Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/yk3jwh7o49
About the works of art commissioned by Petar Ohmućević and his kin in Slano
Danko Zelić
; Institute od Art History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper presents new and complements existing knowledge about works of art that Petar Iveljić Grgurić Ohmućević—a sea captain, shipowner and one among the prominent protagonists of Ragusan and European sixteenth-century history—donated
and/or ordered and had placed in the churches of his native townlet of Slano, the centre of Primorje, one of the countships of the Dubrovnik Republic. The research was motivated by a recently discovered documentary source, i.e. the letter sent by Ohmućević to the authorities of the Republic of Dubrovnik from Genoa in 1585, as a response to the criminal complaint filed against him by Junius/Đonko Matkov Gradi, a Ragusan noble and himself also a landowner in Slano. In addition to the main indictment—for forging an official record by changing the family name Grgurić to Ohmućević, that is, an act punishable by death in the Republic of Dubrovnik—Ohmućević was accused of a whole series of other misconducts. Claiming that it was fabricated, his accuser denied him the right to bear the name Ohmućević, as well as to present his kin as being the legitimate descendants of the ancient nobility of the Bosnian Kingdom, not to mention the right to display his coats of arms and heraldic signs. Trying to question the moral posture and credibility of his persecutor, in his letter Petar brings out at length the details of Đonko's unscrupulous actions to the detriment of himself and his family members. In this context, it was precisely his own opere pie, i.e. the God-pleasing works of art he commissioned for the churches of Slano that had caused particular anger of his adversary and were the principal targets of his destructive urges. The attacks on altars, altar paintings, inscriptions, tomb plates, liturgical equipment and parts of architectural decoration commissioned by Ohmućević and decorated with his coats of arms in the church of St Roch and the Franciscan church of St Jerome in Slano took place in the second half of 1584, after his departure from Slano. Peter thus mentions the damaged paintings that his elders brought from Flanders, inscriptions in the churches and on the graves etc, as well as the names of the professionals that Đonko had hired with the sole aim of annihilating his opponent's symbols. In the light of these data, reconsidered are the scholarly opinions regarding the altarpiece in the church of St Roch in Grgurići, justly attributed to the Flemish painter Maarten de Vos, particularly the identity of the portrayed donor. Furthermore, two solemn inscriptions carved in Roman capital letters that Đonko Gradi had placed in 1590—in the church of St Roch in Slano (in Croatian) and in the church of St Stephen in Dubrovnik (in Latin)—are here interpreted as attempts to cover up and, in a way, a posteriori legitimize his own misdeeds. The final part of the paper discusses the defining traits of Ohmućević's efforts to express and affirm the wealth, the status, and the symbolic capital he had acquired sailing and fighting on the high seas, most notably in the service of the Spanish kings, by ordering works of art for the churches of his homeland. Nevertheless, regarding his profile as a commissioner of art, it is important to stress that there is no evidence whatsoever that any of the works of art—either preserved or lost—associated to him or his relatives, were in fact commissioned in Dubrovnik or executed by local artists.
Keywords
Dubrovnik Republic; 16th century; art commissioning; architecture; sculpture; painting; epigraphs
Hrčak ID:
324058
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2024.
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