Original scientific paper
The tombstone of an unknown noble-woman in the Franciscan Monastery in Poljud in the City of Split
Vesna Staničić
Abstract
This article analyses the tombstone of an unknown noble-woman from the Franciscan monastery in Poljud in the city of Split. Within the inner frame smooth and undecorated, a full size female figure is depicted, dressed all’antica and laid on the shallow bed of the catafalque with a pillow. It is dated to approximately the third decade of the sixteenth century and it belongs to a series of twenty one tombstones of noble families that are kept in the cloister of the Franciscan monastery built during the second half of the 15th century. For almost two centuries, both the church and the monastery in Poljud were places for privileged burials among noble families in Split. The majority of tombstones from Poljud are simple in shape and they include only heraldic signs. Along with the tombstones of Toma Nigris and Katarina Žuvetić, the tombstone depicting the unknown noble woman is the only tombstone with a preserved representation of the deceased.
While the tombstones of the canon from Split Toma Nigris, and young Katarina Žuvetić compositionally almost totally follow the identical late-Gothic formula: an idealized image of the deceased is placed within a stylized niche with tordated small columns, the tombstone depicting the unknown noble woman surprises us with its maturity and freedom of shaping, therefore indicating to possible existence of indirect antique influences because of which it deserves our highest attention. It has been singled out by the high degree of Renaissance shaping, and it is different from common rigid and symmetrically composed tombstones depicting the deceased. It is shown in antiquing and monumental realism of form deprived of descriptive additions. Due attention has been given to a gesture of the deceased woman: she rests her cheek on her left hand. This is a long standing formula which can be followed from Antiquity. It represented emotions of resignation and sorrow, and it has been connected to the Greek goddess of repentance and regret for the past, Metanoia (Greek: μετάνοια). The tombstone has not yet been attributed to anyone, however, repetition of the same gestures, as well as the knowledge of the antiquing classic shapes could connect it to an anonymous tombstone author within the inner circle of Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (Croatian: Nikola Firentinac) and his associates. Marin Vladić is listed as one of the possible authors (M. Pelc). However, one needs to be careful when attributing the tombstone to Marin Vladić. Although its quality outshines other tombstones from the same period, based on the comparison with, so far, the only piece in Split attributed to Vladić (the relief of the Madonna in Pistura), it is hard to say whether this tombstone is indeed Vladić’s work.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
95075
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2011.
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