THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

Between the Eastern and Western shores of the Adriatic there has been constant communication, either peaceful or bellicose, from the earliest times, for the sea was a highway traversed with equal ease by the enterprising merchant or the daring pirate. While the resulting influence of one coast on the other was considerable, more distant lands from which the way was open by the same course can be shown to have also affected the progress of art and craft on either side of the sea—Byzantium, North Africa, and the countries between being the strongest factors. The occurrence of Syrian motifs at Ravenna and Spalato is frequent, both in ornament and construction; peculiar expedients which were used in Tunis and other parts of North Africa appear in Lombard or Comacine work, while the influence of Alexandrian and Antiochene art on the styles which preceded and prepared the genesis of Romanesque ornament appears incontestable. The close relations between the two coasts at the period when they were governed from one centre, either Eastern or Western, make these influences probable. Ecclesiastical controversies at times affected portions of both, while their common Christianity necessarily produced community of interests and sympathy for the woes which one side or the other suffered from the incursions of heathen and barbarous hordes. Nor must the commercial relations be forgotten, by which, in the earlier mediæval period, objects of luxury, which served as models for the local artists, were spread to all points of the Mediterranean basin, and at the period of the Renaissance the manufacture of such objects as the plaquettes of bronze or lead which appear to have been produced in Italy especially, with the intention of serving as suggestions for craftsmen who were deficient in imagination or capacity. History records the assistance rendered by one shore to the other on many occasions, and the interference of the stronger and more civilised power in the affairs of the weaker. To those already cited in the body of the work a few may be added here. The Liburnians helped Octavius Augustus in the naval battle of Actium; and, when he became emperor, he did much for Dalmatia, in return for the assistance rendered. Yet the rebellions continued, mainly owing to the rapacity of the governors sent from Rome, as is proved by the answer of Batone to Tiberius, reported by Dion Cassius. He asked the reason for the frequent rebellions in town and country, and the implacable hatred which appeared to be nourished against the very name of Roman. Batone replied: "Because you sent neither shepherds nor dogs to guard your flock, but wolves." A better régime for the Dalmatians followed the peace which was made, and from that time onward Dalmatia furnished many distinguished men, who rose to high office in the empire, several, indeed, wearing the imperial purple. It is suggested that one of these, Decius the Illyrian, introduced the use of the dalmatic into Rome (the common dress in Dalmatia), which was frequently used by the nobles of the court of Valerian. Lampridius notes that Commodus sometimes wore it at special solemnities. Clergy and laity wore the same dress at that time, except for a fringe which distinguished the sacerdotal vestment. S. Cyprian, who succeeded Donatus, bishop of Carthage, speaks of its use as an ancient thing, from which it may be concluded that in the second and third centuries it was accepted as the Eucharistic vestment in North Africa, or worn by bishops outside the church. S. Eutychian, Pope in 275, ordered the alternative use of the dalmatic for clothing the bodies of martyrs with the "colobium" (a long tunic of crimson silk), which had been in use before; an order reversed by S. Gregory. It was used at first by the celebrant, but, when the chasuble came into use in the Roman Church, it became the vestment of the deacons. S. Symmachus conceded to S. Cæsarius, bishop of Orleans, in 508, as a favour, that his deacons might use the dalmatic, and S. Gregory granted the same privilege to the archdeacon of the Franks. At a later period the use was granted to kings for their coronation.

The Byzantines used Istria as a base in the final operations against the Goths till 555, when they were conquered. This was the period when so many basilicas were built in that country, in gratitude for the securing of freedom to the province from the yoke of the Arians, and for the re-establishment of the "Holy Republic," the inaccurate term which the Istrians used for the Byzantine Government. The exarchs ruled till 752. During this period the bonds between Istria and Ravenna were close. It was a military district under a provincial magister militum, directly subordinate to the exarch of Ravenna, and appointed by him. He was also charged with the civil administration, and lived at Pola, which was the capital till the ninth century. Istrians rose to high ecclesiastical honours in Ravenna, Grado, and Torcello. Justinian granted an appeal from the provincial judge to the bishop, who had also jurisdiction over secular and regular clergy, except in criminal cases. The archbishop of Ravenna had the right of revising the decisions of the judges of Pola, a right which continued till 1331, when Pola gave herself to Venice, and probably commenced at the time of Maximian, who was appointed archbishop by Justinian in 546.

