2015 Eastern Christian Art

The sarcophagi are the most important testimony of Early Christian sculpture. They survive in great number to the present day. Among the most sumptuous are the sarcophagi decorated with architectural elements.
Early Christian art was formed during the first centuries AD when Roman art was still flourishing. The transition to Christianity influenced the artistic development in many ways. New faith changed people’s worldview. In spite of that the forms were still pagan. Therefore there was a strong need to change the meaning of these forms. The aim of this paper is to distinguish different meanings of architectural elements in Early Christian sarcophagi.
We shall consider some columnar sarcophagi. The main element used in these sarcophagi — a co­lumn — is very important for the culture of Antiquity. In Greek and Roman architecture and sculpture it was understood as a tectonic element and also as a metaphor of the human body. In Early Cristian art these meanings change.
The perception of sarcophagi as “micro-architecture” was lost in Early Christian time. That’s why columns don’t have tectonic function anymore. But allusion to human body is still present in the most ornate sarcophagi.
However, there are some new meanings of columns that appear in Early Christian epoch. Firstly, colonnade serves as a separator of figures or scenes. So the main aim of this element is to organize rhythmically an ornamental surface. As example of substitute for purely decorative columns we can point to the group of sarcophagi called “ad alberis”. Secondly, the symbolic meaning of columns becomes very significant: they can be metaphors of the Apostles as “columns” of the Church.
So, in Early Christian sculpture columns combine different meanings of that element. They remain metaphors of human body and gain new decorative and symbolic meaning.

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I propose a critical survey on the mosaic of the main porch of San Marco in Venice, in terms of style, chronology and conservation.
The first part of the paper focuses on the historiographical tradition, based on the study of Otto Demus, published thirty years ago.
The second part of the paper discusses the recent publications which confirm the connection between the mosaic of the main porch of San Marco, The Last Judgment of Torcello, the glass tesserae from the church of San Nicola di Lido. All this studies demonstrate the relation between the mosaics in the Venetian lagoon and the mosaic decoration of the Katholikon of Hosios Loukas, in Greece.
In the third part I will talk about the new possibilities offered by the technical analysis of glass mosaics and by the mortar dating, already used in the study of Byzantine mosaics in North Italy, with a destructive methodology.
As case-study I will propose the methodology used in the laboratories of the University of Padua during the last ten years on the 6th century mosaics of Padua and Vicenza (San Prosdocimo Chapel and Santa Maria Mater Domini Chapel), showing the results of the non-destructive methods of technical analysis realized.

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Most of the Christian churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem were rebuilt or renovated by the middle of the 12th century. Throughout the century the Crusader church building was in search of an image of the Christian temple: its configuration and design, exterior and interior were changing step by step.
Christian temples make Jerusalem the main center of Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. It was the place of formation of workshops belonging to different architectural traditions.
The purpose of this work is to identify the traditions of the Christian East and Romanesque West in the architectural forms of the churches of Jerusalem. It helps us to define the architectural features of monuments rebuilt in the first half of the 12th century. Comparison of the first crusader’s church of St. Anne with other churches — Holy Sepulcher, St. Elena, St. James, etc. — can allow establishing similarities and distinctions of architectural traditions.
These monuments will be mainly investigated from the point of view of formation of a local architectural style. In spite of the fact that this question was considered in scholarly literature (R. Krauthaimer, R. Ousterhout, J. Folda, D. Pringle, etc.), so far it has not been an object of a special research.
The characteristic of the architectural tradition of Crusades will allow us to formulate new series of questions connected with the architectural heritage of this region in the 12th century.

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Metrical ekphrastic epigrams are a bright phaenomenon of Byzantine art. They are known to be written in the dodecasyllabic verse. This equivalent of the antique iambic trimeter was strictly regulated (obligatory caesura and stress on the penultimate syllable of the metric foot), allowed the authors to rhyme words with different quantity of syllables and highly appreciated for harmonious sounding and eurhythmy (εὐρυθμία).
We would speak about five artworks adorned with ekphrastic epigrams from the Byzantine collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums: four of them belong to the mid-Byzantine period, one comes from the late-Byzantine time.
The so-called Staurotheke of Philotheus is dated to the 11th–12th centuries (inv. no МЗ–1141). Crossed sequence of the epigram’s phrases is noteworthy. The name of the customer who ordered the reliquary — someone called John — is placed left at the foot of Golgotha, which symbolizes worship of Christ the Saviour. The sequence of the inscription symbolically repeats the prayer’s crossing. Particularly interesting is lexical and semantical analysis of the words’ combination ‘ζωηφόρον πέφυκε τοῦ σταυροῦ ξύλον’ (verbatim: ‘grew up the life-bringing stick/beam of cross’), which is a direct allusion to the legend of the True Cross.
The reliquary of St. Demetrios of Thessaloniki shaped as a ciborium (inv. no МЗ–1148) was created in Constantinople in 1059–1067. The two inscriptions form a brilliant dodecasyllabic verse, telling us the story of execution of the piece upon the order of a mistographos named John. This artwork ‘telling its story’ gives us a showy example of pious ‘theatre’ in Byzantine court culture. So does the 12th century silver reliquary of St Barbara (inv. no МР-1750/4).
The epigram on the frame of the relics of St. Dorotheos of the 10th–13th centuries (inv. no МР–1757/3) has particular poetic value. The absence of artistic decoration and paleographic data makes the exact dating of the piece quite difficult. However, the correctness and high quality of the verse allow us to link it with a large cultural centre.
A small 15th century turquoise gem with the Crucifixion (inv. no МР–6076) bears a reminiscence from the Speech of Theophila in the work of St. Methodius of Patara “Symposium, or on Virginity” (Oratio II cap. IV–V), created following the Plato’s “Symposion.”

