Božidarevićev Triptih obitelji Bundića i ikonografija Marije u Suncu - Cvetnić, Sanja (Array, 2007)
The Triptych from the collection of the Dominican monastery in Dubrovnik showing The Virgin with the Child, St Blasius, St Paul, St Thomas Aquinas, and St Augustine was painted by Nikola Božidarević (Kotor ?, ca. 1460 – Dubrovnik, 1518) and is the earliest preserved work by that author. Judging from the appearance of the city walls on the model of Dubrovnik, it was made before 1502 – 1508. The triptych was originally located in the chapel of the Budnić (de Bonda) family, which is why it is knewn as the Triptych of the Bundić Family. The Virgin in the central field has often been mentioned in the scholarly literature as the example of the iconographic type of Immaculate Conception as correspondeing to the iconographic description of the Woman of the Apocalypse. The iconography of the Immaculate was common in the later period, in the late 16th and 17th centuries, and it was typical of sacral spaces belonging to the Franciscans, but one would hardly expect to find it in Dominican church at the time when Božidarević's painting was made. Around 1500, the dispute between the &raquo ; ; immaculists&laquo ; ; and the &raquo ; ; maculists&laquo ; ; had not yet subsided and the latter were mostly members of the Dominican order, whereas the official acknowledgment of the feast day of the Immaculate and its introduction into the calendar of the universal Church was proclaimed only by Pope Pius IV (1854). Besides, the Triptych of the Bundić Family also shows the main maculist authorities: St Thomas Aquinas, St Augustin, and Apostle Paul. At the time when Božidarević painted it, the description of the Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse may have been linked to the exceptionally popular prayer Ave, Sanctissima Maria mater Dei and the fact that Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) proclaimed an indulgence of 11 thausand years for those who say it in front of the image of Maria in Sole (Mary in the Sun). Regarding the fact that Božidarević's Virgin was shown wearing a sun disk with rays within and behind it, on a golden background, it could satisfy the papal demands. Besides, on Božidarević's painting there is Mary's name in her halo, analogous to the beginning of the papal prayer: MARIA MATER SANCT[IS]S[IMA], whereas his other preserved paintings read: VIRGINIS MARIA (Lopud), VIRGINIS MARIE (Dubrovnik), or VIERGO MARIA (Danče), which supports the argument that the iconographic type is indeed that of Mary in the Sun, related to the papal indulgence and the famous prayer that spread throughout Europe around 1500.