HISTORICAL TRACE
PORTRAIT OF IVAN DŽIVO GUNDULIĆ Iconography of the Tied Neckcloth (1622)
Expert opinion on attribution and iconography
dr. sc. Vedrana Gjukić-Bender
The portrait of Ivan Dživo Gundulić from 1622 occupies a special place in the cultural history of Dubrovnik, but also in the history of dress. The painting, which is today preserved in the Dubrovnik Museums, depicts a young Dubrovnik nobleman and poet with a white neckcloth tied in a simple knot.
This detail, seemingly discreet, raises the question of the presence of the tied neckcloth in the civic fashion of the early 17th century. Below we present an expert opinion on the attribution of the portrait and its iconographic significance.
Academia Cravatica systematically researches historical, iconographic, and cultural traces related to the development of the cravat as a civilizational and identity symbol. This contribution forms part of that research framework.
PORTRAIT OF IVAN DŽIVO GUNDULIĆ
(integral text of the author)
Ivan Dživo Gundulić (1589–1638), known as Mačica, was the greatest Croatian Baroque poet[1] and dramatist who created his works in Dubrovnik at the beginning of the 17th century. He descended from one of the most distinguished noble families of Dubrovnik, whose earliest representative, Stjepan, is mentioned around the year 995[2] according to traditional genealogy, while the first written mention of the family appears in a document from 1190. The last male member of the Gundulić[3] family died in 1800, and with him the lineage came to an end. Members of the family initially bore the surname Gondula, Gonduli, later Italianized as Gondola and subsequently Slavized as Gundulić; according to older Dubrovnik chroniclers, they allegedly migrated to Dubrovnik from the region of medieval Zeta.[4]
Throughout the centuries, the Gundulić family engaged in trade and, like other Dubrovnik nobles, were directly involved in the political life of the independent Republic of Dubrovnik, serving as rectors, judges, councillors, and diplomats. Over time, the family produced several literary figures, among whom Ivan stood out most prominently, the eldest son of the nobleman, state official, diplomat, and merchant Frano Dživov (c. 1567–1624) and the noblewoman Dživa Gradić. They lived in the centre of the City, in Lučarica Street near the Church of St Blaise. Probably due to weaker financial circumstances, Ivan’s father entrusted him at the age of three to the care of guardians (relatives) Frano and Stjepan Bobali and Jeronim Gondola. Ivan was educated first by Dubrovnik Franciscans[5] [6] [7], whose teachers included the Tuscan Camillo Camilli and the Dubrovnik priest Petar Palikuća, and later probably by Dubrovnik Jesuits who taught in the spirit of the Catholic Reformation of the time. At lectures in their Collegium Ragusinum he could listen to discussions on poetry and rhetoric as well as legal sciences delivered by distinguished Italian Jesuits S. Muzio, R. Ricasoli, and our own Bartol Kašić. In his youth, apparently because of his gentle nature, Ivan was nicknamed Mačica (“little cat”), and the nickname later remained with his sons as well.
Upon completing his education in 1608, Gundulić, like every adult Dubrovnik nobleman, became a member of the Great Council of the Republic of Dubrovnik[8] and subsequently held offices in administrative and judicial authorities in the capacity of a judge. On two occasions he served as Rector of Konavle (1615 and 1619), and from 1634 he became a senator of the Republic of Dubrovnik, entering the Minor Council three months before his death in 1638.
He began writing poetry in 1610, composing melodramas until 1620: Galatea, Posvetilišta ljuveno, Čerera, Kleopatra, Adon, Koraljka od Šira, Arijadna, Prozerpina ugrabljena od Plutona, and Dijana i Armida, of which the last four have been preserved. Some were supplemented translations of Italian works, while others were written under their influence. Although these were his early works, they were written in the Štokavian dialect with traces of Ikavian pronunciation, like his later works, and according to his own note, all of these dramas were successfully performed in Dubrovnik, of which he was proud.
