The (after)lives of the pseudo-sumptuous surfaces: the case of the Venetian Gothic and Renaissance wooden sculpture in the Adriatic

Matko Marušić

doi:10.14568/cp35715

Authors

Matko Marušić Institute of Art History, Zagreb, Croatia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9208-3111

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14568/cp35715

Keywords:

Wooden sculpture, Venetian Renaissance sculpture, Polychromy, Pseudo-sumptuous surface, 15th century, 16th century

Abstract

This paper discusses the alterations to the surface of the 15th- and early-16th-century wooden sculpture, mostly executed by Venetian workshops for the clientele of the minor centres of the Adriatic region. It examines the cases of wooden statues that imitated metalwork via their glittering surfaces by considering both the place of such works in their time and their “afterlives”, given that their original appearance was regularly altered in the following centuries. The sparkling effect of the pseudo-sumptuous surfaces was replaced by polychromy covering the draperies in mimetic colours. The instances of the reverse approach are also considered, given that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, several late medieval artworks were repainted to mimic bronze or marble. These converging approaches to the surface of wooden sculpture tackle the issue of taste and the meaning of surface in the reception of sacred art in an extensive time frame.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Speranza, L., ‘Medodologie e problematiche nel restauro della scultura lignea’, in La scultura lignea. Techniche esecutive, conservazione e restauro: atti della giornata di studio, eds. A. M. Spiazzi & L. Majoli, Silvana Editoriale, Milano (2007) 12-14.

Vinco, M., Antonio Giolfino intagliatore veronese del Rinascimento, Edizioni dell’Aurora, Verona (2022).

Škarić, K., ‘Disliked – improved – surviving. Seventeenth-century altars in Inland Croatia, their polychromy and its role in their reception’, Restauratorenblätter 31 (special issue) (2012) 103-108.

Müller, R., Die Vivarini. Bildproduktion in Venedig 1440 bis 1505, Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg (2023) 188-192.

Fisković, I., ‘Tipologija i morfologija oltarnih slika 15. stoljeća u Dalmaciji’, Prilozi povijesti umjetnosti u Dalmaciji 29 (1990) 133-155.

Prijatelj, K., ‘Srebrne pale splitske stolne crkve’, Anali Historijskog instituta JAZU u Dubrovniku 1 (1952) 247-254.

Ciković, D., ‘...dalla parte di sotto dell'istessa Palla vi e' l'Arma Frangipani...: La pala d'argento della cattedrale di Veglia’, in Aspice Hunc Opus Mirum: Festschrift on the occasion of Nikola Jakšić's 70th birthday, eds. I. Josipović & M. Jurković, University of Zadar / University of Zagreb – International Research Centre for Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Zadar – Zagreb (2020) 519-534, https://doi.org/10.1484/m.dem-eb.5.121648.

Lupis, V., ‘O srebrnoj pali i srebrnom reljefu Sv. Vlaha’, Peristil 51 (2008) 119-130.

Cooper, D., ‘The silver there is very good: pilgrim narratives as sources for sacred art in Dubrovnik and a new proposal for Lovro Dobričević’, in Towns and cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: authority and property, eds. I. Benyovsky Latin & Z. Pešorda Vardić, Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb (2014) 331-358.

Matejčić, I., ‘Pulski poliptih / The Polyptich from Pula’, in Istra u novom vijeku / Istria in the Modern Period, ed. T. Bandera, Archeological Museum of Istria, Pula (2017) 81-102.

Kalauz, K., ‘Kroz crkvenu umjetnost’, in Na slavu Božju: 700 godina Šibenske biskupije, exhibition catalogue, Županijski muzej, Šibenik (1999).

Demori Staničić, Z., Javni kultovi ikona u Dalmaciji, Književni krug – Croatian Restoration Institute, Split – Zagreb (2017).

Matejčić, I., ‘Workshop of Paolo Campsa and Giovanni da Malines, Virgin and Child, late fifteenth century. Polychromed wooden sculpture, embossed with silver, h. 101× w. 41 × d. 50 cm. Tisno (near Šibenik), Church of the Holy Spirit’, in: Tesori della Croazia. Restaurati da Venetian Heritage Inc., exhibition catalogue, Multigraf, Venezia (2001) 37-39.

Sušanj, T., ‘Dva drvorezbarena triptiha s otoka Cresa’, Peristil 48 (2005) 49-51.

Španjol-Pandelo, B., Umjetnička djelatnost iz porodice Moronzon, PhD dissertation, Department of Art History, University of Zadar, Zadar (2014).

Galović, M., Izvješće o provedenim konzervatorsko-restauratorskim radovima na reljefima sv. Fabijana i sv. Sebastijana sa Cresa, report, Croatian Restoration Institute, Zagreb (2007).

Gjini, V., Konzervatorsko-restauratorski radovi na reljefu Bogorodice s Djetetom iz muzeja samostana sv. Franje u Cresu, report, Croatian Restoration Institute, Zagreb (2009).

Matejčić, I., ‘Prilozi za katalog renesansne skulpture u Hrvatskoj’, Prilozi povijesti umjetnosti u Dalmaciji 33 (1992) 9-12.

Matejčić, I., ‘Qualche paragone e nuovi esempi della scultura lignea rinascimentale in Istria’, in La scultura lignea nell’arco alpino: storia, stili e techniche (1450–1550), ed. G. Perusini, Forum, Udine (1999) 247-256.

Bergamini, G., Giovanni Martini, intagliatore e pittore, Parrocchia della SS. Trinità dei Santi Pietro e Paolo, Arti Grafiche Colombo, Mortegliano (2010).

Marušić, M., Drvena skulptura Cresa i Lošinja do 1550. godine: pojavnost i vrijednost, Institut za povijest umjetnosti, Zagreb (in press).

Šimičić, Đ., Izvješće o provedenim konzervatorsko-restauratorskim radovima na skulpturi Marija s Djetetom, župni ured u Cresu, report, Croatian Restoration Institute, Zagreb (2008).

Belamarić, J., ‘Gotičko raspelo iz Kotora’, Prilozi povijesti umjetnosti u Dalmaciji 26 (1986-1987) 119-153.

Battaglia, R., ‘Il crocifisso gotico doloroso della Chiesa di San Nicola da Tolentino’, in Crocifissi lignei a Venezia e nei territori della Serenissima, 1350–1500: Modelli, diffusione, restauro, ed. E. Francescutti, Centro Studi Antoniani, Padova (2013).

Magani, F., ‘Crocifissi lignei tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento’, in La scultura lignea. Techniche esecutive, conservazione e restauro, Silvana Editoriale, Milano (2007) 175-186.

Caglioti, F., ‘Donatello miracoloso: il Crocifisso ligneo dei Servi’, Atti e Memorie dell’Accademia Galileiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 122 (2009-2010) 50-106.

Speckhardt, M., Weiss gefasste Skulpturen und Ausstattungen: Technologie – Quellen – Bedeutung, Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg (2014).

Marinković, A.; Marušić, M. M., ‘I tramezzi del coro sul “modello di san Marco”, nello stato da Mar. Contesti e commitenti’, in Norme e modelli. Il rinascimento e l'Adriatico orientale, ed. J. Gudelj, Aracne, Roma (2023) 41-63.

Petricioli, I., Umjetnička obrada drveta u Zadru u doba gotike, Croatian Society of Art Historians, Zagreb (1972).

Jakšić, N.; Hilje, E., Umjetnička baština zadarske nadbiskupije. Kiparstvo I: od IV. do XVI. stoljeća, Archbishopric of Zadar, Zadar (2008).