AFAT 32

An exhibition by Jannis Kounellis was organized in Trieste (September, 7th 2013 – February, 2nd 2014) in a building designed and constructed by the architect Giorgio Polli (Trieste, 1862-1942). The building was opened as a Fish-market in 1913, beside the sea and in front of the Neoclassical buildings of the town, but now it is used solely for exhibition purposes. An example of industrial archaeology, the interior has become in Kounellis’s installation an integral part of a sacred epic of the Sea. The artist shows that the value of the building can increase through its technological aspects, the specific relation between its interior and exterior, and also its quality of space and light, and become a sort of “eco-museum”, an expression of the history of Trieste and of that relationship with the sea that determines its cultural identity.

The article enriches the cataloque of the works of Matteo Ponzone (Venezia, 1583-after 1663) in Dalmatia. In the parish church in Nerežišc´a on the island Bracˇ is preserved Ponzone’s altarpiece depicting Our Lady of Carmel with St John the Baptist and St Peter painted in the fourth decade of the 17th century when the artist lived in Split. From that period dated two altarpieces newly discovered in the church of St Nicola (Virgin with Child and St Nicola) and in Monastery of St Claire (Immaculata with St Andrea and John the Evangelist) in Split, and St Michele with St John the Baptist and st Benedict from the benedictine church of St Michele in nearby Trogir. Acording to the inscription on the tomb in front of altar it is possible to suppose that pala portante St Joseph, St Dominic and donor in the church of St Lazar in Trogir was ordered around 1653 by naval captain Jerolim Dragozetovic´.

The author publishes a painting by Augusto Tominz with Leonardo painting the Gioconda, exhibited in Triest in 1846. This important artwork, property of a family from Trieste, has been nowhere to be found until now. A similar drawing by the same artist is in Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte of Trieste. This drawing was appreciated as a preparatory work of the painting, but the discovery of this artwork has allowed us to confirm some differences beetwen the drawing and the painting. The author considers the possibility of the existence of two different paintings, and only one is known or, in an alternative perspective, the drawing in the Museum was another version of this lucky composition that the artist never painted. Furthermore, archive research better showed the period of his training in the Venetian Academy from 1841 to 1842.

The text examines the relationship of Carlo Cardazzo (collector, refined publisher and director of the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice and of the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan) with cultural and artistic environment of Trieste. In particular it takes into account the professional relationship between Cardazzo and the Galleria dello Scorpione (directed by Frida de Tuoni), the Sezione Arti Figurative del Circolo di Cultura e delle Arti (directed by Marcello Mascherini) and the Galleria Casanuova (directed by Piero Florit).