PORTAL I — TROGIR CATHEDRAL Photo

Photographer’s Note

PORTAL I — TROGIR CATHEDRAL

The idea of posting the portal of a church was inspired by a pair of excellent photographs by Philippe Guillard (papagolf21), Eardrum of a Church and Why the Heads were Cut. Indeed, I am posting a pair of images of portals and dedicating them to Philippe. This is the first.

This basilica, set on the foundations of an early Christian church, was built in large part during the Romanesque Period of 13th century. Its vaulted ceiling dates from the 14th century, and displays Gothic features. Although construction commenced in 1193, it took four centuries to complete. The 47 m (154 ft) bell tower alone took two centuries to erect, and the various courses feature characteristic styles of several periods — Gothic in the lowest course, Venetian Flower Gothic in the second, a pyramidal structure in the top, adorned by sculpture in the Mannerist style. The 16th century bell-tower with its four statues was built in the Mannerist style.

The single most salient feature of the Trogir Cathedral, however, is not in its architecture, but in its art — a magnificent Romanesque portal (1240), the masterwork of one of Croatia's greatest sculptors, Master Radovan. This two-piece portal depicts scenes from the Gospel and the birth of Christ. The doorway is busy with scenes of everyday life, pictures of saints and apostles, exotic animals, sirens and centaurs. A pair of lions flanks the portal, and serves as seats for statues of Adam and Eve, respectively (these are not seen in the photo).

On three occasions in the past I had posted images of Trogir, and provided more comprehensive history on the town of Trogir.
#1 The Red Boat;
#2 Green Net…Red Boat; and
#3 One Day. In the first two of these one can see the majestic tower of the Cathedral of Trogir in the background.

When the subject is perfectly symmetric, I would want to accentuate its symmetry by photographing it accordingly. In this instance I was unable to take a photograph standing precisely in the center because of the crowd milling below the beautiful carving. I was able, however, to leave the crowd out of the image, holding the camera in my outstretched hands above me.

Hand held Nikon D-70, 18-70 lens; no filter, no flash, no tripod.

kdialyna, gunbud, thea0211, Ertan, meltemi, jhm, wilkinsonsg, salvator, stego, delic, ChrisJ, JCG, henrytf, papagolf21 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

gunbud (28143) 2007-04-26 22:03

Hi Bulent,
Wonderful capture of this very old portal seen in bright clear colors and excellent detail that does justice to the painstaking care given to its cutting so many years ago. Excellent note full of informative history.
Regards, Tom

singuanti (15240) 2007-04-26 22:20

Hello Bulent. Yes Philippe certainly is the master of churches on TE. I like what you were going for here with a details oriented shot. Part of me is curious how this would look in b/w. The symmetry and sharpness are both tops in this one. Nicely done Bulent.

thea0211 (1355) 2007-04-27 1:31

hi bulent,
i liked all your croatian 'shots' so far - this one is no exception.
beautifully carved in stone details - don't worry so much about symmetry, am sure you did the best you could under the circumstances.
stay well,
dora

suhan (3552) 2007-04-27 3:29

Bu çok hoş bir mimari fotoğraf hocam, detaylar ve simetri duygusu muhteşem. Bana büyüdüğüm Antakya'daki mermer lahitlerin üstündeki ince işlemeleri, detayları hatırlattı. teşekkürler
merve

Ertan (2979) 2007-04-27 4:57

Merhaba Bulent Abi
Bu cok guzel mimarı yapi! Tabii fotografin hakkini vermek lazim.Netlik ve keskinlik harika.Ellerine saglik.
Sevgiler ve selamlar
Ertan

molla (6891) 2007-04-27 6:09

Hejsan Bulent!
At first glimes, there's something in it the reminds of hieroglyphs or maybe a contemporary
comic strip. When reading your note i understand my sense.
As usual im impressed of your knowledge,: It's always an intressting lecture.
Anders Mohlin in Gnesta

PJE (19483) 2007-04-27 8:38

Well I do find it interesting sometimes Bulent how when these building were erected that the architectural and artistic commitment would span much longer than one man's lifetime. The results are clearly seen though in this photo. Excellent capture. We no longer build things on this kind of time table today. I was able to pick out a few scenes from the Gospels in this archway. Thanks for sharing Bulent. You did very well here hand held, no flash, and no tripod.
Have a good day...

