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Mythological and Astrological-Astronomical Themes on the Portal of Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik
Ivo Babić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3760-6247
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Two Renaissance imposts (capitals) were subsequently placed on the late Gothic portal of the Rector's Palace. The outer part of the upper impost, beside the le} side of the portal, illustrates four figures: a boy playing a wind instrument; two adult naked men confronting a naked elderly bearded man with wings on his back. The inner part of the impost illustrates a naked man embracing a naked woman barely covered with a cape fl uttering behind her back; there is also a winged child beside the woman. The outer side of the upper right impost illustrates four naked angels with haloes: the first is blowing a trumpet, the second and the third are focussed on the organ, the fourth is probably singing. The inner part of the same impost, beside the door, illustrates three naked armed warriors with one of them stumbling. The image of a naked couple – a man and a woman in embrace – depicts Venus (Aphrodite), Mars (Ares) and the child Cupid (Eros). We assume that the portal of the Rector's Palace depicts the relationship between Venus and Mars generating a desirable Harmony illustrated by the playing angels, while the period dominated by Mars is depicted by images of struggle and commotion. Could the winged, bearded old creature perhaps be Saturn (Cronus) who is about to crush the horrified people? There is obviously a connection between the reliefs on the imposts and the astrological and astronomical motifs. Another interesting fact is that the library of the Dominican monastery holds the Matheseos manuscript – a transcript of the work written by the astrologist Firmicus Maternus. Four consoles, supporting the front porch are decorated with figural images. The first console depicts a boy (maybe a girl?) and a bear (maybe a female bear?). There is also a possibility that the relief illustrates Kallisto fighting her son Arcas with whom she will be li} ed to heavens. There are also possible references to Polyphonte who fell in love with a bear, as narrated by Antoninus Liberalis in Metamorphoses (Polyphonte, XXI). Console depicting a man fighting a dragon possibly illustrates a struggle between Hercules and a dragon? Console depicting three figures including a big dog possibly illustrates a funny scene – or could there perhaps be some connotations from Greek mythology? The story told by Antoninus Liberalis (Metam., XXXVI, Pandareos) mentions a golden dog sent by Rhea to guard a goat Amalthea – the nurse of little Zeus. The dog became a guardian of the shrine in Crete from where he was stolen by Pandareos and handed over to Tantalos to be guarded at the mount of Sipylus. When Pandareos came to get the dog from Tantalos, the latter denied ever receiving it. Hermes cunningly managed to steal the golden dog made by Hephaestus, as added later on by the scholiasts. One interpretation of the myth says that the dog was li} ed to heavens as the Canine Constellation next to Orion (Hyg. Astronom., II, 35). Console depicting three naked carriers fits well into the usual architectural motif of a telamon, or an atlas as defined by Vitruvius (De arch., VI. 7. 6). A relatively small surface of the console, however, could depict only one telamon, even though there are three of them, which could lead to an assumption that the scene depicts a staged story. Antoninus Liberalis narrates how Tantalos perjured that he had not received the golden dog from Pandareos. Zeus turned Pandareos into stone because of the the} and struck Tantalos with thunder and threw the mountain onto his head (Metam., XXXVI, Pandareos). The scholarly topics from antiquity and Renaissance were also present in the humanistic setting of Dubrovnik. We should also mention a learned Paris student Ivan Stojković (†1443), a priest, a Dominican and later on a bishop and a cardinal who excelled at Pavia Councils (then in Siena, 1422-1424) and Basel (1431-1439). Because of the summoning of the ecumenical council he spent two years in Tsargrad (1435-1337) where he obtained and transcribed Greek codices. Those manuscripts contained not only religious texts but literary, philosophical, historical, geographical and mythological works as well. The Renaissance Europe discovered the works of Antoninus Liberalis precisely through a codex brought from Constantinople by Stojković (Palatinus Heidelbergensis graecus 398).
Ključne riječi
Dubrovnik; Rector's palace; renaissance reliefs; astrology
Hrčak ID:
74543
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.10.2011.
Posjeta: 3.344 *