Natale Bonifacio Natale Bonifacio de Sebenico (1537/38, in

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

– 23 February 1592, in Šibenik) where he was born and died) was a producer of

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s and

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s in Rome, where he lived and worked for most of his life. His plates are principally

etchings Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. In 1590, he engraved for a book composed by

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Biography He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time joint p ...

, architect to

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...

, concerning the laborious engineering of the moving and erection of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

Life

Bonifacio was born in

to his father Jerome, a native of the noble family of

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrusc ...

. Very little is known of the early years of his life. In the 1570s he is documented as traveling to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where he published some maps. From there in 1575 - in conjunction with the opening of the

Holy Year A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In ''Leviticus'', a Jubilee (biblical), jubilee year ( he, יובל ''yūḇāl'') is mentioned to occur every 50th year; during which slaves and prisoners would be freed, deb ...

- he moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Over the next few years he became very famous and popular. On July 5, 1579 Bonifacio is received into the congregation of St. Jerome of the Illyrians (degli Schiavoni), becoming the guardian on April 10, 1580, a Mayor auditor in 1582 and a Chamberlain in 1583. The next year - due to some errors in the compilation of the accounts - he was forced to repay the damage affecting copper by Christmas of 1586 of two images of

St. Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

for the candles to be offered to the pope on the feast of

Candlemas Candlemas (also spelled Candlemass), also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian holiday commemorating the presentati ...

. In 1589 Boniface was second guardian of the Brotherhood, when he had to go back to Šibenik to assist his sick mother, leaving his wife Maddalena in Rome with the children. In 1590, he engraved for a book composed by

, architect to

, concerning the laborious engineering of the moving and erection of the

Vatican Obelisk The city of Rome harbours thirteen ancient obelisks, the most in the world. There are eight ancient Egyptian and five Ancient Rome, ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also until 2005 an King ...

. He died February 23, 1592.

Exhibitions

From March to April 2003, an exhibition in the Print Department of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences,

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, focussed on works by Bonifacio and by another native of Sebenico,

Martino Rota Martino Rota, also Martin Rota and Martin Rota Kolunić (c. 1520–1583) was an artist, now mainly known for his printmaking, from Dalmatia.Bryan, Michael, (revised by George Stanley) ''A Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and E ...

, held in Croatian collections.THREE 16th CENTURY ENGRAVERS FROM ŠIBENIK
at canvas.hr, accessed 15 July 2008

References

Sources

*Decreti delle Congregazioni dal 1578 al 1591 (knjiga IV.) i Decreti delle Congregazioni dal 1599 al 1610 (knjiga VI.) u arhivu Zavoda sv. Jeronima u Rimu *F. Brulliot, Dictionnaire des monogrammes ..., Munchen, 1832. *I. Kukuljević-Sakcinski, Slovnik umjetnikah jugoslavenskih, Zagreb, 1859. *F. Cupilli, Opera ignota d'artista dalmata (Rivista dalmata), Zadar, 1850. *I. Kukuljević-Sakcinski, Leben sudslavischer Kunstler, Zagreb, 1868. *A. Bertolotti, Artisti veneti in Roma nei secoli XV, XVI e XVII (R. deputazione veneta di storia patria, Miscell. vol III.), Venecija, 1884. *V. Miagostovich, Ancora di Natale Bonifacio (Nuovo cronista di Sebenico, anno IV.), Trst, 1896. *F. Ehrle, Roma prima di Sixto V., Rim, 1908. *Thieme-Becker, ALBK, IV., Leipzig, 1910. *E. Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Pariz, 1911. *A. Dudan, La Dalmazia nell'arte italiana, Milano, 1921–22. *L. Donati, N. B. (Archivio storico per la Dalmazia, sv. III), Rim, 1927. *Isti, Un libro sconosciuto illustrato da N. B. sibenicense (ibid. sv. VII.), Rim, 1930. *Isti, Intorno all' opera di N. B. (ibid. sv. XV.). Rim, 1933. *R. Almagia, Intorno all' opera cartografica di N. B. (ibid. sv. XIV.), Rim, 1933. *A. Bacotich, Due stampe assai rare di N. B. da Sebenico 1538–1592 (ibid. sv. XX.), Rim, 1936.
Bryan, Michael. ''Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical'' (Volume I: A-K), (Robert Edmund Graves, ed.)p.131, George Bell and Sons, London, 1886
* Fabia Borroni, BONIFACIO (Bonifatio, Boniface), Christmas Day, said Bonifacio from Sibenik or Christmas Dalmatino in the Biographical Dictionary of Italian, Vol. 12, Rome, Institute of the Italian 1971 * Christopher LCE Witcombe, Copyright in the Renaissance: Prints and the Privilege in Sixteenth-Century Venice and Rome, Brill Academic Publishers, 2004, p. 182-183. * Predrag Matvejević, The Other Venice: Secrets of the City, Reaktion Books / University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, p. 102.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonifacio, Natale 1530s births 1592 deaths Italian engravers People from Šibenik Croatian artists 1538 births