Professional paper
Father Josip Rossi the Painter
Pijo Mate Pejić
Abstract
Father Josip Rossi was born in Trieste in 1843 where he went to grammar school and finished the lower secondary school. He completed his upper secondary schooling and the study of theology in Zadar. Taking his priestly vow in 1861 he became a member of the Franciscan order of St. Jerome which had its headquarters in Zadar. He became a priest in 1866. Within the Franciscan community he worked as a definitor and secretary of the Order. He completed his study of painting and received his diploma from the Art Academy in Venice while he continued with his training in Milan and Rome. As a student he made the paintings and the groundwork for the Nativity scene which decorated the church of St. Francis in Zadar up to the Twelfth-night in 1917 when it burned down. In his atelier within the monastery of St. Francis in Zadar he made paintings for churches with a rich artistic heritage such as the church of St. Vlaho and for the church of the Friars Minor in Dubrovnik, afterwards for the churches on the islet of Košljun on Krk and on the island of Badija, as well as for the old Capuchin church in Rijeka. He painted two pallas for the basilica of St. Anthony in Rome while for the church of St. Joseph in Nazareth he made a painting of the Virgin. He worked for other churches both in Croatia and abroad. From 1883 to 1885 he restored 67 valuable paintings which were made by renowned painter Tripo Kokolja from Boka which are to be found in the church of Our Lady of Škrpjel in Boka Kotorska. Father Joseph gave the first lessons in painting to the painters Vinko Draganja, Marko Murat and Antonietta Bogdanović-Cetineo. He died on January 5, 1890 and on that occasion written notices about his life and work appeared in the newspapers Katolička Dalmacija, La Domenica, Il Dalmata and others. In books dealing with the history of art his work has been unjustifiably ignored.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
12083
URI
Publication date:
17.8.2004.
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