engleski

Mary at the triplex confinium: the Veneration of the Virgin in Croatian Lands between the 16th and the 18th Century

The geographical and political position of the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Early Modern period – between the Habsburg Monarchy, the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire – created a complexity of cultural, social and religious elements which strongly influenced the veneration of the Virgin Mary, reflected in a multitude of produced or adopted iconographical solutions, further elaborated at the triplex confinium between Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic religious realms. For instance, the Croatian town of Trsat was an important stop on the journey of Mary's Holy House flying from the Saracens to Loreto ; copies of Maria Passaviensis (Maria Auxiliatrix) as painted by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach the Elder accompanied Catholic troops in the Great Ottoman-Habsburg War, while at the same time the Prophet Muhammad participated in the dispute of the Immaculate Conception at the altar painting in the Franciscan church in Split (Dalmatia). The revival of older iconographic types, such as the Salus Populi Romani from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, traceable in all parts of Croatia, was accompanied by the necessary adaptation of the original image to the religious needs and traditions of local communities. After the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563), several dozens of visual solutions provided a material background for the veneration of the Virgin Mary throughout present-day Croatia, encouraged by the turbulent political and religious conditions which marked the region in the period between the 16th and the 18th century.

Virgin Mary; veneration; Croatia; visual arts; Renaissance; Baroque

Rad je nastao u okviru potpore Sveučilišta u Zagrebu "Likovna baština Dubrovačke Republike od XV. do XVIII. stoljeća i svjedočanstva venecijanskih, rimskih i napuljskih utjecaja" voditeljice prof. dr. sc. Sanje Cvetnić