About the Project
OPUS VENETUM
Figural embroidery of the 14th century stands as one of the least researched chapters within the Venetian artistic heritage. Although the importance of this topic was recognized in the early 1960s, only recently have concerted efforts been made towards a more systematic research of this subject. Three monographic studies have unlocked the potential of this topic. However, in comparison to embroideries originating from other cultural and production centres of the 14th century (opus anglicanum, opus fiorentinum, opus teutonicum) the contemporary Venetian examples remain insufficiently valorised, and not even catalogued.
Preliminary scientific cataloguing efforts indicate that roughly twenty items that can be attributed to Venetian workshops have been preserved. It is important to point out that most of these pieces are kept in the Republic of Croatia or were originally commissioned for patrons from the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Today, they are kept in some of the most important European museums of applied arts (Victoria and Albert Museum, Iparművészeti Múzeum). The implementation of this virtual exhibition was made possible thanks to the support of several domestic and foreign institutions and is the result of several years of project work on the systematization and analysis of preserved Venetian 14th century embroidery. The main objective of these projects was to create for the first time a comprehensive catalogue of embroideries crafted in Venice during the 14th century. This catalogue will serve as a cornerstone for directing future research endeavours towards the proper valorisation of individual works of art.
Within the framework of the projects, the pre-existing cooperation between researchers from the University of Rijeka and the University of Padua, leading researchers in the field of the art of Venetian Trecento was further strengthened, as well as with a number of collaborators from Croatian and foreign museum and scientific institutions. This synergy led to scientific excellence and enabled the transfer of knowledge, ultimately establishing a platform for future collaborative ventures in the field of digital technologies.
Field Research
Team Members
Dr. Danijel Ciković
Danijel Ciković is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Applied Arts at the University of Rijeka where he teaches courses in History of Medieval Art, and History of Renaissance Art. His research focuses on the visual culture of the late medieval Adriatic region, with a special emphasis on Venetian artistic production in the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as on contextualization of commissions and donations of liturgical furnishings.
dcikovic@uniri.hr
Dr. Iva Jazbec Tomaić
Iva Jazbec Tomaić is a research assistant at the Academy of Applied Arts at the University of Rijeka where she teaches courses in History of Applied Art, History of Baroque Art and Academic Writing. Her specific area of scientific interest is historical textiles, especially Venetian Early modern period silks and embroideries.
ijazbec@uniri.hr
Dr. Valentina Baradel
Valentina Baradel is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Padova, in the ERC project SenSArt – The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art and Somatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century). During the PhD, her research focused on the visual, material and socio-cultural production of Venice, the Veneto and other regions in the North Adriatic during the 14th and 15th centuries.
valentina.baradel@unipd.it
Dr. Danijel Ciković
Danijel Ciković is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Applied Arts at the University of Rijeka where he teaches courses in History of Medieval Art, and History of Renaissance Art. His research focuses on the visual culture of the late medieval Adriatic region, with a special emphasis on Venetian artistic production in the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as on contextualization of commissions and donations of liturgical furnishings.
Dr. Iva Jazbec Tomaić
Iva Jazbec Tomaić is a research assistant at the Academy of Applied Arts at the University of Rijeka where she teaches courses in History of Applied Art, History of Baroque Art and Academic Writing. Her specific area of scientific interest is historical textiles, especially Venetian Early modern period silks and embroideries.
Dr. Valentina Baradel
Valentina Baradel is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Padova, in the ERC project SenSArt – The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art and Somatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century). During the PhD, her research focused on the visual, material and socio-cultural production of Venice, the Veneto and other regions in the North Adriatic during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Select Bibliography
DANIJEL CIKOVIĆ and IVA JAZBEC TOMAIĆ, Rethinking The Veglia Altar Frontal from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Its Patron, in: Byzantium in Eastern European Visual Culture in the Late Middle Ages (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, 65), (eds.) M. A. Rossi i A. I. Sullivan, Leiden / Boston, 2020, 248 – 279.
VALENTINA BARADEL, Diramazioni adriatiche di botteghe veneziane. L’isola di Veglia (Krk), da Paolo Veneziano a Jacobello del Fiore, in: La Serenissima via mare – Arte e cultura tra Venezia e il Quarnaro, (eds.) V. Baradel and C. Guarnieri, Padova, 2019, 57 – 75.
SILVIJA BANIĆ, Zadarski gotički vezeni antependij u Budimpešti, in: Ars Adriatica, 4 (2014), 75 – 94.
DAMIR TULIĆ and NINA KUDIŠ, Opatska riznica, katedrala i crkve grada Korčule, Korčula, 2014.
JELENA IVOŠ, Liturgijsko ruho iz zbirke tekstila Muzeja za umjetnost i obrt, Zagreb, 2010.
DORETTA DAVANZO POLI, Pietro e Marco nei ricami medievali, in: San Pietro e San Marco. Arte e iconografia in area adriatica, (ed.) Letizia Caselli, Roma, 2009, 185 – 203.
HÉLÈNE PAPASTAVROU, À propos d’un voile brodé vénitien du XIVe siècle à Zadar, in: Zograf, 32 (2008), 91 – 99.
CENNINO CENNINI, Knjiga o umjetnosti. Il libro dell’ arte, translated by Katarina Hraste and Jurica Matijević, (ed.) Milan Pelc, Zagreb, 2007.
CRISTINA GUARNIERI, Lorenzo Veneziano, Milano, 2006.
ZORAIDA DEMORI STANIČIĆ, Prilozi o srednjovjekovnom tekstilu u Trogiru: prijedlozi za lokalnu vezilačku radionicu, in: Prilozi povijesti umjetnosti u Dalmaciji, 40 (2003 – 2004), 113 – 147.
MONIQUE KING and DONALD KING, European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400 BC to 1800 AD, London, 1990.
BERNHARD DEGENHART and ANNEGRIT SCHMITT, Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen 1300-1450. II. Venedig 1300-1400. Addenda zu Süd und Mittelitalien, Berlin, 1980.
Il Ricamo nella Storia e nell’Arte, (ed.) Marie Schuette and Sigrid Müller-Christensen, Roma, 1963, 7 – 12.