Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17685/Peristil.59.4
Two Lost Portraits and a Document from Šibenik for Giovanni Antonio Zonca
Bojan Goja
; Ministry of Culture, Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Conservation Department in Zadar
Abstract
In his monograph “Pitture antiche di Zara” (Zadar, 1912), cultural worker, writer and scholar of painting Giuseppe Sabalich (1856 – 1928) described paintings preserved in private collections of bourgeois and noble families in Zadar, as well as in their houses and summer residences on the islands and in the hinterland. Several photographs, probably taken in the course of his research of painting in Zadar but not included in the book, are held by the State Archives in Zadar. The author publishes the photograph of a portrait of Lovro
Fondra and the photograph of a portrait an unknown warrior from the Detrico family, both previously unpublished. At the time of Sabalich’s work on the book, the first portrait was owned by Luigi Felicinović,
and the second by Francesco Damiani di Vergada. The portrait of Lorenzo Fondra (Šibenik, 1664 – Zadar, 1709) is especially important for the cultural history of Croatia as it represents one of the most prominent personalities of Venetian Dalmatia in the second half of the 17th and early 18th century who made important contributions to various fields, from literature and legal studies to historiography and diplomacy. The second portrait depicts an individual from one of the most distinguished noble families in Zadar, whose members
held high offices in the service of the Venetian Republic. The history of the portraits after the publication of Sabalich’s monograph remains unknown, if they were preserved at all. The author also publishes a newly found archival document preserved in the State Archives in Zadar, dated 1695 and related to a painting commissioned from Venetian painter Giovanni Antonio Zonca (1652 – 1723) for the Dominican convent in Šibenik. The document states that Fr Frane Parčić, prior of the convent of St Dominic in Šibenik, authorized Fr Gerolimo Galante and Fr Giovanni Alvise Cornelio to act on his behalf in the disagreement over an already commissioned painting. Zonca’s work cannot be identified among the preserved paintings in the Dominican convent in Šibenik, so it is possible that the painting was never finished or delivered. Nonetheless, the document represents a valuable testimony that Giovanni Antonio Zonca produced paintings not only for patrons in Venice and the neighbouring cities, but also for patrons from Dalmatia.
Keywords
17th century; painting; portraits; Lovre (Lorenzo) Fondra; the Detrico family; Zadar; Giovanni Antonio Zonca; Šibenik
Hrčak ID:
178597
URI
Publication date:
1.3.2017.
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