Original scientific paper
The altar of the Virgin in Trogir cathedral, work of Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino
Radoslav Bužančić
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture u Splitu
Abstract
Underneath the pulpit of the Cathedral in Trogir there stood a small altar originating in the 15th century. Particulars about it are found in the Episcopal visitations of the 16th and 17th centuries, and its first mention in the visitation to the Cathedral undertaken by the papal delegate Agostino Valier on 6th April 1579. He described a small altar placed under the pulpit in the central nave of St Lawrence cathedral dedicated to the Mother of God. The altar had a stone triptych executed in the workshop of Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, with a figure of the Virgin in the centre and St Jerome and St Ladislaus on the sides, and it was donated by local families Dragač and Borgoforte. The altar was made by one of Niccolò’s pupils with the help of the master, and its shaping reminds one of the standard solutions of the Aleši and Niccolò’s workshop that also produced the triptych in the Dominican church in Trogir depicting St Jerome. The altar of the Virgin leaned on the altar fence and the choir stalls until 1731 when it was removed and partly demolished during the renovation of the high altar. It was then that the sanctuary was open to common people, and the altar fence was completely removed. The triptych which survived was then built into the Cathedral’s wall, north to the entrance door beneath the choir. The altarpiece under the pulpit creates a new conception of the 15th century altar fence, adorned by altars and paintings backdropped by Budislavić’ choir stalls and with Biagio di Giorgio’s Crucifix placed high above.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
63993
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2009.
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