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Giorgio da Sebenico

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Giorgio da Sebenico
A modern sculpture of the artist created by Ivan Meštrović, placed in front of Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik
Borncirca 1410
Zara, Republic of Venice (now Zadar, Croatia)
Died10 November 1475
Sebenico, Republic of Venice (now Šibenik, Croatia)
Known forstone carving

Giorgio da Sebenico (Croatian: Juraj Dalmatinac; c. 1410 – 10 November 1475) was a medieval sculptor and architect from Dalmatia, who worked mainly in Sebenico (now Šibenik, Croatia), at the time part of the Republic of Venice, and in the city of Ancona, then part of the Papal States.

Life

Giorgio da Sebenico was probably born in the Dalmatian city of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia), which was part of the Republic of Venice.[1]

He emigrated to Venice during his youth, where he was educated as sculptor in the workshop of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon.[2][3] He helped them creating the decorations on the Porta della Carta of the Doge's Palace.[3] Comparative analysis of his early achievements suggests that since the beginning his works were marked by a distinctive, original style,. Indeed, outside of architectural details, it looks that he learned little from his masters and that by that time he was already working in the workshop as a companion or independent associate.[4] In Venice he married Elisabetta Da Monte (daughter of Gregorio da Monte, a Venetian carpenter), who brought him as her dowry some houses in Venice.

In 1441, when still resident in Venice, Giorgio was summoned to Šibenik in order to take charge of the construction of the Cathedral of St. James. He moved by the end of August, under the condition set in the contract with the procurators of the Cathedral to take up residence there for six years. On the 1st of September 1446 he agreed to extend his contract as chief architect for another ten years. Giorgio was granted permission to remain in Venice for two months every two years on condition that he did no work there except on his own house. He will work on the Cathedral from 1441 till 1473, although discontinuously because the work were interrupted several times for lack of funds and probably for a fire. Between 1451 and 1459 he moved to Ancona and returned in Sebenico later.

He is believed to have died in Sebenico on or around 10 November 1475.[5]

Work

Facade of the Cathedral of St. James, Šibenik - the principal work of Giorgio da Sebenico.

His work represents the golden age of Dalmatian medieval art.[2] He was one of main interpreter of the Adriatic Renaissance, a tendency widespread during the late 15th century in Venice, Dalmatia and in some locations of the Italian Adriatic Coast, such as Ancona. This tendency of Renaissance was characterised by the rediscovery of the Classical art but in continuity with Gothic. Particularly Giorgio da Sebenico's carvings belong to the Late Gothic style, but the style of his architecture and sculptures is early Renaissance.[3]

His most beautiful achievement remains the the Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik for which he was a chief architect from 1441 till 1473.[3] The entire building was built solely of limestone from Istria, with no wood or bricks used in the structure. The building presents all along the perimeter an hedge composed of 72 stone-carved heads. On top of this hedge, and precisely on the North side, Giorgio added two angels; at the base of this work the artist engraved his signature. The task before him making the construction known worldwide was to build the choir, of which foundations had not been laid, to raise and roof the nave which was only completed to the top of the aisle vaults, and to covering the crossing by a lantern or cupola. Unfortuately lack of funding and a fire delayed the achievement of the construction.[6] From 1 July 1477 the work on the Cathedral of St. James was continued by an architect from Tuscany, Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino.

In Split he built several palaces. In 1448 he carved a stone altar in the Cathedral of St. Duje, Split.[3] In Dubrovnik he helped repairing the Duke's palace and helped building the Minčeta fortress in 1464 and 1465. He also made an urban plan for Pag[3] and contributed to the project and construction of Pelješac walls. He was at the same time sculptor, architect and urban planner, showing in this his belonging to the cultural climate and orientation of Renaissance.

In Italy, he worked in Ancona where he built the Loggia dei Mercanti, the portal of San Francesco alle Scale and the portal of Sant'Agostino.[3] A comparative analysis of Giorgio's works show that during his career Renaissance style gradually replaced the Gothic, in line with the European tendency during the 15th century for Gothic to become more elaborate sophisticated, giving birth to the late Gothic style known in Venice as Gotico Fiorito and Flamboyant in France. [citation needed]

Giorgio's sculpture owned very little to the art of any other Venetian sculptor of the time. Indeed, till now it has not been possible to indicate the source of this style, either within Italy or elsewhere.

Controversy about the name

Juraj Dalmatinac (George the Dalmatian) monument in Zadar

His name and origin has been the source of some controversy.[citation needed] On the relief by the north apse of Cathedral of St.James the artist signed in Latin: "hoc opus cuvarum fecit magister Georgius Mathaei Dalmaticus",[7][8] and on a contract from 1441 he signed: "Georgius lapicida quondam Mathei de Jadra Civis Sibenicenis" (trans. "Georgius sculptor son of Matheus from Zadar citizen of Šibenik").[8] Those are only known signatures of the artist.

