Олтарска пала Богородице са Христом из цркве Светог Духа у Котору

Abstract

A relief depicting the Virgin and Child, Sts Francis and Bernardino of Sienna used to adorn the Lady altar in the church of the Holy Spirit at Kotor. It was made by Desiderius, a Franciscan of Kotor, in 1654. As the church was placed under the Franciscan order from 1640, the person who had commissioned it is likely to have also been a Franciscan, or a layman inspired by Franciscan spirituality. Details such as the inscription Regina sanctissimi stellarii ora pro nobis, the crescent moon, the Virgin’s long hair, sceptre and orb, angelical heads forming a halo, a bunch of flowers and, especially, the Franciscan environment, define this relief as a visualization of the dogma of immaculate conception (Immaculata Conceptione). In the orbit of the Venetian Republic, and accordingly at Kotor, this dogma was identified with the state-building concept. It found expression in Desiderius’s relief through a symbiosis of sacral and profane elements. St Bernardino’s apotropaic character and especially the information that a votive offering expressing gratitude for the rescue from a deadly plague used to be suspended from the Virgin’s figure confirm that the altarpiece was also intended as an appeal to the Virgin for protection against disease. A role in shaping the relief was played by the order’s spirituality. Before being assigned to the Venetian Franciscans, the church of the Holy Spirit had been under the patronage of the brotherhood of the same name, one of the oldest charity organizations at Kotor, which had run a church-based shelter for the poor. Poverty relief and health care were in the focus of attention of the Venetian Republic. The Virgin was emblematic of philanthropy, a personification of Caritas, an embodiment of the policies of a state concentrated on presenting itself as a moral society. This social context may be recognized in the Virgin supplicated to pray for humankind and surrounded by the saints who were role models of humanism. Desiderius’s Sacra Conversazione has emotional immediacy. The Franciscans of the church of the Holy Spirit, reputed for their excellence in teaching and preaching, and the artist, Fra Desiderius, were concerned with the effect the artwork, a votive and altar image, was to have on the beholder. This representation, once lavished with hope, expectation and gratitude, was an important focus of devotion to the Virgin.