Giovanni Dalmata

Who was Giovanni Dalmata?

Giovanni Dalmata, born Ivan Duknović and also known as Giovanni Duknovich di Traù and Ioannes Stephani Duknovich de Tragurio, was a sculptor from Trogir, Dalmatia who was mainly active in Rome, Hungary and in Dalmatia. Giovanni Dalmata was, with Mino da Fiesole and Andrea Bregno, the leading sculptor in Rome in the second half of the 15th century.

He was born in Vinišće, a Dalmatian village in Croatia around 1440 and came to Rome between 1460 and 1465 to work for Pope Paul II on the Palazzo di Venezia. Other works in and around Rome include: the Tempietto S. Giacomo in Vicovaro, the tomb monuments of Pope Paul II in St. Peter's, the tomb of Cardinal Bartolomeo della Rovere in San Clemente, the tomb of Cardinal Bernardo Eroli.

Around 1488–1490, Duknovich went to the Court of King Matthias Corvinus in Buda, where he stayed for a few years, mastering a number of works which are unfortunately all either completely destroyed or badly damaged.

After his stay in Hungary, Giovanni Dalmata returned to Traù where he left a number of works, most important among those is the statue of St. John the Evangelist in the Orsini chapel in Trogir Cathedral.