References to the artist are most common under the name Giorgio da Sebenico,[2][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and as Giorgio Orsini,[2][9][15][17][18][19][20][21][22] particularly in Italian sources.[23][24][25] There are also references to him as Giorgio Dalmatico[23] or as "George the Dalmatian".[26] He is sometimes listed among Croatian sculptors in English-language sources.[26] In Croatia, he is known under the Croatian name of Juraj Matejev Dalmatinac.[16] The family name of Orsini was never used by the artist and it was adopted by his son, after the death of his father.[7][8][27][28]

References

  1. ^ Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria, with Cettigne in Montenegro and the Island of Grado by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, published in 1887 by Clarendon Press, p. 389:

    Giorgio seems to have been born at Zara. His father, Matteo, was a scion of the ancient and princely Roman house of Orsini; but the branch to which he belonged had sunk in the world, and been reduced to support itself by manual arts inconsistent with the idea of nobility as then understood, and the family name had been allowed to fall into disuse [...] His family descent from the Orsini was formally recognized in 1540 in the person of his grandson Giacomo, an advocate [...] that Giorgio was not a native of Sebenico is proved by the description of him in several 'Atti' of 1441-1450; e.g. Magister Giorgius lapicida quondam Matthaei di Jadra, habitator Venetiarum ad praesens existens Sibenic

  2. ^ a b c d "Giorgio da Sebenico [Georgius Matthei Dalmaticus; Giorgio di Matteo; Giorgio Orsini; Juraj Matejev Dalmatinac]". Grove Dictionary of Art. Macmillan Publishers Limited/Artnet. 2000. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Juraj Dalmatinac". General Encyclopedia of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute (in Croatian). Vol. 4. Zagreb: Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute. 1978.
  4. ^ Giorgio da Sebenico and the Workshop of Giovanni Bon by Dr. Anne Markham Schulz - Brown University, Providence, USA (PDF), retrieved January 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ I nobili e il clero di Sebenico nel 1449 per la fabbrica della cattedrale, Vincenzo Miagostovich, Sebenico, 1910
  6. ^ Life of Giorgio Orsini. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |http://books.google.ro/books?id= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b Fisković, Cvito (1983). Juraj Dalmatinac (in Croatian). Zagreb: Zora. p. 73. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b c Ivančević, Radovan. Šibenska katedrala (in Croatian).
  9. ^ a b Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500 by Ludwig H. Heydenreich, Yale University Press; Second Revised edition, 1996; ISBN 0-300-06467-5, pp. 74, 80, 101, 183 (index) & 184 (index)
  10. ^ Venice & the East: The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture 1100-1500 by Deborah Howard, Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-300-08504-4, pp. 43, 183, 275 (index)
  11. ^ Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State by David Rosand, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2001; ISBN 0-8078-2641-3, p. 159
  12. ^ From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnevale and the Making of a Renaissance Master by Keith Christiansen, Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications, New York, 2005; ISBN 0-300-10716-1, pp. 106, 132
  13. ^ Art in Renaissance Italy: 1350-1500 by Evelyn Welch, Oxford University Press, 2001; ISBN 0-19-284279-X, pp. 65, 347 (index)
  14. ^ The Italian Renaissance by Peter Burke, Polity Press, Second revised edition, Cambridge, 1999; ISBN 0-7456-2138-4, pp. 46, 296 (index)
  15. ^ a b The Concise Dictionary of Architectural and Design History, by Frederic H. Jones, Crisp Publications, Los Altos, 1992; ISBN 1-56052-069-8, p. 286
  16. ^ a b Quaderni Giuliani di Storia Anno XXIII (n°1 gennaio-giugno 2002), pp. 21-35; article "La letteratura italiana in Dalmazia: una storia falsificata" by Giacomo Scotti
  17. ^ a b Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building: An Unabridged Reprint of the 1901-2..., p. 254 by Russell Sturgis - Architecture - 1989
  18. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) articles about Sebenico and Ancona
  19. ^ The Shores of the Adriatic (illustrated edition) by F. Hamilton Jackson; Echo Library, 2010, p. 179
  20. ^ The drawings of the Venetian painters in the 15th and 16th centuries by Hans Tietze, Erika Tietze-Conrat; Hacker Art Books, 1979, p. 105
  21. ^ Frommer's Italy 2012 by Darwin Porter, Danforth rince; John Wiley & Sons, 15 July 2011, p. 378
  22. ^ A Dictionary of Architecture and Building - Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive, vol 1 by Russell Sturgis, Jr.; READ BOOKS, 30 September 2009, p. 81
  23. ^ a b Sir Thomas Graham Jackson (1885). Ragusa. Il palazzo rettorale, il duomo, il reliquiario del teschia di s. Biagio (Estr. dall'Annuario dalmatico).
  24. ^ Alberti, Mario (1917). Italy's great war and her national aspirations. Alfieri & Lacroix. p. 179. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ Silani, Tomaso (1917). La Dalmazia monvmentale:con 100 tavole fvori testo. Alfieri & Lacroix. p. 61. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ a b Vauchez, André (2000). Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, vol I. Routledge. p. 453. ISBN 1579582826, 9781579582821. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  27. ^ Encyclopedia of Visual Arts of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute, vol 3 (Zagreb: 1964), article Juraj Dalmatinac.
  28. ^ F. A. Galvani, Il re d'armi di Sebenico con illustrazioni storiche, Venice, Dr. v. P. Naratovich, 1884, p. 160, n. 2

Bibliography

  • Mariano Fabio, La Loggia dei Mercanti in Ancona e l’opera di Giorgio di Matteo da Sebenico, Ed. Il lavoro editoriale, Ancona 2003.
  • M. Fabio, La facciata di S. Agostino in Ancona e il suo restauro, in Aa.Vv., Atti del Convegno "Arte e Spiritualità negli Ordini Mendicanti, II", Tolentino, Roma 1994.
  • M. Fabio, La stagione adriatica del Gotico fiorito, in F. Mariano, L’Architettura nelle Marche. Dall’Età classica al Liberty,Ed. Nardini, Fiesole 1995, pp. 83–88.
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