The Pyrrhanensis Poeta: Author of the Inscription in Angelo de Coster’s Painting of St George’s Miracle Held at Piran

Abstract

The paper addresses the Latin inscription in the painting St George’s Miracle, a work by the Venetian painter Angelo de Coster (Venice, 1680 – Venice, 1736), hanging in the presbytery of the parish church dedicated to St George at Piran, Slovenia. An analysis of style and meter reveals a poet of classical education, who might well be sought among the Piran litterati. A possible candidate for the authorship is the poet Marco Petronio Caldana (Piran, after 1650–?), who had intimate connections to the commissioners of the painting, the members of St George’s Fraternity.