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FEDES - Virtue on the portal of Toma Papalić's Palace in Split THE PORTAL OF PAPALIĆ'S SMALL PALACE IN SPLIT CONSERVATION / RESTORATION EFFORTS
Radoslav Bužančić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4661-852X
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture u Splitu
Ana Doljanin
orcid.org/0000-0003-3801-2261
Sažetak
There were two branches of the Papalić family in Split whose heirs bore the name Nikola. One of them was Nikola Dominikov Papalić, and the other Nikola Tomin Papalić.
It's known that Nikola Dominikov owned a house in the old section of the city, and that he decorated a passage leading to the courtyard of this house and set up a portal to this passageway from the street. Nikola Tomin, on the other hand, was the heir of Toma Papalić who, on September 3rd 1447, bought a house in the newer section of the city. This house would become the core of the “Papalić's Small Palace” complex.
The palace of Nikola Dominikov Papalić was in the old section of town, next to the Iron Gate, where the house of Andrija Alešij was also located, and its position can be safely established. “Papalić's Small Palace” is linked to Toma Papalić. This reputable member of Split's Papalić family is mentioned in 1432, when he went to Venice as an ambassador in order to protest against drafting common folk and nobles, and is later mentioned as a judge all the way to 1449.
Still, the most important piece of information we have relating to Toma Papalić comes from a document from 1444, where he, as one of the executors of Marin Ohmović, makes a contract with Juraj Dalmatinac for the construction of Arnir's chapel. The document, which was transcribed by Milan Ivanišević, is a direct link between Toma Papalić and Juraj Dalmatinac. While this does not guarantee that Juraj was the artisan behind the portal to Toma's palace, when considered along with all the aforementioned arguments, it becomes highly likely.
The lunette of the portal bears Papalić's crest inscribed in a quatrefoil held up by a pair of angels in long robes. The inscription IHE SVS is set above the crest in lead lettering embedded in the stone surface of the lunette. The meaning behind invoking Jesus' name can be interpreted as either a simple invocation or an outright display of piety towards Christ, which was on the rise at the time. If we consider the inscription within the context of other portals in Split from the same time period, on which, as I've pointed out in previous works, the word virtus was often stressed (indicating the virtue of the owner of the palace), then the content of the inscription can be interpreted somewhat differently.
In this case, the virtue that Toma Papalić wishes to display is fedes, or fidelity, which is not surprising considering the connotations that his name bears, echoing the name of the unfaithful apostle. Stressing a virtue on the facade of a building is the ethical component to Juraj Dalmatinac's projects that made him famous in Venice and Ancona. Thus some parts of the lavish entrance to the doge's palace in Venice, decorated with cardinal virtues, are ascribed to a young Juraj. In this same manner, the displays of virtues on the facades of Ancona's buildings, made by Juraj Dalmatinac, became a part of his recognizable architectural program.
With the notable figure of love, caritas, which adorns the Loggia degli Mercanti, Juraj follows an Antique template set down by Jacoppo della Quercia, while his relief on the Augustinian church depicts Saint Augustine defending true faith, i.e. fedes. Juraj's ethical/aesthetic principles based on virtues can be traced back through time all the way to its Antique roots. From Filarete to Petrarka to Vitruvius, the virtus-virtù represents a topos, and in the time that Juraj is active, it becomes a source of inspiration for numerous artistic works, including architectural ones.
This trend would make its way to Dalmatia from the large centers on the other side of the Adriatic, and Juraj and his compatriots would act as a bridge across which local patricians and the first generation of Croatian humanists would come into contact with it.
Among the early humanist works of a great builder, one must look for the origin of the thought that will, in its own small way, mark the undertakings of the nobility that would display the Antique virtus on the portals of their palaces as well as their family graves.
R. B.
Within the context of late-Gothic portals in Split, the conservation / restoration effort on the portal of Papalić's Palace is but one of a series of similar undertakings in recent times. By removing the built up contaminants, many questions that have been raised so far are indirectly answered, such as the state of the polychromy of the stone, the types of stone used, the legibility of the motifs, etc.
Research on the portal of Papalić's Palace has established that there are, sadly, no remaining traces of polychromy, thus we can only speculate as to what the portal originally looked like. However, thanks to modern laser cleaning techniques, which have managed to remove many centuries of encrusted filth and scum, we can now clearly see and study the work of the sculptor's hand, and the details of the capitals and the lunette motif, such as the highly detailed wings and robes on a pair of angels. Aside from that, only now is the use of different types of stone on the palace's portal actually visible, as is the case with the portal on Papalić's Palace.
The conservation / restoration has prevented any further decay in the critical spots of the portal, removed the cement filling and other traces of reconstruction from previous interventions, along with the rusted remains of iron elements of varying purpose from the past. Modern replacement materials were used in the removal and reconstruction, which are, we must stress, reversible and harmless for the original surface on which they've been applied. After all this work, the overall architectural / decorative composition of the portal stands out far more clearly; stone with different finishes and elements linked into a whole, with stone plastics in the center of the composition.
A. D.
Ključne riječi
Juraj Dalmatinac; Split; Papalić; renesance architecture; conservation / restoration
Hrčak ID:
130834
URI
Datum izdavanja:
17.12.2014.
Posjeta: 2.352 *