Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.32
Baroque Classicism in Istria and the Croatian Littoral: Several Goldsmith Examples (Summary)
Mateja Jerman
; Ministarstvo kulture i medija, Uprava za zaštitu kulturne baštine Područni konzervatorski ured Rijeka
Abstract
After the luxurious and dynamic Baroque and the extravagant Rococo, a restrained form of Baroque classicism appeared in European applied arts. The paper examines the origins of this new stylistic period and the mechanisms by which it emerged and spread through European artistic circles. The most important features of Baroque classicism in goldsmithing are characterised by object proportions, decorative compositions, and the selection of ornamental elements. Considering the geographical position of Istria and the Croatian Littoral, as well as historical circumstances, the influence of the Vienna School of Engraving (Kai¬serliche königliche Kupferstecher-Akademie), founded in 1767, on artists active in present-day continental Croatia is examined in more detail. A brief overview is also provided of the absence of local production of classicist goldsmith work in Dalmatia, as all known pieces in this style were created in Venetian, Milanese, or Viennese goldsmith workshops. This paper offers art-historical analyses of a selected group of well-known classicist liturgical objects preserved in Istria and the Croatian Littoral, based on new data about goldsmith markets in Trieste and Vienna during the second half of the 18th century. It expands on information re¬garding the goldsmith Mattia Kandler, who crafted the set comprising the censer and incense boat from the church of St. Martin in the Istrian town of the same name. Additionally, it presents a hypothesis about the possible commissioner of the classicist chalice from the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Bribir. This individual is Anton Stjepan Kabalin de Ehrenburg, who served as the parish priest of Bribir from 1792 to 1816 and belonged to the Kabalin or Caballini family. The family, residing in Senj and Novi Vinodolski, was granted Austrian nobility with the title “of Ehrenburg” by Queen Maria Theresa in 1772. Two bishops of Senj- Modruš – Ivan Krstitelj Kabalin-Caballini and Ivan Krstitelj Ježić – also descended from the same family. The study further attributes the acquisition of two other, previously unpublished liturgical objects – housed in the Bribir parish church – to Anton Stjepan Kabalin de Ehrenburg. These include a set comprising a censer and an incense boat, linked to the Viennese goldsmith Johann Michael Schelnberger based on the hallmarks. This set further enriches the collection of classicist gold-smith works preserved in the regions of Istria and the Croatian Littoral.
Keywords
Baroque classicism; goldsmithing; liturgical objects; Saint Martin; Bribir; Mattia Kandler; Anton Stjepan Kabalin de Ehrenburg; Johann Michael Schelnberger
Hrčak ID:
349097
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2025.
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