Votive monuments and veneration of anti-peste saints in Dubrovnik from the XIVth to XVIIth century

Benić, Nada. (2017). Votive monuments and veneration of anti-peste saints in Dubrovnik from the XIVth to XVIIth century. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Art History. [mentor Marinković, Ana].

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Abstract

This paper discusses the topic of anti-peste saint cults prevalent in the Republic of Dubrovnik area in the timespan from the XIVth to the XVIIth century. The introduction tries to capture the look and fell of plague epidemics and the overall experience leading to acquiring and creating votive art. In the process of writing this paper involved analyzing written sources – chronicles and archive documents, as well as visual sources – votive statues, paintings and churches. By comparing the timeline of epidemic occurrences with the timeline of the emergence of votive art, this work attempts to find a pattern between the two. The cults analyzed are divided into two categories: Universal cults, venerated trough western Europe, and local ones, venerated only in Dubrovnik or originating from Dubrovnik. The universal ones are S. Roch, S. Sebastian, Madonna and Saint Vincent. The local ones are numerous, but the three most important ones are S. Blaise, Petilovrijenci and S. Annunciation, of which the latter was a product of folk worship and was later on promoted by the state authorities unlike many other locals ones which were promoted as antipeste cults by the state authorities. The paper analyses the motifs behind introductions of such cults as well as their origin and their connections to the Republic of Dubrovnik. The paper deals with a 41 item of votive art, venerated mostly to the most popular cults - S. Sebastian and S.Roch from the first group and S. Annunciation from the second group. The votive art mentioned in the paper was a product of both the state of Dubrovnik and its citizens, both commoners and aristocrats, and there are 15 churches built as a sign of veneration and many more paintings, statues and altars.

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