Nikola Božidarević (; more commonly Nicholas of Ragusa ( it, Nicolò Raguseo, la, Nicolaus Rhagusinus, sh, Nikola Dubrovčanin 1460 – 26 November 1517/18), was a painter from
Venetian Dalmatia
Venetian Dalmatia ( la, Dalmatia Veneta) refers to parts of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated ...
at the turn of the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
.
Life
The son of the painter Božidar Vlatković of
Slano, he was probably born in
Kotor
Kotor ( Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative ...
(today
Montenegro
)
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, capital = Podgorica
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) around 1460. He was mentioned in 1475 as a fresco painter at the
Rector's Palace, Dubrovnik
The Rector's Palace ( hr, Knežev dvor; it, Palazzo dei Rettori) is a palace in the city of Dubrovnik that used to serve as the seat of the Rector of the Republic of Ragusa between the 14th century and 1808. It was also the seat of the Minor Co ...
and in 1476 as a pupil of painter Petar Ognjanović, whose workshop in 1477 was based on the doctrine of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
.
He was a hard-working and greatly sought-after man, as can be seen from numerous documents and contracts kept in the Dubrovnik archives. Monasteries like the Franciscans in
Cavtat
Cavtat (, it, Ragusa Vecchia, lit=Old Ragusa) is a village in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic Sea coast south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.
History
Antiquity
The original city was ...
and the Dubrovnik Dominicans commissioned works from him, as did noble families and individuals and some churches. After a long stay in Italy, he reappears in Dubrovnik in 1494, where he and his father concluded an agreement for polyptych on Gradić's altar in the Dubrovnik Dominican church.
Works
Of seventeen works by Nikola Božidarević recorded in the Dubrovnik Archives, only four paintings remain:
a triptych on a side altar in the Bumdevič Chapel of the Dominican monastery in Dubrovnik, ''The Annunciation'' in the art gallery of the Dominican church, the Durdevič family's altarpiece in the capitulary hall of the Dominican monastery, and another triptych in the Franciscan church on Lopud has also been ascribed to him.
Some modern author credit Božidarević's work as a part of
Serbian art
Serbian art refers to the visual arts of the Serbs and their nation-state Serbia. The medieval heritage includes Byzantine art, preserved in architecture, frescos and icons of the many Serbian Orthodox monasteries. In the Early modern period, S ...
and
Croatian art.
See also
*
Lovro Dobričević
Lovro Marinov Dobričević or Lorenzo Bon, Lorenzo di Marino da Cattaro (c. 1420 – 1478) was a painter from Venetian Dalmatia.
Born in Kotor, Republic of Venice (now Montenegro), he studied art in Venice before returning to Ragusa (modern-day ...
*
Mihajlo Hamzić
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bozidarevic, Nikola
People from Dubrovnik
15th-century births
1517 deaths
16th-century painters
Ragusan painters
Painters from Venice