Original scientific paper
The Perception of Antiquities in the Art of the Early Humanism in Dalmatia
Marko Špikić
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Abstract
The text discusses the perception of antique monuments in Croatian fifteenth-century art. The author posits as a basis for this perception the development of Italian humanism, especially in view of the inquiry into sense perception undertaken by the early humanists: Bruni, Vergerio and Chrysoloras, who are seen as precursors to the theorists of visuality (Alberti). These procedures by the humanists and men-of-letters, as already shown by Ernst Gombrich, went hand in hand with an active study of antiquity by artists. The text, therefore, wishes to explore the impact of the archetypes of Roman antiquities on the perception and invention of the early Renaissance artists. Following earlier philological research (Fisković, Kokole), the author suggests three sources of influence for artists before 1450. These were, respectively, to respect the continuity of the Gothic art; to break the continuity by means of regression and the study of antique monuments; to combine the two. Using as examples three sculptures from Giorgio da Sebenico's workshop (the Hercules from the cathedral of Šibenik; the angel at the portal of the church of St Augustine and the cavalier from Loggia dei Mercanti in Ancona), the author examines the ways of imitating and translating these influences into an authentic artistic invention. The antique sculpture of Dioscorus at the Roman Quirinal, which had been represented by Pisanello, Gozzoli and Mantegna, is taken as a possible source for the angel of Ancona. The procedure of taking over a source and transposing it was practised by earlier Florentine artists, such as Ghiberti, whose works have been identified as a model for Dalmatian artists. The statue of the medieval cavalier in Ancona is similar in this respect. That work shows the influence a local environment exerts on the interpretation of antiquities, since the myth of Ciriaco of Ancona concerning the missing Traianus's statue from the town's triumphal arch is adjusted to fit a modern interpretation in the Renaissance artwork. The discussion on the impact of Alberti's remarks on historia is compounded by formulations from De imitatione, a treatise by Alberti's master and a distinguished professor of rhetoric in northern Italy, Gasparino Barzizza. The treatise points out that the art of rhetorical imitation can be reduced to Quintilian's fourfold division of solecisms. These rhetorical rules are shown to contain analogies with the procedures used by the fifteenth-century artists, and are observable also in the work of Giorgio da Sebenico as a principal harbinger of changes in the Dalmatian art of the first half of the fifteenth century. It is therefore argued that this master has taken part in conceptualizing and solving central problems of the humanist concepts of imitation and invention.
Keywords
humanism; antiques; Juraj Dalmatinac; sculpture; imitation
Hrčak ID:
167787
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2006.
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