Natale Bonifacio de Sebenico (1537/38, in
Sebenico – 23 February 1592, Sebenico) was a
Venetian producer of
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on 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 ar ...
s and
woodcuts in Rome, where he lived and worked for most of his life. His plates are principally
etchings. In 1590, he engraved for a book composed by
Domenico Fontana, architect to
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus 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, where h ...
, concerning the laborious engineering of the moving and erection of the
Vatican obelisk.
Life
Bonifacio was born in
Sebenico (modern-day Å ibenik,
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
) to his father Jerome, a native of the noble family of
Capua. Very little is known of the early years of his life. In the 1570s, he is documented as traveling to
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, where he published some maps. From there, in 1575 - in conjunction with the opening of the
Holy Year - he moved to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. Over the next few years, his fame and popularity grew.
On 5 July 1579, Bonifacio was received into the congregation of
Saint Jerome of the Croats (degli Schiavoni), becoming the guardian on 10 April 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 for the candles to be offered to the pope on the feast of
Candlemas. In 1589, Boniface was second guardian of the Brotherhood, when he had to go back to Sebenico to assist his sick mother, leaving his wife Maddalena in Rome with their children. In 1590, he engraved for a book composed by
Domenico Fontana, architect to
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus 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, where h ...
, concerning the laborious engineering of the moving and erection of the
Vatican obelisk. He died on 23 February 1592.
Exhibitions
From March to April 2003, an exhibition in the Print Department of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences in
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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
focused on works by Bonifacio and by another native of Sebenico,
Martino Rota, held in Croatian collections.
THREE 16th CENTURY ENGRAVERS FROM Å IBENIK
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
Republic of Venice artists
Italian engravers
People from Å ibenik
Croatian artists