Original scientific paper
Virtus and Fortuna. Traces of Petraraca's De Remedis on the facades of humanistic palaces in Split
Radoslav Bužančić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4661-852X
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture u Splitu
Anita Brakus
Abstract
On the portals of palaces in Split there are symbols of allegoric battles fought in every one of us, according to Petrarca’s De remedies. It is a psychomachia, where Reason fights against four passions that create pain of the soul. According to Petrarca’s allegory, Fortuna gave birth to two sisters, one of whom is Wellbeing, and the other Hardship. Each of them has twins: Wellbeing has Joy (gaudium) and Wish (cupiditas), while Hardship has Pain (dolor) and Fear (metus). As a weapon against them, Reason uses virtue (virtus) which enables humans to think, wish and properly treat God and people. Reason demands practicing temperance and patience, and healing from the diseases caused by Wellbeing and Hardship. The depiction of an ostrich on the lunette of the portal on D’Augubio Palace with an inscription which mentions the stamina of a bird for which was believed to be able to digest iron, is one of the emblems of Federico da Montefeltra and it was taken directly from ethical ponderings related to the subject of how to cope with blows from life’s fickle luck.
DE PIIV DVRI OROSI
Alongside the ostrich, which holds a metal spear end in its beak, there is an inscription stating that the ostrich would devour even the hardest. Numerous humanistic inscriptions and symbols in Split, from the second half of the fifteenth century, lean on that particular inscription. Its most direct paraphrase is Marulić’s distich about a marble dragon (that is how that inscription is named in The Glasgow verses) on the doors of the Great Papalić Palace:
IN MAGNUM LATRARE CANES NOLITE
DRAGONEM HIC ETIAM TAVROS ORE VORARE POTEST
Don’t bark, dogs, on this great dragon because he can also devour a taurus. The distich mentions dogs barking, which is a symbol of virtue which chases insatiable yearning cupiditas. The yearning is personified by a deceitful taurus, the form of which was taken by Jupiter in order to please his lust. The dragon that can devour the taurus is the dragon of Mars, the keeper of the Golden Fleece, in this particular case the virtue of chastity - castitas. This comparison was inspired by the second symbol of Federico de Montefeltra which is shown together with an ostrich which is swallowing iron, while it is represented by an ermine and the following inscription:
NON MAI.
According to the legend, an ermine rather chooses death than dirty fur and therefore, his moto is: "Never".
The interpretation of the complex symbolism of Papalić’s inscription should be sought in the virtue of virgin chastity - castitas, which protected by the strength of a dragon resisted lust - cupiditas. Lunnettes over the portal of D’Augubio Palace and Great Papalić Palace are connected by hidden virtus, the owners of which are quick to point out. The first one is fortitudo, while the second one is temperancia. On the façade of the Palace, next to the Iron Gate, Papalić wrote the following:
NOSCE TE IPSVM
The inscription from the Apollo Temple which guides Man to know himself is the symbol for the third cardinal virtue - prudentiae. The same inscription is marked out by Koriolan Cipiko on his palace in Trogir, while the same virtue on the Palace in Dosud is represented by a convex mirror carved into the lunette of the portate.
Virgin chastity was also marked out on the coat of arms of the Grisogono family from Split, where above the helmet on the shield with family insignia, there is a symbol of the virgin chastity of the Madonna. A piece of the coat of arms is built in among antique spolia in Dobri, in Ćirilmetodova Street in Split. Fortuna, which is mentioned by words in Papalić’s sign:
HAEC QUIBUS IANCI CVI FORTUNA FAVEBIT
is a cause for volatility and restlessness of spirit which can be overpowered only by virtue, specifically one of the aforementioned cardinal human virtues. The rest of the paper gives us the catalogue of humanistic palaces in Split, erected by the new city patriciate in the fifteenth century.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
95074
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2011.
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