Ana Marija Marović, slikarica na glasu svetosti

Abstract

Anna Maria Marovich (Venice, 1815 - Venice, 1887), a Venetian born into a family of Boka origins, achieved a reputation for sanctity during her lifetime due to her religious zeal and charitable work. With the initiation of her beatification process, she was formally recognized as an honourable servant of God (It. venerabile). However, she was also highly esteemed for her accomplishments in poetry and painting. Her inclusion in Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski’s Slovnik umjetnikah jugoslavenskih (Lexicon of Yugoslav Artists) secured her a place in the Croatian gallery of prominent artistic figures. Although information about Anna Maria Marovich’s paintings is often relayed within the context of cultural historiography, relatively little has been said about her oeuvre from an art-historical perspective. Therefore, this paper reconstructs the historical context of her artistic endeavours, tracing her interest in artistic expression within the educational framework typical of an upper-middle-class girl of her era, and examining the support she received from two influential clerics - Abbot Daniele Canal (1791-1884) and Cardinal Jacopo Monico (1778-1851), the Venetian patriarch, with whom she also cooperated in converting monasteries into charitable institutions. Both figures were instrumental in fostering Marovich’s artistic career and played a significant role in promoting her figure and work within the Catholic Church and the Habsburg court. The paper also critically assesses certain assertions regarding Marovich’s painting oeuvre prevalent in scholarly literature, identifying her extant artworks that can be located and those known only through printed sources. Some limited conclusions are drawn about lost pieces that brought fame to the artist and gave rise to stories about them. Notable among these are a painting of Our Lady of Carmel commissioned by the Austrian empress Maria Anna in 1845, and an early piece depicting the Saviour made for Cardinal J. Monico around 1843, which indirectly influenced the imperial commission. Hypotheses concerning lost artworks are largely based on Marovich’s poetry, or rather her poetic exchange with various persons, in which frequent references are made to her paintings. The central part of the article analyses her most significant achievement - the Addolorata altarpiece created for the church of Santa Maria del Pianto o dei Sette Dolori in Venice. This altarpiece, reconsecrated in 1851 at the behest of Don Daniele Canal, was an integral part of the renovated monastic complex repurposed as an educational institution for girls. Surviving studies and drawings, which are here analysed in detail, confirm that Anna Maria Marovich received professional instruction, probably from the painter Maria Tagliapietra, who was active in Venice at the time. Iconographic analysis of the painting suggests that it belongs to the contemplative type of the sorrowful Mother of God, standing in the foreground at Christ’s tomb and praying with folded hands and a slightly lowered head. In previous centuries, such iconography was typically reserved for devotional images and uncommon on church altars dedicated to this cult, especially in pastoral centres. Consequently, it is inferred that Marovich’s altarpiece reflected a more recent or modern development of this form of piety, emphasizing its penitential aspect in alignment with the new purpose of the monastic complex as an institution for the resocialization of girls. The Addolorata altarpiece is also analysed from a stylistic point of view, establishing the painter’s departure from baroque conventions in depicting the subject and opting for classicist elements, consistent with prevailing trends of her time. However, claims that Marovich adhered to the Nazarene school are refuted; her eclectic approach, drawing from various artistic models ranging from the Raphaelesque to the Seicentoist, lacks a discernible preference indicative of a Nazarene influence. Nevertheless, her work resonated with the romantic sensibility of her era, which valued sincerity of motivation over formal properties. In the concluding part of the article, it is established that the figure and oeuvre of Anna Maria Marovich epitomize the European culture of restoration and the policy of the Catholic Church in social modernization, reflected in religious art. In this context, Marovich’s paintings, both thematically and iconographically, reflect the modern evolution of specific devotions popularized during the 19th century, which she actively promoted through her pious, charitable, and monastic activities. While her artistic style may not have been highly innovative, it should be evaluated within the context of the evolving societal role of art in bourgeois culture, where laywomen’s participation in artistic practice gained acceptance and acknowledgment.