Izvorni znanstveni članak
Thomas Graham Jackson, rev. Frane Bulić and Salona
Arsen Duplančić
orcid.org/0000-0002-6308-5772
; Arheološki muzej u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Thomas Graham Jackson (1835-1924) is a well known English architect, who, with his wife Alice, visited Dalmatia in 1882, 1884 and 1885, when Dalmatia amazed him with the beauty of its scenery, monuments and traditional folk costumes. During his visits, Jackson made drawings of Dalmatian towns, monuments and pieces of art, to have presented his
impressions, together with his illustrations, in the book Dalmatia, Quarnero ad Istria: with Cettigne in Montenegro and the island of Grado, printed in three volumes in Oxford in 1887. During his voyages, most probably in 1884, Jackson met the Croatian archaeologist, rev.
Frane Bulić, (1846-1934) the director of the Archaeological Museum in Split. Bulić was very helpful to Jackson, as a local and also an expert he helped him in studying the monuments: with him he climbed the roof of the cathedral and examined the Roman tegulae covering it, from the nearby houses windows he looked at the roof of the baptistery, Jackson used the Bulić’s plan of Salona in making his own plan, and presented the Bulić’s reading of the mosaic inscription in the narthex of the basilica at Manastirine. For all the assistance and information he provided Jackson with, Bulić’s name appears among the acknowledgements
in the preface to the Jackson’s book on Dalmatia. Jackson also reciprocated to Bulić by sending him as a gift all three volumes of his book, in the first one having attached his ex libris and dedication.
The correspondence between Jackson and Bulić presently we can discuss only based on the four letters kept in the Archaeological Museum in Split, although there were more of them. This is evident from the Bulić’s note on the back of the Jackson’s letter of November 1885 that he had attached the Jackson’s letter of July to his report to the Central Commission for Monuments in Vienna. During his third visit to Dalmatia, Jackson paid particular attention to Salona, to drawing and measuring the basilica at Manastirine, later on to have asked Bulić to check his measurements of one of the chapels. In his book, Jackson published
his ground plan of the basilica. When the Jackson’s book was published, Croatian newspapers published firstly the announcement about it and then commendations when it appeared here. However, in the
professional literature very strong criticisms appeared, particularly prompted by the part of the book concerning history that was based mostly on the pro-Italian texts. Almost simultaneously with publishing his book, in 1887, in the magazine Transactions of the Royal Institute
of British Architects (RIBA) Jackson published an article on the Dalmatian architecture where he summarised his views on the Dalmatian history and architecture. There, at the pages 165-166 he wrote about Salona, especially the basilica at Manastirine. The Jackson’s article drew attention of the Italian archaeologist and architect Giacomo Boni, who translated it to the Italian language and published it in the early 1888 in the Venetian journal L’Ateneo veneto, but without the illustrations. The text caused different reactions, both scientific and
political. It is interesting that Bulić, although he had assisted Jackson about preparing his book and had received it as a gift, published no information on it in the 1887 and 1888 issues of his Bullettino di archeologia e storia dalmata! However, as a supplement to the 1889 issue the Italian translation of the chapters dealing with the island and town of Korčula and the islands of Badija and Mljet (II, pp. 237-280) was published. The text was translated by the Franciscan frair of Dubrovnik, Bernard Marković, (1851-1909) and was published thanks to
the canon of Korčula, Andrija Alibranti (1826-1903), who added his notes to the text. In 1890 in the Bulletino the Croatian translation of description of the church of the Holly Trinity in Split (II, pp. 72-74) was published, but without the Jackson’s illustration of the church, the
cross section and the ground plan, incorporated in the article about this church signed by the initials of the historian Miroslav Alačević (1843-1927). Who translated this chapter, we still do not know.
Given the poor knowledge of the English language in our regions, especially Dalmatia, in the late 19th century, there was the need for the book to be translated in order to make it available to a wider reading audience, and thereby also its scientific contributions. Bulić was aware of that, and he tried publishing in the Bulletino the Italian translation of the
chapters X, XI and XII of the second volume, dealing with the history of Split, Diocletian Palace, Cathedral with bell tower and treasury, Baptistery, Peristyle, the Holy Trinity church and Franciscan monastery at Poljud, and with Salona (II, pp. 1-100). By such selection of
chapters, Bulić demonstrated the focus of his interests: Split and Salona. Given the length of the text, it would have, most probably, been published as a supplement to the Bulletino, similar to the chapter on Korčula. In his letter of 1 July 1890, Jackson advised Bulić that Clarendon Press had allowed translating the text, subject to some conditions. Bulić obviously accepted those because already on 5 August Jackson sent his Italian translation of the said three chapters. Although it appeared that everything was going on as planned, the Jackson’s
text, unfortunately, was not published. We do not know the reasons of this and where the translation ended.
We learn from the Jackson’s letter of 18 March 1904 that Bulić sent to him his article on researching the cathedral of Salona (basilica urbana) and that at solving the problem of reconstructing the appearance of, apparently, its deambulatorium, he was helped by the Jackson’s ground plan and presentation of the apse of the church of St. John the evangelist in Rab. In the same letter, Jackson drew the apse and presented his opinion on how it was roofed, as well as the entire basilica. We find Jackson, Bulić and Salona mutually linked once again in 1910, when, on April the 4th, in the Royal Institute of British Architects, the architect George Hubbard (1859-1936) held a lecture on the architecture of the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea, parts of which
were immediately published in the magazine The Builder. Hubbard travelled along Dalmatian coast in 1884 and 1901, where the Jackson’s book made his main source of information. Hubbard did not oversee the description of Salona which he visited as well. His lecture was accompanied with slides of the Jackson’s drawings, and a number of them were exhibited at the Institute’s premises. For his lecture, Hubbard also exhibited a collection of traditional folk costumes and silver and gold jewellery from the Balkans countries. The description of the exhibition also mentions artefacts from Montenegro and a Dalmatian folk costume. It is interesting that Jackson too lent several costumes that he had brought from the Balkans countries.
If finally we review everything that is stated in the paper, it becomes obvious that Salona, alongside the Diocletian Palace and the medieval monuments, makes a strong link between Jackson and Bulić, in spite of them being geographically and linguistically, as well as by their nationalities, educations and professions, very much different.
Ključne riječi
Thomas Graham Jackson; rev. Frane Bulić; George Hubbard; archaeology; history of art; Split; Salona
Hrčak ID:
215889
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.10.2018.
Posjeta: 2.102 *