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Giorgio da Sebenico

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Giorgio da Sebenico
Occupation(s)sculptor, architect

Giorgio Orsini usually called Giorgio da Sebenico (Latin:Georgius Mathaei Dalmaticus; c. 1410 - 1473), was a medieval sculptor and architect, who worked mainly at Šibenik in Dalmatia . He was born in the Dalmatian city of Zara (today Zadar, Croatia), which was then ruled by the Republic of Venice and died in Sebenico (now Šibenik, Croatia).

Life and work

Very good information about Orsini's origins and family name (along with a list of valid historic documents used to support it) can be found in a ninetheen century book written by the British historian Thomas Graham Jackson . Orsini was educated in Venice , in the workshop of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. He helped them sculpt the decorations on the Porta della Carta of the Doge's Palace. His opus represents the golden age of Dalmatian medieval art . His most beautiful achievement is probably the Cathedral of St.Jacob in Sebenico (today Šibenik) - often referenced in Italian as Il Duomo di Sebenico, for which he was a chief architect from 1441 to 1473. The entire building was built solely of stone elements (with no wood or bricks used in the structure). The task before him 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 construct some covering by a lantern and cupola or otherwise over the crossing. It should be noted that Giorgio did not finish the work he started on the Duomo. From July 1 1477 the work was continued by another architect - Nicolo di Giovanni da Firenze. It is to Nicolo that the construction of the stone roof is to be attributed. Especially interesting are 72 portraits of his fellow-citizens carved in stone, surprisingly realistic for the period . They reflect in a very direct sense the character of urban life of that time. In Spalato (today Split) he built several palaces and in 1448 he carved a stone altar in Spalato cathedral. In Ragusa (today Dubrovnik) he helped repair the Duke's palace and helped build the Minčeta fortress. He also made an urban plan for Pago. In Italy, he worked in Ancona where he built the Loggia dei Mercanti and the portal of San Francesco's (St. Francis) Church. His carvings and sculptures belong to the late gothic style, but his architecture is early Renaissance in style.

St. James Cathedral's facade - the principal work of Giorgio da Sebenico.

Nationality

In Croatia, Giorgio Orsini is much celebrated as the Croat artist Juraj Dalmatinac. This name is a recent translation of Georgius Dalmaticus . Some Croatian authors have furthermore claimed that "Orsini" was never used by the artist and it was adobted by his son, shortly after the death of his father, so that he was a Croat with a Croat name. .

References

  1. ^ Quaderni Giuliani di Storia Anno XXIII (n°1 gennaio-giugno 2002) pag.21-35; article "La letteratura italiana in Dalmazia: una storia falsificata" by Giacomo Scotti
  2. Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) articles about Sebenico and Ancona
  3. ^ Biography (Artnet)
  4. 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, Page 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

  5. ^ "Juraj Dalmatinac". General Encyclopedia of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute (in Croatian). Vol. 4. Zagreb: Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute. 1978.
  6. La Voce del Popolo 21/07/2003; Dalmazia, una storia »falsata«; by Kristjan Knez (xoomer.alice.it/histria/storiaecultura/testiedocumenti/articoligiornali/dalmazia.htm)
  7. La Repubblica, August 14, 2004; "Traù, fuga di mezzanotte"; by Paolo Rumiz
  8. La Voce del Popolo; "L'Adriatico orientale e la sterile ricerca della nazionalità delle persone"; by Kristjan Knez (xoomer.alice.it/histria/storiaecultura/testiedocumenti/articoligiornali/artadriatico.htm)
  9. Corriere della Sera, November 3, 2000: "Gli italiani d'Istria litigano con il Vaticano"; by Gian Antonio Stella
  10. Fisković, Cvito (1963). Juraj Dalmatinac (in Croatian). Zagreb: Zora. p. 73. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. Ivančević, Radovan. Šibenska katedrala (in Croatian).

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