DOI Artikel:
Morka, Mieczysław: Włoski tryptyk renesansoy w kościele na Kamionku w Warszawie: problemy ikonografii i autorstwa
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48916#0050
MIECZYSŁAW MORKA
placed on the reverse: del Borgognione di Milano AD
1492, while recognising that the triptych boards had been
shortened and mounted in a new frame. The author of this
article, who is currently preparing a catalogue of Italian
paintings preserved in Polish church collections, does not
agree with the above stipulations. Foliowing his own
analysis of the triptych’s iconography, the author came to
the conclusion that the painting’s ideological programme
belongs to that of the Dominican religious order, thereby
allowing him to indicate the possible sites that should be
taken into consideration in establishing the place for which
the triptych was originally intended. Rejecting Ambrogio
da Fossano, known as II Borgogne, as the hypothetical
artist, he has identified the little known Dominican painter
Ambrogio da Soncino (died in 1527) who specialised in
painting on glass.
The triptych was carried out in a way typical of Italian
art at the tum of the 15th century. The artist painted the
central scene and Saints Yincento Ferraro and Ambrose on
a large, rectangular board, the panels being delineated by
a structure composed of four pilasters with an entablature.
Bearing in mind the fact that the marginal areas between the
panels were left unpainted by the artist to be subseąuently
concealed by the pilasters, it is unrealistic to hypothesize
about the board’s later shortening; at most, the original
pilasters were replaced at some point in the 19th century;
a conclusion supported by the uniform structure of the
predella. The second board depicting God the Father was
placed in a semi-circular tympanum. The author ’s attention
was attracted to the unusual iconography of the Holy
Mother of the Devotional Rosary in which the figurę of St.
Dominie was replaced by that of St. Catherine of Siena. It
would appear that the main train of thought, based on the
symbolism of roses and the rosary, was the soteriological
doctrine of Mary; i.e. the notion of the Holy Virgin’s
contribution as the Mother of Christ in the act of redemption
(compasio et credemptio), in connection with which the
cult of the Blood of the Most Blessed was widely operative
during the 15th century This cult was reflected, among others,
in St. Catherine of Siena’s considerations concerning
Chrisfs predominating crimson rosę blood cleansing
mankind of its sins and his reereation.
The soteriological message behind the main panel is
connected to the eucharist theme of the central theme
placed in the predella, in which Vir Dolorum, or Imago
Pietatis, is adored by members of the brethren of flagellators
who were almost certainly the triptych’s donors. Their
movement was born out of that of the so-called white
penitents who in the years 1399-1400 emigrated from
France to Liguria to reach somewhat later Prato and
Florence. The Dominican preacher St. Vincento Ferrero,
depicted in one of the side panels, became a leading figurę
of the flagellators following their creation in 1396. The
specific piety of the brotherhood members depicted on the
predella is reflected in the whip depicted as an attribute of
St. Ambrose, portrayed in the second side panel, who
defended in his works the Church’s right to absolve sins and
admonished the punitive discipline in force. As a Church
father he defended the study of the permanent heritage of
the Most Holy Virgin Mary, portraying her role in
a christological and soteriological context. He declared
himself a supporter of the part she had played through her
Divine motherhood in the act of redemption as a regenerated
Eve, being the first religious personage in Western Europę
to introduce the notion of Virgo-Mater, presenting Mary as
an ideał model for virgins devoted to God. Catherine of
Siena was to be one of these virgins.
The central scene depicted on the predella is flanked by
St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalen, who are
connected with the soteriological and eucharist message, as
well as a monk canying a beli in a tondo who almost
definitely represents St. Anthony, the supposed founder of
Christian monasticism to whose rebirth and development
St. Dominie so greatly contributed. The friar in the second
tondo offering a beggar a piece of bread cut from a loaf he
is holding represents the great preacher St. Nicholas of
Tolentino, linking him to the Dominican mission to relieve
the suffering of the destitute. The fact that self-flagellation
to the point of bleeding on Fridays was close to the
brotherhood’s members is depicted on the predella.
Because the soteriological-Virgin Mary idea connected
with the symbolism of the rosę is illustrated in the central
scene, it is possible that the artist had another aspect of
the legend of St. Nicholas of Tolentino in mind. During the
saint’s illness he was supposed, as it were, to have received
a miraculous loaf of bread from the Virgin Mary. With this
bread blessed by himself he healed the sick, transforming
the bread into roses. The two remaining holy virgins are
Catherine of Alexandria, who during a dispute with
philosophers converted the pagan academics, thereby
becoming for the Dominicans a model of the effects
preaching should have on its listeners, as well as Martha,
the Biblical sister of Lazarus and Mary, who conducted her
missionary activity in and around Arles and Avignon.
Gathering around herself a large group of sisters, she had
a great church built which was dedicated to the Most Holy
Virgin Mary and led with them a spartan existence, praying
all the time.
