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TWO CASES DEMONSTRATING THE ATTITUDE OF AUSTRIAN AUTHORITIES TOWARDS THE OBJECTS OF THE ART IN DALMATIA IN THE EARLY 19th CENTURY
Vjekoslav Maštrović
; Zadar
Sažetak
The quantity of objects of cultural and artistic significance in Dalmatia would, according to the author, be considerably larger than it actually is if such objects had not been taken out of the country either in the legal, or ... what is worse ... even in an illegal way.
The present paper deals with two entirely different aspects of transfer of such object: the one involving the exportation of objects of artistic value by the Imperial administration of the then Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia, organized in 1802; and the second the attempt of the Imperial authorities to restitute, in 1849, the paintings that had been brought from the northern and middle Italy.
In connection with the first case, the author points out that the Imperial Commissaire Francesco Maria de Carneo-Steffaneo had collected in Dalmatia and Istria, within five months, a number of transportable objects of art. The research made by the author in the archives shows that the Commissaire had delivered nine cases full of such objects to the then Emperor Francis II in Vienna. Two of those nine cases contained Roman statues excavated at Salona; there was also a painting of the battle fought between the troops of the Republic of Vinice and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. An analogous collection was also sent from Istria, and everything was fictitiously represented as »donations«. The avaricious Emperor Francis II seized everthing.
As far as the activities of Carneo-Steffaneo are concerned, the secret archives at the Imperial Court in Vienna should be consulted.
The other, completely different case, deals with the restitution of foreign objects of art which were at that time held in Vienna. Owing to the growing unrest and threatening war, the Italian states were not considered sure in the fifties, and a number of objects of art were brought to Austria – from Rome, the Vatican, Florence and Venice. By the Imperial decree dated March 21, 1849, such practice was further forbidden and both trade and transfer of artistic objects were thus made impossible. The decree was proclaimed in Dalmatia in two languages – Croatian and Italian – on April 10th, 1849.
The introductory part of the proclamation contains the explanation why such trade has been forbidden. The objects of art were not to be exported, it stated, as »this is a shame for a law-abiding nation«, and foreign objects of artistic value, which had been taken away and held in Vienna at that time, had to be restituted. This also referred to similar objects provenient from Dalmatia and Istria.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
159540
URI
Datum izdavanja:
23.12.1980.
Posjeta: 815 *