He was a native of Vistro, now Porto Vestre, between Rovigno and Pola, and must have been a man of resource and great personal influence. The story runs that he found a treasure when cultivating his field. He sewed together two skins of a goat into the form of boots, and filled them and the skin of an ox from the treasure, deciding to take the rest to the emperor at Constantinople, to whom treasure-trove legally belonged. When he presented this remainder he was asked how much he had kept for himself. He replied: "As much as a stomach and a pair of boots could absorb." The Emperor Justinian interpreted this as meaning that he had taken as much as he required for food and for the journey, and became attached to him. Ambassadors arriving from Ravenna to announce the death of Archbishop Vittore (546), and to ask for the pallium for his successor, gave Justinian the opportunity of advancing Maximian, whom he sent to Ravenna with many gifts, including much of the "feudo di S. Apollinare," lands at Pola, and in its vicinity, which belonged to that church for centuries. Pope Vigilius was at that time an exile in Bithynia, and therefore the Ravennese at first refused Maximian, but changed their minds on learning of his many virtues (among which the imperial gifts no doubt ranked). His architectural works in Istria were considerable; and in Ravenna he consecrated the two churches of S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe, built by Julian, the treasurer. In Istria he founded the monastery of S. Andrea, near Rovigno, and the church of S. Maria Formosa, or "in Canneto," at Pola (which had property in the exarchate of Ravenna), a magnificent church, which has been spoken of in the chapter on Pola. The "feud" consisted of a palace, with its dependencies, and three towers in the city of Pola, and a quantity of land in the district. The wood at Vistro where the treasure was found was also given to S. Apollinare by Maximian. In 1001 Otho II. gave S. Maria and S. Andrea to the archbishop of Ravenna; afterwards they belonged to S. Mark's, Venice. A document of 1138 in Ravenna shows Abbot Paul, of the monastery of Pomposa, asking for himself and his successors for one hundred years the renting of certain lands from Martin, abbot of S. Maria in Canneto and of S. Andrea. In 1200 the feud consisted of many rights of jurisdiction, tithes, and charges, both in the city of Pola, and in towns in its territory, some of the land having been sold, with Urban III.'s permission, between 1185 and 1187. There was a chapel of S. Apollinare and a house with their belongings near the Porta del Duomo, and three towers, the country possessions being spread over eleven places. At this time Engelbert III., Count of Görz, stole it, and held it for some time, notwithstanding an appeal to the Popes Celestine III. and Innocent III. In 1213 the archbishop granted the feud to a certain Stefano Segnor, so he must have then regained it. Seven years later Simeon, archbishop of Ravenna, conceded his lands in Istria to Guido Michele and his successors, with the obligation to renew the contract every sixty years, and reserving the right of appeals. The Castropola bought the feud from the Giroldi about 1300 for 1,800 "lire piccioli."

Aquileia was the most prosperous city of the empire after Rome, having 600,000 inhabitants in the days of its prosperity. The fleet which kept the capital in communication with the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and so with Liburnia, Giapidia, Pannonia, and the Levant, had a station there. Trajan took the division which was called Aquileian or Venetian from the Pretorian fleet at Ravenna. It had charge of the Upper Adriatic from Ancona to Zara, and of the shore from the Adige to the Arsa. After the Greeks lost Ravenna to the Lombards the station of the fleet was moved to Zara. Shortly before, in 743, the exarchate included the Dalmatian islands, and also the cities of Zara, Traù, Spalato, and Ragusa. The Slavs occupied Dalmatia in 640-642. Paulus Diaconus says that they crossed to Siponto in 649 and sacked several places near. The annals of Bari (926) speak of the siege and capture of Siponto by a Slav king, Michael, possibly the husband of Queen Helena, who is named on his wife's sarcophagus found on the island in the Jader, near Salona, as described in the chapter on Spalato. In the ninth century the Narentans helped in driving the Saracens from Monte Gargano.