Ali the above circumstances indicate that the triptych
was placed originally in a Dominican friars’church, or even
36
placed on the reverse: del Borgognione di Milano AD
1492, while recognising that the triptych boards had been
shortened and mounted in a new frame. The author of this
article, who is currently preparing a catalogue of Italian
paintings preserved in Polish church collections, does not
agree with the above stipulations. Foliowing his own
analysis of the triptych’s iconography, the author came to
the conclusion that the painting’s ideological programme
belongs to that of the Dominican religious order, thereby
allowing him to indicate the possible sites that should be
taken into consideration in establishing the place for which
the triptych was originally intended. Rejecting Ambrogio
da Fossano, known as II Borgogne, as the hypothetical
artist, he has identified the little known Dominican painter
Ambrogio da Soncino (died in 1527) who specialised in
painting on glass.
The triptych was carried out in a way typical of Italian
art at the tum of the 15th century. The artist painted the
central scene and Saints Yincento Ferraro and Ambrose on
a large, rectangular board, the panels being delineated by
a structure composed of four pilasters with an entablature.
Bearing in mind the fact that the marginal areas between the
panels were left unpainted by the artist to be subseąuently
concealed by the pilasters, it is unrealistic to hypothesize
about the board’s later shortening; at most, the original
pilasters were replaced at some point in the 19th century;
a conclusion supported by the uniform structure of the
predella. The second board depicting God the Father was
placed in a semi-circular tympanum. The author ’s attention
was attracted to the unusual iconography of the Holy
Mother of the Devotional Rosary in which the figurę of St.
Dominie was replaced by that of St. Catherine of Siena. It
would appear that the main train of thought, based on the
symbolism of roses and the rosary, was the soteriological
doctrine of Mary; i.e. the notion of the Holy Virgin’s
contribution as the Mother of Christ in the act of redemption
(compasio et credemptio), in connection with which the
cult of the Blood of the Most Blessed was widely operative
during the 15th century This cult was reflected, among others,
in St. Catherine of Siena’s considerations concerning
Chrisfs predominating crimson rosę blood cleansing
mankind of its sins and his reereation.
The soteriological message behind the main panel is
connected to the eucharist theme of the central theme
placed in the predella, in which Vir Dolorum, or Imago
Pietatis, is adored by members of the brethren of flagellators
who were almost certainly the triptych’s donors. Their
movement was born out of that of the so-called white
penitents who in the years 1399-1400 emigrated from
France to Liguria to reach somewhat later Prato and
Florence. The Dominican preacher St. Vincento Ferrero,
depicted in one of the side panels, became a leading figurę
of the flagellators following their creation in 1396. The
specific piety of the brotherhood members depicted on the
predella is reflected in the whip depicted as an attribute of
St. Ambrose, portrayed in the second side panel, who
defended in his works the Church’s right to absolve sins and
admonished the punitive discipline in force. As a Church
father he defended the study of the permanent heritage of
the Most Holy Virgin Mary, portraying her role in
a christological and soteriological context. He declared
himself a supporter of the part she had played through her
Divine motherhood in the act of redemption as a regenerated
Eve, being the first religious personage in Western Europę
to introduce the notion of Virgo-Mater, presenting Mary as
an ideał model for virgins devoted to God. Catherine of
Siena was to be one of these virgins.
The central scene depicted on the predella is flanked by
St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalen, who are
connected with the soteriological and eucharist message, as
well as a monk canying a beli in a tondo who almost
definitely represents St. Anthony, the supposed founder of
Christian monasticism to whose rebirth and development
St. Dominie so greatly contributed. The friar in the second
tondo offering a beggar a piece of bread cut from a loaf he
is holding represents the great preacher St. Nicholas of
Tolentino, linking him to the Dominican mission to relieve
the suffering of the destitute. The fact that self-flagellation
to the point of bleeding on Fridays was close to the
brotherhood’s members is depicted on the predella.
Because the soteriological-Virgin Mary idea connected
with the symbolism of the rosę is illustrated in the central
scene, it is possible that the artist had another aspect of
the legend of St. Nicholas of Tolentino in mind. During the
saint’s illness he was supposed, as it were, to have received
a miraculous loaf of bread from the Virgin Mary. With this
bread blessed by himself he healed the sick, transforming
the bread into roses. The two remaining holy virgins are
Catherine of Alexandria, who during a dispute with
philosophers converted the pagan academics, thereby
becoming for the Dominicans a model of the effects
preaching should have on its listeners, as well as Martha,
the Biblical sister of Lazarus and Mary, who conducted her
missionary activity in and around Arles and Avignon.
Gathering around herself a large group of sisters, she had
a great church built which was dedicated to the Most Holy
Virgin Mary and led with them a spartan existence, praying
all the time.
Ali the above circumstances indicate that the triptych
was placed originally in a Dominican friars’church, or even
36