Projects / Programmes
Late Medieval and Early Modern Art Heritage of the Diocese of Koper
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.09.00 |
Humanities |
Art history |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H310 |
Humanities |
Art history |
history of art, Early Modern Europe, Late Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, architecture, sculpture, cultural heritage, Classical tradition, cultural history, iconography, patrons and artists, Slovenian art, Venetian art, churches, public and private palaces
Researchers (5)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
With regard to the art heritage of the upper Adriatic rim, the respective roles of ecclesiastical and secular patrons have hitherto been studied with particular emphasis on metropolitan Venice. This inter-institutional project will, in turn, focus on three smaller coastal towns of the present-day Slovenian littoral: Koper (It. Capodistria), Izola (It. Isola d’Istria) and Piran (It. Pirano) along with their continental contado’s on the Istrian peninsula and the adjoining parts of the Karstic plateau. The project’s aim is to examine the varying types of artistic commissions in the light of political, economic and cultural diversity, which is borne out by the characteristic contrast between the aesthetic preferences of the towndwellers on the one side and the distinct tastes of the village communities on the other. Taking advantage of both documentary and material evidence, members of the research team will systematically examine patronal activities of several remarkable Capodistrian bishops and podestas, along with a wide array of buildings, paintings and sculptures that were commissioned by other representatives of the secular clergy, religious orders, confraternities, and, last but not least, by influential lay individuals from the ranks of the Capodistrian, Isolan and Piranese nobility. In addition, the research work will concomitantly centre round the thorough re-examination of numerous late-medieval mural cycles of particular iconographic interest, which carry the promise of throwing new light on the intricate dialogue between popular sacred imagery and its illiterate beholders. On the whole, the project will hopefully offer valuable insights into the dynamic interaction between Italian (or Italianate) and transalpine (especially central-European) artistic trends in patrons in the period between ca. 1350 and ca. 1750; and its anticipated results may also lead to better understanding of a number of interpretive problems of particular methodological interest.
Significance for science
The group of scholars who have actively participated in the project “Late Medieval and Early Modern Art Heritage of the Diocese of Koper” elucidated several hitherto little-studied aspects of urban and rural artistic heritage of the later Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods on and beyond the Istrian peninsula. Due to the abundance of primary sources and to the ever-more evident diversity of the complex cultural patrimony of the upper Adriatic rim, each individual collaborator's studies resulted in significant new findings with respect to its twofold, Mediterranean and central-European, contexts. This is clearly borne out by the concrete results which were made accessible to international scholarly audience in highly regarded serial publications outside Slovenia (e.g. Studies in the History of Art 70 (2008), pp. 111-127 [Dr. Stanko Kokole; see above, heading B.6.1]; Saggi e Memorie di storia dell'arte 30 (2006 [2008]), pp. 203-225 [Dr. Samo Štefanac], pp. 251-288 [Dr. Matej Klemenčič]; see above, headings B.6.2-3]; Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 57 (2008), pp. 31-50 [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević]; Jahrbuch der Europäischen Totentanz-Vereinigung 10 (2009), pp. 189-197 [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević; see above, heading B.6.4]) as well as in established Slovenian journals (e.g. Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, new. ser. 43 (2007 [2008]), pp. 87-104 [Dr. Alenka Vodnik; see above, heading B.6.5]; Annales, Ser. hist. sociol. 18, no. 1 (2008), pp. 31-40 [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević]). Moreover, some of the more recent discoveries were also publicly presented at international conferences in Trieste (Balla con la morte, cultura ed estetica del macabro dal medioevo ad oggi, Convegno internazionale di studi, 25-26 e 27 maggio 2007, Biblioteca statale & Universita degli Studi di Trieste [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević]), Florence (14. Jahrestagung der Europäischen Totentanz-Vereinigung im Kunsthistorischen Institut Max-Planck-Institut [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević; see above, heading B.6.4]) and Heidelberg (15. Jahrestagung der Europäischen Totentanz-Vereinigung im Institut für Europäische Kunstgeschichte der Universität Heidelberg [Dr. Tomislav Vignjević]; see above, heading B.7.3) . Directly related??? to the concluding stages of the project were also the discussion panel entitled “Art Historical Research in Istria: Problems and Perspectives” which took place in the Town of Izola (Isola) in the fall of 2008 (see above, heading B.7.4) and the international scholarly symposium “Venetian Heritage on the Shores of the Adriatic Sea: Artistic Exchange between the Terraferma, Istria and Dalmatia in the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth Centuries”, which took place at Izola (Isola) and Piran (Pirano) in October 2009 (see above, heading B.7.1). These publications and public lectures have substantially contributed to better understanding of several interpretive problems of particular methodological interest and will undoubtedly further the development of the discipline of art history as a whole as well as encourage future interdisciplinary research at both national and international levels.
Significance for the country
Several Slovenian beneficiaries at regional as well as national levels directly or indirectly profited from the research that has been carried out within the framework of the project “Late Medieval and Early Modern Art Heritage of the Diocese of Koper”. Art-historical analyses of the relatively little-studied architectural patrimony of Izola (e.g. the parish church of Saint Maurus) and active participation of members of the research team in the expert committees supervising restoration campaigns in Koper (see above, e.g. heading B.7.2) have provided welcome backing for the recently intensified activities of The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (ZVKDS) and its regional unit at Piran (OE Piran) in their striving to more effectively safeguard the endangered cultural patrimony of the Slovenian littoral. A major step forward in these concerted efforts on the part of conservationists, architects and art historians alike has been made at the round table which was jointly organized by the Municipality of Izola and the University of Primorska's Science and Research Centre of Koper in November 2008 (see above, heading B.7.4). This successful meeting has also contributed to public awareness of the common European traits of the cultural heritage surviving or belonging to Slovenia's coastal towns of Koper, Izola and Piran along with their rural hinterlands (e.g. Hrastovlje). Furthermore, Slovenian Research Agency's and the Municipality of Isola's combined financing of this project significantly fostered the build-up of educational and research potential at the University of Primorska and simultaneously encouraged close collaboration of the Koper-based researchers with the synergetic group of colleagues specializing in Mediterranean subjects at the Department of the History of Art of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Ljubljana. Last but not least, focused research centering on outstanding artistic monuments and patrons of supranational importance demonstrably invigorated international resonance of Slovenian scholarship, especially at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice (see above, heading B.6.2-3), in the Europäische Totentanz-Vereinigung (see above, headings B.6.4 in B.7.3) and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in Washington, D.C. (see above, heading B.7.5).
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