The bishop of Torcello had possessions in Cittanova and Muggia, which were confirmed to him in 1177 by Frederick Barbarossa. The see of Grado had rights and possessions on the islands, and in Istria, at Trieste, Capodistria, Pirano, Cittanova, Parenzo, Pola, and Castel S. Giorgio, but the actual power was in the hands of the patriarch of Aquileia, who several times settled matters with his adversaries by giving them things which really belonged to Grado. With the increase of the Venetian power to the point at which the coast-towns were practically forced to yield themselves to her supremacy, Istria and Dalmatia became pawns in the political game which was played in Italy, and the reciprocal influences of the two shores became principally artistic and individual, rather than corporate or national.

Artists of both shores worked indiscriminately on either side of the Adriatic, as may be divined from the similarity of style in many of the buildings and in much of the decorative work, even without the documentary evidence which is often available. It is to be expected that between the early basilicas of Ravenna and of Pola there should be a great resemblance; but at Parenzo, also, there is a likeness to both those places, and it seems probable that the same school of artists worked upon the mosaics there and at S. Maria in Cosmedin, Ravenna. The decoration in opus sectile also has resemblances, but these seem more probably due to direct Byzantine influence, since, both at S. Sophia, Constantinople, and S. Demetrius, Salonica, the same form of decoration occurs; and it is pretty well established that there was a regular export trade in carved capitals and columns from Constantinople, the same patterns occurring in many places far apart from each other. Comacine work is frequently met with all down the eastern coast as far as Cattaro, as in Lombardy and the Venetian territory. The building at Ravenna known as the Palace of Theodoric resembles the Porta Aurea, Spalato, in its decoration of columned niches; and the material of his mausoleum, Istrian stone, inclines one to look across the sea for the inspiration of the design (which may possibly be a Gothic imitation of the mausoleum of Diocletian), though it must be remembered that Theodoric sent an architect to Rome to study the ancient buildings.

At a later period we have many names of artists who crossed the sea in one direction or the other. In 1319 Uros II. of Servia sent Abiado di Dessislavo from Cattaro to make the silver altar at S. Nicola, Bari. Michelozzo of Florence was at Ragusa in 1463; George of Sebenico was at Ancona rather earlier; Onofrio de La Cava did work at Ragusa; before his time, George of Sebenico's friend, Giovanni Dalmatico, was working in Rome, in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. Bartolommeo da Mestre was protomagister at Sebenico between 1517 and 1525, and many artists of different kinds bore the name "Schiavone" in Venice during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, where the chapel of the Illyrian colony, S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, was decorated by Vittore Carpaccio with subjects from the life of S. Jerome (a Dalmatian by birth), S. George, patron of Dalmatia, and S. Trifone, venerated at Cattaro. Sigismond Malatesta is credited with the design of part of the fortifications of Ragusa, where artists of many nationalities were employed, one of the bells bearing the names of two Dutchmen, Willem Corper Cornelis and Jacob Vocor. The building on the eastern shore which had the most effect upon the western, and indeed upon the whole of the Occident, is the Palace of Diocletian, in which, for the first time in Europe, the arch appears springing directly from the capital without the interposition of the entablature, a building which was almost certainly constructed by Syro-Greeks, probably brought by the emperor from Antioch. All the masons' marks are Greek letters, and many of the combinations of architectural forms are found in the dead cities of Central Syria, in buildings dating from the end of the second century. The method of construction of the domes, the great bearing-arches which relieve the architrave, the exterior niches which decorate the walls, and the architrave turned into an archivolt over the tympana of the pediments all occur at about this period. At Laodicea, Baalbek, Palmyra, and Petra, motifs which were in use till the end of the Byzantine period appear. Tesseræ of mosaic have been found in one of the vaults at Spalato, showing that it played a part in the decoration, as might be expected in so magnificent a building. Dr. Stmygowski says: "What we have in Spalato grew in that corner of Central Syria which we call Hittite, and in the hinterland of Asia Minor, which communicated with the sea by way of Antioch." In Khorsabad a glazed brick frieze has been found in which the horizontal member became an arch over the door. The new thing was the putting it on pillars ranged before the façade, which he thinks was probably done at Seleucia on the Tigris. The plan of the palace at Spalato, with projecting towers, and the soldiers' quarters against the walls, is Syrian, of which examples may be cited at Kasr-el-Abjad and Deir-el-Khaf (which is dated 306). The colonnaded streets are a well-known Syrian town feature, and the plan resembles that of Antioch, as described by the rhetorician Libanios, scarcely fifty years after the death of Diocletian. Dr. Strzygowski concludes that the emperor had seen the palace at Antioch, which was commenced by Gallienus, and possibly was completed. He wished it copied, and therefore brought over Antiochenes to do it.

