Studia Waweliana (2.1993)

ted), they are related by the following elements: the
poses and robes of the angels alongside the Tuscan
order of both tempiettos and their evident recalling
(this having hitherto been overlooked) of the Brunelle-
schi domes. The dome of the tempietto at St Mary's,
similarly as that of S. Maria del Fiore, has eight ribs,
a gallery beneath the cupola (imitating the never
completed gallery of Baccio d'Agnolo) and, above all,
a lantern with its buttresses and volutes, tali windows
and pilasters (Figs 16 and 17). The decoration of the
cupola of the Modlnica tempietto, in turn, through its
ribs and the central oculus surrounded by smaller
ones recalls the domes of the Sagrestia Vecchia and
Cappella dei Pazzi (Fig. 20). That the hitherto
discussed fragments (reliefs with angels and the tem-
pietto) were created in the time of Bishop Tomicki is
additionally indicated by the rosette motif and an
arabesąue very much like those on the tomb of the
bishop (Fig. 23).

Furthermore, the present author brings forward
the hypothesis that:

3. A relief with the Holy Trinity (measuring
56 X 79 cm), evidently set in a provisional way above
the altar in the Chapel of Bishop Tomicki, was originally
an element surmounting the sacrarium. This is indi-
cated by the subject of the relief (the Holy Trinity,
related with the Eucharist), dimensions, the kind of
marble, a resemblance to the relief in the niche of
Bishop Tomicki's tomb, representing the Madonna and
Child surrounded by the winged heads of angels (see
Figs 25 and 26), and the mode of sculpting robes and
ears similar to that in the case of the angels in the
National Museum in Cracow (Fig. lOa-b). The hypo-
thesis that this relief forms part of a tabernacle is
authenticated by a comparison with other sacraria, both
in and outside Italy. Here one could bring such
examples as the Pecs tabernacle commissioned by Bishop
Szathmary, and the altar from the Wawel Chapel of the
Holy Trinity (see Fig. 29), both dating from c. 1520. In
Italy, one may mention tabernacles in the churches of
S. Egidio in Florence, c. 1450, in Santa Maria de Mon-
teluce in Perugia, 1483, and in the cathedral in Lucera,
1480. All three objects bear the representation of the
Holy Trinity, its particular images or symbols, however,
being distributed in various parts of the tabernacles
and not on one slab as in Cracow. An example
exceptionally important for the investigations presented
here can be found in the basilica of San Marco in
Venice. This is an altar-tabernacle by Lorenzo Bregno,
dating from 1518, which was most probably known to
Padovano (Fig. 27). Here, above the sportello with two
adoring angels can be seen a relief representing the
bearded God with raised hands. A triangular nimbus
with His head shown against it leaves no doubt about
its being the Holy Trinity. Likewise, in Raphael's Disputa
there is the central axis with the Holy Trinity emitting

golden rays and with a round monstrance. In this case,
however, it is Christ who raises His hands.

The last part of the paper is concerned with two
ąuestions: 1. The tabernacle in Cracow Cathedral as
seen against the background of Italian art, and 2. An
attempt at interpreting in part the symbolic meaning
of the dome with its central oculus sending forth wavy,
once gilded, beams of light, surrounded by smaller
oculi.

Re 1. In the case of the adoring angels from the
Padovano tabernacle in Cracow Cathedral the author
indicates, inter aha, their resemblance to the angels
from the 1498 tabernacle of S. Lanca (preserved in
fragments in the Vatican Grottoes — Fig. lla-b),
various ciboria — tempietta (e.g. one by Vecchietta,
now in the cathedral of Siena, Fig. 31), or altar-taber-
nacles with tempietta in the centrę in the art of Tuscany
(see also examples mentioned in Notes 67—70)
and Rome (Fig. 32). The author stresses the fact of
Bishop Tomicki's six-year stay in Italy (studies in
Bologna, training in the Roman curia, and probably
a stay in Florence); the bishop himself — well known
as a patron of art — may have influenced the creation
of this kind of sacrarium (cf. Appendices Nos. I and
II) and its rich ornamentation. In one of his letters of
1535 he writes expressis verbis about the patterns of
ornaments with which his robes are to be embellished
by some embroiderer in Rome (see Appendix No. IV).
Thus the tabernacle in Cracow Cathedral may have
been the result of the Italian artisfs creative effort
and the taste and knowledge of the eminent Polish
humanist educated in Italy (in the Life of Tomicki
written by Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz the bishop of
Cracow is called Italus — see Appendix No. V).

Re 2. The author points out that the tabernacle
reveals a elear reference to the symbolism of
light (lumen eucharystiae). This is suggested by the
symbolism of the light inherent in the models for the
dome of the Cracow tabernacle, that is, the Brunelle-
schi domes (see Figs 16 and 17, and Note 78), a compa-
rison with: a tabernacle in Monte Fiascone (see Note
86), a monstrance in Hal, the decoration of the Chiesa
del Corpo di Gesu in Castiglione Olona, a tabernacle
by Mino da Fiesole, now in S. Croce, Florence (see Figs
33—36), and a fresco in Tor de'Specchi, depicting the
Communion of Santa Francesca Romana. The supposition
of a wealth of ideas contained in the tabernacle
commissioned by Tomicki seems to be borne out by an
inscription on another such object, founded by him for
the Cathedral in Poznań, referring to the Eucharist
and Lux mundi, as well as by the bishop's library
with the works of Durandus, Clichtovius, Faber, Bishop
of Vienna, Hermes Trismegistos, Marsilio Ficino, Pico
delia Mirandola, Erasmus of Rotterdam, and others,
freąuently with glosses in the margins and even with
a reference to Sol justitiae (see Notes 87—90).