The Mystery of Master Fortezza – The Šibenik Engraver’s European Legacy

September 10 – November 10, 2024

With the first monographic exhibition of master Fortezza, we want to present the European significance of the master goldsmith and engraver from Šibenik, who demonstrated his knowledge of antiquity, classical literature, and contemporary artistic guidelines on his exquisitely engraved brass jugs and dishes. He was among the few applied artists who signed their pieces at the time. And not only did he sign with his first and last name, but he emphasized that he was from Šibenik or that the piece was done in Šibenik.

Through the introductory topic, we discuss the problem of the position of Šibenik and Dalmatia at that time and explain the life path of the artist in detail. The topic will include original views and graphic representations of the city of Šibenik and Dalmatia from that time by his contemporaries – cartographers and graphic artists Martin Kolunić Rota and Natale Bonifacio; as well as a short introductory – the context of war events and the proximity of the Ottoman Empire.

The introductory part also presents the first dated and signed dish of Orazio Fortezza from the British Museum in London, certainly one of his most impressive and significant works. The dish will be elaborated, i.e. its iconography, the symbolism of display, and the memory of master Stephanus (Stjepan, Fortezza’s teacher).

We continue the exhibition with a theme that deals with the clients who can be recognized by the coats of arms of noble families that are on the vessels. From them we learn that in the 16th century he was valued by members of the Venetian nobility, some of whom held high positions for Serenissima in Dalmatia. In this part of the exhibition, dishes, jugs and vessels from Italian museums – Museo Correr in Venice and Museo Barghello in Florence will be on display. These are four pieces through which we delve deeper into the issues of iconography of Fortezza’s works. The repertoire of grotesques, moresques and rollwerk that appears on brass items has its source mainly in mature Renaissance graphic sheets, whose origin we associate with ancient sources.

In addition to brass dishes, jugs and vessels, among the preserved and signed works of Orazio Fortezza, we also include fittings for the covers of matriculae (confraternity register books). Within this topic, in addition to the original matriculae borrowed from the Diocesan Museum of the Diocese of Šibenik, we will also talk about the role of Fortezza in the Confraternity of St. John the Baptist, where he worked as a scribe, and was apparently its most prominent member.

The topic will also deal with new knowledge about the work of Orazio Fortezza in Šibenik as an illustrator. Through records of Šibenik’s notaries, we learn that Fortezza played a role in the creation of the fresco on the central apse in the Church of St. John, as well as in the creation of the dedicatory inscription on the northern portal of St. James’ Cathedral from 1555, and in the construction of the tombs of the bishop Ivan Lucije Štafilić. The Šibenik Cathedral (since 2000 under UNESCO protection) is a monument of exceptional value not only for Šibenik and Croatia, but also within the framework of European heritage.

Orazio Fortezza is titled as master goldsmith in most documents that have been preserved from the time, so it is undoubted that the master certainly did goldsmith work in the area of Šibenik, and probably also in the wider Dalmatian area.  In the broader context of the artistic craft of that time his role is unknown to us, given that we have no preserved (signed) works. Through this topic, and the exhibited items of the goldsmith craft that have been preserved and are mostly kept in Šibenik, we can get an impression of what the works of master Fortezza could have been like if they had been preserved.

Iconography of ancient heroes – humanistic ideals

All in all, Fortezza’s oeuvre can be linked to the iconography of ancient and historical role models. By placing his works alongside other sources, he argues for us the Renaissance mannerist conception of the world that prevailed in Dalmatian communes of the 15th and especially the 16th century.

The Šibenik dish (from the Museum of the City of Šibenik) is a dish with the coat of arms of the Grimani family (another famous noble family from Venice), which was purchased in 1982 through Flora Turner Vučetić (one of authors of the exhibition). Three scenes from the Battle of Kosovo are depicted on the central three fields of the Šibenik dish. The theme of Slavic heroism against the enemies of Christianity is the central symbolism of this dish.

The Šibenik dish was preserved and restored in detail for this exhibition, and through this process we came to know about the material and the technique of master Fortezza.

The humanistic effort to promote virtues and historical role models that appears as an ideal on dishes and jugs of Orazio Fortezza, as well as the themes of Christian resistance, courage and values in the fight against the Ottomans, will also be explained in the exhibition through extraordinary loans from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The value and importance of master Fortezza exceeds the boundaries of Croatian art history, and his oeuvre should be viewed in a European context. For this reason, this exhibition is also a pledge for the future of research of this master, especially in European and museums of the world.

Exhibition organized by: Klovićevi dvori Gallery and Šibenik City Museum
Exhibition authors: Marina Lambaša, Flora Turner-Vučetić
Exhibition curators: Jasmina Bavoljak, Marina Lambaša
Layout of the exhibition: Dinko Uglešić