Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2021.2
Proposed new attribution to Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (Nicholas of Florence) in Korčula
Branko Pavazza
orcid.org/0000-0002-6324-9685
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Restauratorski odjel Split
Sažetak
The innovative and harmonious solutions of Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (Nicholas of Florence) in the architecture and decorative furnishing of stone buildings contributed to the revival that unfolded during the last decades of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th. He left behind many remarkable achievements, but also some less noticeable traces of his art, in the neighbouring cities of Trogir and Šibenik, where stone workshops were established alongside large construction sites, and several locations along the eastern Adriatic and all the way to the remote islands of Apulia. This proposal could add one more work of art to the established list of his works on the Adriatic: the main portal, commissioned from this master, on the Renaissance palace of the Gabriellis family in the town of Korčula. The decorative stone frame of the main entrance to the Gabriellis residence is skilfully incorporated into the eastern façade of the building, which occupies a prominent place on the elevated plateau of the small St Mark's Square in Korčula, opposite the Bishop's Palace and Cathedral. The portal was probably commissioned at the very beginning of the 16th century, and the current arrangement of the different parts suggests that their installation by master Nicholas was not included, but that raising the portal and constructing the cornice were the result of conversion and subsequent addition to the façade. The portal’s harmonious rows of decorative bands were modelled on ancient examples, and they differ significantly from the rest of the robustly carved façade decoration, not only in the finer gradation, but also in the modelling and characteristic choice of stone ornaments. The characteristic motif of chained spindles (modified astragal) with a stone thread separated from the base, present in almost all decorative elements made by Nicholas of Florence, is significant. Other masters mostly avoided it due to the complexity of construction and increased risk of breakage. The outer band of the frame profile is filled with acanthus leaves and a floating flower with a wavy stem between them. The hybrid combination of decorative elements is one of Nicholas’s earlier inventions. It can be found only in his work: the cornice of the lunette of the former portal from the church of St Euphemia in Split (1465), and the decorated window on the southern façade of the church of St John in Šibenik (1475). Around the same time, Nicholas used this combination on a larger scale and in a more elaborate form on the main cornice carried by telamon angels in the chapel of the Blessed Bishop Ursini, in Trogir. Thirty years later, he used the same pattern, but in a somewhat simplified, low-relief form, to decorate the back of choir stalls connected to the circular ambos in the Šibenik Cathedral. The same composite ornament eventually appears carved in an even shallower form, as the last example in this series, on the stone frame of the Gabriellis Palace portal.
The palace’s cornice is seamlessly joined with the stone frame into the entrance portal, but the work of a different master can still be recognized in the four rows of decorations. Some details differ from the classic prototypes and are visibly different from Nicholas’s model. The irregular pattern of ovoli is similar to those on the anterior capitals of the nearby cathedral’s ciborium, but the repetitive geometric elements are more uniform and precise. Acanthus ornaments can be found in the upper band of the cornice along with distinct design features that stem from the contour of the leaves. They form a kind of author's signature, recognizable and comparable to his acanthus leaves on the cornice of the main portal of the church of St Saviour, in Dubrovnik. Group characteristics point to master Petar (son of protomaestro Marko Andrijić, of Korčula), who, of all the members of the family’s stonemason's workshop, came closest to the decorative aesthetics of the Renaissance. During the installation, the portal was raised by inserting a stone block without decoration under both door posts, which was necessary to achieve the required, dominant height of the main entrance to the palace in relation to other ground-floor openings, which had economic purposes.
Some of the characteristics of the lintel of the entrance portal of the house with the Mihetić family coat of arms in Žitnica Street, in the old town of Korčula, reflect a possible connection with master Nicholas of Florence. The proposal is primarily based on a special type of ornament: a series of overlapping rings (ducats) connected by a stone thread circling the shield with the coat of arms, and not on a harmoniously- and meticulously-executed figural representation (griffin rampant). This ornament is extremely rare in our area, except in the work of Nicholas of Florence, who uses it frequently. The Korčula sequence was crafted as skilfully as the sequences in the main apse of the Šibenik cathedral. The attribution could be supported by the identification of the Mihetić-Dragojević family from Šibenik as the bearer of the coat of arms of this house in Korčula. After their exile from Šibenik, a branch of the Dragojević family moved to Korčula, where some members soon occupied important rungs on the social ladder, such as the vice-prince of Korčula. The most important representative of these connected families was Ambroz Mihetić, a prominent citizen of Šibenik (doctor of law and art) who worked directly with protomaestro Nicholas of Florence, primarily on the Šibenik cathedral, and could have been an intermediary in ordering the lintel with the coat of arms for his relatives in Korčula.
Ključne riječi
Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (Nicholas of Florence); Korčula, Renaissance Gabriellis Palace; Renaissance portal; Petar Andrijić, Nicholas of Florence’s portal; carved ornaments
Hrčak ID:
270752
URI
Datum izdavanja:
27.12.2021.
Posjeta: 982 *