There are other Eastern characteristics both here and in other places on the coast, such as the sheet of lead upon which the bases of columns are set, as in Byzantine work; the free-standing apse, found at Salona in two places, and in the earlier church at Parenzo; the plan of S. Maria delle Grazie, Grado, with the apse in the centre, and the two chambers flanking it, an arrangement found in a temple of 192 A.D., at Is-Sanamên in the Northern Hauran, by Mr. H.C. Butler, while the former arrangement was seen by Miss Lowthian Bell in many ruins in Lycaonia, as has been already noted.

The Egyptian influence also appears to be made out. Upon heathen tomb monuments of the second and third centuries at Ghirza in Tripoli are columns supporting arches cut out of a thin slab, not constructional, an arrangement just like the Lombard ciborium tops. The connection appears clear. The ciborium was a tomb generally erected over a martyr's grave or the relics of a saint to whom the altar was dedicated, and the form of these tombs appears to have thus been perpetuated. That there were links between North Africa and the Adriatic towns is suggested by various facts. Coptic objects have been noted in the treasury at Spalato, and the patriarchal chair once at Grado has been described.

At Agram a stele is preserved, found at Salona, which is of the shape of Coptic altars. On it is a representation of Jonah being vomited by the whale, and a head, with a curious kind of form at the bottom like the plan of an apse with a rail returned across the entrance. Dr. Strzygowski gives similarly shaped stelai from Alexandria and Cairo, with incised awkward scrolls, and some of Arab date. He suggests that the shape originated with the altars in the apses above the relics of martyrs, and says that the Salona example (which is of the eighth century) is the most ancient that he knows, and the only Western example. The ivory chair of Maximian at Ravenna is another case in point. Maximian, before he was chosen bishop of Ravenna, had made a journey in the East, and visited Alexandria. Agnellus gives extracts from his own account of his visit. Apparently he ordered the chair from the ivory carvers there after his elevation, for the costume in the Joseph subjects, and the choice of that history, as well as the admixture of animal forms in the ornament, point to an Egyptian origin. It seems probable that Ravenna was the centre from which the influence spread westwards. There were many Orientals in the city, Syrians being so numerous that they were able to nominate one of their number for the episcopal dignity. With the taking of the place by the Lombards the way was made open for the best craftsmen to migrate to the more important city of Pavia, the Lombard capital, and so to spread the Oriental influence farther and farther westward, though of course it also penetrated France by the ordinary trade routes through Narbonne and Marseilles. It is a curious fact that the plan of the great Rhenish churches, with the apses and transepts at each end, is found in North Africa at a much earlier date, which suggests direct intercourse, of which no record has survived.

The tracing of the various currents which united to form the full flowing river of that magnificent style known as Romanesque is a fascinating subject, but not one to be taken up at the end of a book which has already run to a considerable length. The fusing of antique Occidental art with Oriental may be said to have been the principal factor in its production; and, though the shores of the Adriatic were not the district in which its greatest triumphs were achieved, it was here that the fruitful union first took place which at various periods since has rejuvenated the dulled artistic senses of the Western peoples with the exciting stimulus of mysticism, of the unfamiliar, of that charm of colour and gorgeousness of effect, which are characteristic of the products of the Oriental imagination.

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