In the preface to his later work Pjesni pokorne kralja Davida, Gundulić referred to his youthful creativity as a “fruit of darkness,” while calling the Pjesni a “ray of light.” The work was first published in Rome in 1621. In 1622 his second work, Suze sina razmetnoga, a religious poem written under the influence of Italian religious epics and based on the Gospel of Luke, was printed in Venice. This work became a model for Dubrovnik poets Ignjat Đurđević and Ivan Bunić Vučić and represented a novelty in contemporary Croatian and Dubrovnik poetry with regard to its theme. During the poet’s lifetime, the drama Arijadna was also printed in 1633 in Ancona. His most important works were undoubtedly the pastoral drama Dubravka[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15], first performed in Dubrovnik in 1628, though written several years earlier and first published only in 1837, and the chivalric-heroic epic Osman, composed in twenty cantos, which he began writing after the Polish–Ottoman conflict at Chocim in 1621. Dubravka, written in verse as a three-act drama, celebrates love and beauty in Dubrava, symbolically glorifying the patrician rule and freedom of the Republic of Dubrovnik and its ideal social order, which Ivan greatly esteemed. In Osman he mentions the war conflict between the Islamic Ottoman and Christian Polish armies and the death of the young Sultan Osman in Constantinople, who was killed by rebellious Janissaries in 1622. These turbulent events strongly influenced Gundulić, and he shaped them into an epic whose narrative describes dramatic events over only a few months, portraying the political and historical circumstances of the time. His literary oeuvre belongs to the Baroque period and the Catholic Counter-Reformation and is rich in metaphors and refined linguistic figures. He wrote following the model of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso.
Thanks to his distinguished lineage, but above all to his literary opus, Gundulić became a prominent citizen of Dubrovnik, known beyond the borders of the Republic during his lifetime, and was appointed a member of the Accademia degli Oziozi in Naples, although he never left his city. His private life is little known. There is information that he was married to the noblewoman Nika[16] (Nikoleta) Sorkočević and had three sons with her: Frano (poet and Austrian general), Sigismund–Šiško (poet), and the youngest Mato (diplomat and travel writer, author of a treatise on Christianity in the Ottoman state), and according to some sources two daughters, Mada and Dživa, who under their father’s influence became nuns (a Franciscan and a Benedictine). It is possible that his daughters entered convent life because he may not have had sufficient funds for their dowry, which, according to the laws of the Republic at the time, every nobleman was obliged to provide for their marriage. Nevertheless, documents mention that after his mother’s death in 1627 Ivan received land in Konavle, Župa, and on the island of Mljet, as well as three houses in Dubrovnik.[17] It is not known whether this property, together with the salary he received for his service in the Republic, was sufficient for a comfortable life for his family. It is known that he frequently absented himself from sessions of governing bodies and therefore had to pay fines, which were nevertheless forgiven, perhaps because he could not afford to pay them. He died relatively young, of pleurisy, one month before his 50th birthday, and was buried in the Franciscan Church of St Francis in Dubrovnik[18]. The portrait of Ivan Gundulić, now in the possession of the Dubrovnik Museums, was located in the summer residence Solitudo[19], which once belonged to the noble family Getaldić–Gundulić and was built in the 16th century. Over the centuries the residence changed owners, and in the first part of the 20th century, until 1930, it was inhabited by Countess Julija Attems[20]. She was also the owner of the portrait of Ivan Gundulić, which she loaned in 1940 for the Exhibition of Historical and Artistic Paintings held in the Sponza Palace[21] on the occasion of the Feast of St Blaise (2–11 February). The painting was located in the Solitudo residence and, as Frano Kesterčanek writes in his review of the exhibition, had been “forgotten by the owner[22] in the Solitudo manor in Lapad.” Only three years after that exhibition, the painting entered the then Dubrovnik Museum (today the Dubrovnik Museums), and the Museum’s inventory book records that the portrait of Ivan Gundulić was a “Gift to the Museum on 9 September 1943[23] from Hildegarde Beltram.” In the painting, a young man is