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In the church of Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Izola, an altar painting of Dead Christ with Angels, Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist has been hidden from the eyes of the public, as the church has been in disuse for some time. This article is the first study of the altarpiece in the context of Istrian and Venetian painting. In addition to the new attribution, it discusses its role and meaning, and attempts to shed light on the chronology and the circumstances of its commission. The composition, figures, colouring and stylistic approaches of the Izola altarpiece reveal close parallels with six canvases in Koper and three altarpieces in Funtana and Buzet, which in 2005 were first attributed by Nina Kudiš to an anonymous artist known as the Master of the Funtana Altarpiece, who was active in western and central Istria in the second and third decade of the 17th century. The attribution of the Izola altarpiece to the Master of the Funtana Altarpiece can be confirmed by several elements and compositional strategies closely resembling those in the two altarpieces in Buzet. The facial physiognomy of St John the Baptist in Izola is almost identical to St Francis of Assisi, while the facial type and the frontal positioning of St John the Evangelist reveal parallels to St Damian in the altarpiece depicting Cod the Father with saints in the parish church in Buzet. Further parallels between the paintings reflect in the postures of St John the Baptists and Sts Cosmas and Damian, in the forms of the drapery as well as in several other details. On the other hand, the angels with the Instruments of the Passion in Izola altarpiece strongly resemble (one is almost identical to) those in the altarpiece depicting Virgin Mary with saints in Buzet city museum. Dead Christ with Angels, Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist can be associated with the mention of "images of St John the Baptist and John the Evangelist" above the stone altar in the 1634 visitation record of the Bishop of Koper, Pietro Morari. In 1636, it was recorded as an"old painting" in the newly carved wooden altar. According to Paolo Naldini's Corografia, around 1700 the Church of Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist was the seat of the Confraternity of the Holy Cross. However, in his 1634 visitation description of the church Bishop Morari mentions the Confraternity of St. John the Evangelist. Therefore the latter is more likely to have commissioned the altarpiece. The decision of the small confraternity to include the image of Dead Christ in the altarpiece could be influenced by the major Izola's confraternity, the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament with its seat in the parish church of St Maurus. Its altar in the parish church was adorned with The Entombment of Christ by Jacopo Palma il Giovane - the painter, whose style, compositions and subjects represemted the major influence to the Master of the Funtana Altarpiece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses altar painting St. Didacus of Alcalá's Miraculous Healing in the Franciscan Church of St. Anne in Koper. The depiction of the Franciscan friar St. Didacus (Diego) of Alcalá, healing the sick and crippled in front of Mary's altar, is a signed and dated (1629) work by Pietro Mera (c. 1577/78-1644), Venetian painter of Netherlandish origin, who was also known as Il Fiammingo. The article provides an iconographic and stylistic analysis and comparison of Mera's painting in Koper with other known depictions of St. Didacus' healing in Venetian, Roman and Flemish art around 1600. The altar was most probably commissioned during the renovation of the monastery church in the 1620s. Its subject confirms that commissioning new furnishings, Franciscan friars in Koper followed relatively new iconographic patterns, which by then had, however, been already established in Venice. Mera's painting reveals several compositional parallels with Francesco Albani and Annibale Carracci's fresco of St. Didacus of Alcala Healing a Blind Man in Herrera Chapel in Rome. More direct influence for the Koper painting, however, came from Venetian altar painting. In Venice, where the cult of St. Didacus of Alcalá was promoted by the Franciscan order as well as by the Confraternity of St. Didacus (founded at the Church of S. Giobbe), the fi rst depictions of the saint date to the end of the 16th century, but are relatively rare. In St. Didacus' chapel in the Franciscan church San Francesco della Vigna, the altar painting St Didacus of Alcalá's Mircaculous Healing by Sante Peranda (1566-1638) was documented as early as 1604. Since Mera himself also worked for Friars in Vigna, he must have known Peranda's painting. Moreover, the commissioner of the painting in Koper could have been familiar with the painting in Vigna as well. We can thus assume that Peranda's St. Didacus of Alcalá's Miraculous Healing in San Franesco della Vigna inspired and directly influenced Mera's altar painting of the same subject in Koper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]