nicholas in Trogir, the 1750s
- relief »The Dream of ]oseph« at the old altar of St. Doimos in the Split Cathedral, 1770
- stucco decorations in the new chapel of St. Doimos in the Split Cathedral, prior to 1 770
- decorations in the Garagnin Palace in Trogir (salon and portego on the first floor and several rooms on the second floor), around 1770
Also mentioned are stucco works in the Gospa od Poišana in Slit and the Halbert house (Katalinić-Lucić?) in Trogir that were built at the same time and are similar to Monteventi's work. The group of stucco works in Šibenik and Dubrovnik is discussed, too. In Šibenik there are preserved decorative stucco elements in the church of Gospa van Grada, Benedictine church of St. Lucia and in the Franciscan monastery. Although Monteventi is mentioned in 1759 as a debtor of the St. Lawrence monastery (where the stucco, no preserved, was designed by friar France Lavizar), it appears that the preserved, rather sophisticated stucco work in Šibenik (as well as the stucco in the Draganić Vrančić Palace in Pirovac) was produced by another workshop, also active in the mid-18th century and its second half. Also mentioned is the stucco work in the Madonna of Mercy church at Lapad from 1760; it remains unclear whether Monteventi went south of Korčula to do work in Dubrovnik. According to the suggested outline of his work, Giuseppe Monteventi is the author of the most valuable stucco work made between the 1750s and 1780s in Istria and Dalmatia.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
166671
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2001.
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