portrayed in a dark interior beside a small table or chest on which a bundle of books is arranged, indicating that he is a man of letters. On the lowest book the beginning of the title PIESNI[24]… is visible, suggesting that it may be Gundulić’s book Pjesni pokorne kralja Davida, published in Rome in 1621. Above the bundle of books appears the Latin inscription AET. ANNO XXXIII[25], which could refer to the age of the sitter and, given that Gundulić was born in 1589, would date the portrait to 1622. This year would also correspond to the style of dress and hairstyle of the sitter. It is important to recall that in that same year, as previously mentioned, Gundulić’s second work Suze sina razmetnoga was printed in Venice, which may have provided a valid occasion for the creation of this portrait. The sitter is shown half-length: the head is positioned almost frontally, and the torso is slightly turned, with the right shoulder receding into the interior space. He is dressed in a brownish coat lined with reddish silk and tightened at the waist with a belt. On his chest emerges a white neckcloth wrapped around the neck and tied like a cravat[26]. This is probably the first depiction of a cravat in a portrait of that period. Gundulić’s hands are tucked into wide sleeves and rest upon his abdomen. His handsome, youthful, oval face with pronounced dark eyes and a high intellectual forehead is framed by long, dark, wavy hair with grey strands near the face. Such a hairstyle was typical at the beginning of the 17th century. Although it resembles a long allonge wig, worn at that time in Europe and in Dubrovnik, it is clearly his natural hair. The clothing of the sitter is modest, made of simple fabric with broad folds, and in accordance with the regulations of the authorities of the Republic of Dubrovnik and their efforts to limit luxury in dress. According to documents, in 1615 in Dubrovnik[27] both commoners and nobles were forbidden to wear fine imported cloth, expensive fabrics (brocade and velvet), gold, and silver. Regulations were issued against wearing fur, luxurious underwear and fabrics, silk stockings for both sexes, and even parasols and hats. It was precisely prescribed what members of each social class were allowed to wear. On 26 May 1639 the Senate even passed a decision requiring short hairstyles for citizens so that they would not resemble nobles, who were not allowed to appear in public without long wigs. Since these regulations were repeated every few years, it is clear that the inhabitants of Dubrovnik did not strictly adhere to them, although Gundulić himself may have been an exception.
Based on this portrait, a series of lithographs[28] was produced in the 19th century as illustrations for editions of Dubravka and Osman or as part of albums of distinguished Dubrovnik citizens. Thus, the Dubrovnik graphic artist Antonio Martecchini and his son Petar-Frano published Gundulić’s Osman in 1826 with the poet’s portrait printed at the beginning of the book. A few years later, Petar-Frano Martecchini produced a drawing as a template for a lithograph depicting Ivan Gundulić, printed in Venice in 1841 in the workshop of Antonio Nardelli and used as an illustration of Gundulić’s biography in Martecchini’s work Galleria di Ragusei illustri. This album presented notable Dubrovnik citizens and contained 25 biographies and 27 lithographic portraits. The accompanying texts were written in Italian by prominent Dubrovnik historians. The text accompanying Ivan Gundulić’s portrait was written by Ivan Kaznačić. The texts were printed in Martecchini’s printing house in Dubrovnik, while the more demanding portraits were printed in lithographic technique in Nardelli’s workshop.
It should also be noted that Gundulić’s portrait inspired the sculptor Ivan Rendić in 1893 to create the imposing statue of the poet, and the painter Vlaho Bukovac, who painted two works with Gundulić at the centre of the scene.
Gundulić was celebrated during his lifetime and honoured after his death, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus he remained recorded in the painting as a distinguished citizen of Dubrovnik and as a remembrance for future generations. At times there were doubts that the painting did not depict Ivan (Dživo) Franov Gundulić but someone else, or even his namesake Dživo (Ivan) Šiškov Gundulić, also a poet (who lived in the first half of the 18th century), which cannot be correct. Such claims are refuted by the appearance of the sitter[29], his clothing, and his hairstyle, which is certainly not a wig[30], as well as by the visible beginning of the title of his work Pjesni (pokorne kralja Davida).