Paul

meltemi (9746) 2007-04-27 13:46

Hi Bulent,
beautuful portal, perfect idea and exellent realization ,details are perfect, as well as tre frame is.
Lovely note as always.
Regards.
Stella

jhm (83276) 2007-04-28 5:19

Hello friend Bulent,

My compliments for without tripod or monopod this wonderful sharpness image the showing, great detailed too, a lot entry of churches have a lovely description above the door, without words but with sculpture, also in Ghent can you see almost the same entry to the St-Baaf Cathedral, very well done dear Bulent.

Have a nice weekend,
John.

wilkinsonsg (8646) 2007-04-28 7:04

Very well composed, the detail on this portal is amazing, well seen and executed shot :)

salvator (18905) 2007-04-28 7:13

Hello Bulent Bey,
The amount of detail is amazing. The sharpness, the color of the marble is superb. Very nice composition. I wish you an excellent weekend, best personal regards. Salvator.

stego (22448) 2007-04-28 12:22

Hello Bülent,
Another pleasant lesson of History of Art and Architecture, very well written and illustrated. With a simple but effective pov, you show very neatly all the beauty of the carvings. I guess it shouldn't have been easy, as I notice that you have the lower left corner a bit out of focus but the rest is very clear.
I am amazed how the carvings are so well preserved after all these centuries.
Cheers, José.

mursaloglu (5218) 2007-04-28 16:50

Dear Bulent beycigim
Excellent compo with the marvellous tones of the blue and white colors. Also is very sharp. My best regards and a happy weekend ihsan

ChrisJ (70443) 2007-04-28 21:37

Hi / Merhaba Bulent

I like the concentric arches, & their repetition. The ornate artwork embellishing the structure is marvellous. Good sharpness, & excellent tight framing. Tfs!

JCG (25741) 2007-04-29 9:15

Hi Bülent,

First of all, thank you for the note on my last publication and I am charmed by the comparison with this great painter.
Still a very interesting photograph superbly accompanied by this instructive note and this beautiful homage to the work of Philippe. The low-relief here is well emphasized by this beautiful luminosity. An extraordinary work of sculpture nicely raised by this beautiful marble. Thank you Bülent.

With all my friendships of Versailles where we have a storm in this moment.

Jean-Charles

Cretense (57010) 2007-04-29 13:26

Hi Bulent!

Very interesting shot with excellent graphic result. Amazing hemispheres , beautiful details, great sharpness and simple but excellent composition. Congratulations!

With warm regards,
Hercules

delic (6735) 2007-04-29 16:17

Hello again,
Another superb capture that nicely presents the portal. Composition is ideal with no unnecessary extras. Looks quite sharp on screen and well exposed. Tebrikler.
Hakan

capthaddock (28640) 2007-04-29 22:02

Hello Bülent - very nice details, the black marble band in between looks so elegant, it must have been a masterpiece of its time, I'll add a photo of the belltower to workshop.

[workshop] [compare] +

kdialyna (3072) 2007-05-01 4:00

Good morning Bulent.
Very good site light for your photo, shows very good the marble texture and makes all the details to look bas-relief.
Of course the shot is very difficult so the symmetry was impossible to be perfect. But who cares for that? Only you I think.
And the note.......
My warm regards
Kostas

jmcl (14135) 2007-05-01 9:38

Hi Bulent,

I love the way the curves fit into the rectangular image .. wonderful detail on this white surface .. great textures .. well done holding a camera above you.

take care,

John

henrytf (977) 2007-05-04 18:34

Hello Bulent,
What strikes me in your picture is the light radiating from this beautiful portal. The details of the two-piece are perfectly lit. Wonderful. The note accompanying the photograph is as always full of interesting details. Very nice indeed.
Friendly greetings
Henry

papagolf21 (56715) 2007-05-06 4:14

Cher Ami Bulent,
Un grand merci pour cet hommage et cette superbe prise de vue représentant un tympan magnifiquement sculpté représentant les scènes de l'évangile et autres symboles. Je n'ai jamais vu de tels tympans en marbre (sauf erreur) avec d'aussi belles sculptures. Ouvrage merveilleux créé par nos aïeux. C'est tout simplement splendide.
Remerciements sincères, mon ami, pour cette très aimable attention, cela me touche sincèrement.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Angshu (34089) 2007-05-11 7:56

Hello Professor "A"
Very unusual is the band of black marble between the whites..that's quite unique. Details are very good and crispness is good. Your note as always is a wonderful read & a learning experience
Best Regards
Angshuman "B"

Tango7174 (0) 2007-05-25 20:59

I love this kind of documentary photo, plus the detailed explanatory note. It is so interesting!
The left side of the picture is a bit blurred, but I can understand that the camera was hand held and you were among a crowd of tourists.
Good work Bulent!

Thành.