| The Duomo of Santa Maria Maggiore
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Related links:
Spilimbergo
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The duomo of Santa Maria
Maggiore (built from 1284 on
in Romanesque-Gothic style) has a
portal at mid-nave sculpted by Zenone da
Campione (1376); in the lunette
restrained by the ribs decorating
the embrasure there are portrayed
the Coronation of the Virgin and,
in a series of panels below, the
victorious Agnus, the Baptist and the
Annunciation in which most linear and
decorative development is given to the angel.
The duomo interior is rich in works of art,
from the choir and left apse frescoes
(Episodes from the Old and New Testaments,
before 1360) by painters linked to Vitale da
Bologna and in line with Tomaso da
Modena's newest methods. Some of the
scenes represented particularly stand out, as
the weatherworn Crucifixion in the central
chapel, vertically developing the climax of
the whole cycle, Susanna and the old men,
where- thanks also to its excellent conditionsthe
interplay of denied and stolen looks
bestows a surprising freshness to the tale, and
the still nature with vegetables and crockery
painted in the niche below. Also
G.A. Pilacorte, the Lombard stone cutter
who opened his studio in Spilimbergo
in the 1480s, left several works here:
the baptismal font (1492), ambos,
St. Andrew's altar and Chapel of
Carmine (balustrade and reliefs of the
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-arcone-, 1498) are witnesses to his
decorative fancy, classical attention to
iconography and attention to the Lombardos'
Venetian model. The basis of his style is
prefigured in the holy water spout (1466),
near the side entrance, paving the way to the
typology of the angel-telamon supporting the
basin.
However, the
element that really
dominates the nave is
the bulk of the pipe organ
case decorated by
Pordenone on the basis of dynamic
interplay of foreshortenings and emotions,
with the Assumption of the Virgin painted on
the outside and the Fall of
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Simon Magus and
the Conversion of Saul on the inside of doors,
as well as Stories of Mary and Jesus on the
cantoria (singers' gallery) panels. Other
important Renaissance works are found in the
crypt with the stone altar of St. Leonard
(1472 ca.), and in the chapel of Rosary,
where the vivid geometries of the
Presentation in the Temple by G. Martini
(1503) harmonize with the framework of
tangled vegetation enclosing the Mysteries
of the Rosary and the Virgin of the Rosary
with Child and St. Domenico (1626-1627)
by G. Narvesa,
intimately denying
all classical
balance of the
central
altarpiece.
Incidentally,
of the famous
duomo antiphonaries
(not visible), exquisitely
illuminated G. de Cramariis
(1494-1507), another treasure
of Santa Maria Maggiore must
now be sought after in the church
of SS. Giuseppe and Pantaleone: it is
the wooden choir carved and inlaid by
Marco Cozzi in 1477, repeating the scheme
used at the Frari in Venice.
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While the Maniago area has been
marked by the century-old tradition of
knife makers, that has provided the
necessary support to its industrial
growth, Spilimbergo has
had a similar
experience
in the field of
mosaic
creation, as
the local
Mosaic School has
worked for decades at
the highest levels, also
obtaining important
international orders. But
Spilimbergo is...go
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