It is interesting finally to quote Dr Frano Kesterčanek, who in his review of the 1940 exhibition in Dubrovnik recounted his reply to Prof. Milan Rešetar, who had doubted that the portrait depicted Ivan Gundulić: “In a recent inquiry from Prof. Rešetar in Florence, I wrote to him that Gundulić in the portrait – forgotten by its owner in the Solitudo manor in Lapad – is not painted with a wig, but with long hair customary for that time. When I further convinced him that the poet in that portrait does not wear a red cloak but a brownish-yellow garment, and that his physiognomy resembles that of a cat, thus clarifying the previously unclear nickname ‘Mačica,’ our best expert on Dubrovnik’s cultural past conceded that in this case it could indeed be the poet’s original portrait.”
The portrait dated 1622 depicts a white neck cloth tied in a simple knot, consistent with early seventeenth-century dress practice.
At the time the painting was created, such a detail had not yet acquired a specific name nor had it been distinguished as an autonomous fashion sign in European centres.
The portrait therefore does not testify to an invention, but to a presence — to the tied neck cloth as part of civic dress in early seventeenth-century Dubrovnik. It is precisely this civil, non-military appearance that renders it an important document in the history of the cravat’s development.
Footnotes
[1] “Gundulić, Ivan,” Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition (Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2018), accessed 9 April 2019.
[2] Nenad Vekarić, Vlastela grada Dubrovnika, vol. 2 (Zagreb–Dubrovnik, 2011), 292.
[3] Vekarić, Vlastela grada Dubrovnika, 309–310.
[4] Vekarić, Vlastela grada Dubrovnika, 293–294.
[5] “Jesuits in Dubrovnik,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[6] “Palikuća,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Gundulić,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[9] “Gundulić, Ivan,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Osman,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Torquato Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
[16] “Gundulić, Ivan,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[17] Nenad Vekarić, Vlastela grada Dubrovnika, vol. 2, 305–308.
[18] “Gundulić,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[19] Zdravko Šundrica, “Šetnja kroz arhiv,” Dubrovnik 3 (1973): 113–114.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Frano Kesterčanek, Exhibition of Historical and Artistic Paintings (Dubrovnik, 1940).
[22] Frano Kesterčanek, “Retrospective View…,” Hrvatski dnevnik Dubrovnik, Easter 1940, 11.
[23] Dubrovnik Museums, Inventory Book, 9 September 1943.
[24] “Gundulić, Ivan,” Hrvatska enciklopedija.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Visual analysis of the portrait and 17th-century dress context.
[27] Kesterčanek, “Retrospective View,” 11.
[28] Šundrica, “Šetnja kroz arhiv,” 113–114.
[29] Archival data on editions by Antonio Martecchini and Peter-Fran Martecchini; data on Ivan Rendić and Vlaho Bukovac.
[30] Kesterčanek, “Retrospective View,” 11.
Bibliography
Fisković, Cvito. “Exhibition of Historical and Artistic Paintings in Dubrovnik.” Jadranska straža 18, no. 3 (March 1940): 105–108.
Kesterčanek, Frano. Exhibition of Historical and Artistic Paintings. Dubrovnik, 1940.
Kesterčanek, Frano. “Retrospective View on the Historical and Artistic Exhibition in Dubrovnik on the Feast of St Blaise, 1940.” Hrvatski dnevnik Dubrovnik, Easter 1940.
Šundrica, Zdravko. “Šetnja kroz arhiv.” Dubrovnik 3 (1973): 113–114.
Vekarić, Nenad. Vlastela grada Dubrovnika. Vol. 2. Zagreb–Dubrovnik, 2011.
Hrvatska enciklopedija. Online edition. Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2018.
Tasso, Torquato. Jerusalem Delivered.