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One of the most remarkable names of Armenian medieval art is Momik. He was an architect, sculptor, miniaturist and created carved cross-stones, stately churches and illustrated manuscripts. In each of these areas he acted as an innovator and a consummate master of his craft. The art of Momik has been studied by many scholars. Still there are some unknown aspects of the art of Momik that should be studied in order to get a more complete picture of the artistic heritage of Momik and of the 14th century Armenian art in general. Research in the miniatures of the artist gives new information about transcultural and political interrelations. The iconographic and stylistic analysis can reveal the influence of Cilician miniature painting, as well as that of Byzantine and Western Christian art. The cross-stones of Momik are not only exceptional in the mastery of execution, but also display extra­ordinary wealth of iconographic programs. The architectural monuments are characterized by their constructive and unique artistic solutions.
The lords of Syunik region — Orbelian princes — patronized and sponsored master Momik, which was a new phenomenon in the culture of medieval Armenia. This feature, as well as his active work and multifaceted talent manifested in different areas of art call to mind some associations with the masters of the Renaissance.

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The Four Gospels in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Wien Theol. gr. 154, belongs to the Golden age of Byzantine book design. The manuscript dating from 1070s to 1080s was written on parchment and contains, in addition to the Four Gospels, the catena (commentary) strung together like the links of a chain on the margins to set off the text.
The manuscript is decorated with Canon plates, portraits of the Evangelists and 39 pictures illustrating various events described in the Gospels, with tiny figures represented in a masterly calligraphic style.
The miniatures, mostly in binary form, are placed on the margins astride the text. They depict the critical points including individual events or persons. The pictures are inserted in respective lines, integrating narration into figurative reality.
The study intends to define the main principle governing subject selection and icon design in the manuscript. The pictorial series in this Vienna codex differs, both in design and in meaning, from any other illuminated series found on the margins of 6th-, 10th- or 11th century manuscripts.
Some of the patterns suggest that the artists refrained from the narrative character typical for many late 11th century illuminated manuscripts. The Vienna codex now includes the synaxarion and menologion dating between the 13th and 14th century. That was the time when St. John’s narration was taken from the end to the beginning of the manuscript in order to use the Four Gospels as a Lectionary. Comparison of images and text suggests that subject selection for miniature painting depended on liturgical cycle, i.e. the craftsmen were to illuminate more important service texts. The use of miniature icons for the smart “embedding” of the synaxarion and menologion in the Four Gospels confirms the designation for church service.
The iconography of the Vienna manuscript appears in this context as an intermediary for the emerging 12th and 13th century approach to book illustration far more connected with liturgical practice.

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This report focuses on a stylistic analysis of insufficiently studied Byzantine frescoes of the church of Evangelistria in the village of Geraki in southern Peloponnese, dating supposedly to the last quarter of the 12th century. As Evangelistria frescoes lack the homogeneous quality, we define four aesthetic types or manners (basically our concept of “type” includes both adopted stylistic and technical approach and spiritual appearance of characters) and correlate them with different aspects of later Comnenian style. To place Evangelistria in appropriate context, we form a group of Peloponnesian monu­ments that are roughly contemporary and stylistically related with it. We also investigate the question of stylistic unity of all those fresco cycles and determine the place of analyzed murals in stylistic development of the second half of the 12th century. In conclusion, the paper sheds some new light on the still little recognized issues of coexistence and interrelationship of expressive and classicizing stylistic tendencies during the last quarter of the 12th century and the ways of transformation of metro­politan stylistic trends in province.

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This report focuses on the mosaic decoration in the church of the Holy Apostles (Thessaloniki), founded by Patriarch Niphon I in 1310–1314. Mosaics adorn the upper part of the naos above the cornice, except the semidome of the apse and the east barrel-vault which remained undecorated because of the Niphon’s removal from the patriarchal throne. The mosaic decoration was badly damaged during the conversion of the church into a mosque between 1520 and 1530, when the gold tesserae were removed and the mosaics were covered over with plaster. However, the surviving fragments are enough to appreciate the highest quality of mosaics and their very picturesque style.
The stylistic similarities with the mosaics in Kariye Camii (1316–1321) prompted some scholars to suggest that the mosaics in the church of the Holy Apostles had been executed by the metropolitan workshop that subsequently worked in the Chora Monastery, or with the assistance of Constantinopolitan masters. Some iconographical details of the mosaics reveal close connections with Constantinople (a form of the Pantocrator’s left hand (in the dome), the Holy Vernicle, etc.).
At the same time, the mosaic decoration in the church of the Holy Apostles has a number of specific features. These include, firstly, a free drawing and more picturesque rendering of forms in comparison with Constantinopolitan monuments of the first quarter of the 14th century that gives to the mosaics of the church of the Holy Apostles an expressed Hellenistic character. The second feature is a widely used silver-gray color, which makes a number of images, such as figures of prophets, almost monochrome, thereby they call ancient statues to mind. Thirdly, the approach to the ornamentation of the church of the Holy Apostles differs significantly from the decorative principles used in Kariye Camii. In our opinion, these features may indicate that the mosaics in the church of the Holy Apostles could be executed by local Thessalonian masters.

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Several Byzantine images of the Virgin with the inscription “Н ПЕРΙВΛЕПТОС” survive from the 14th century. The view on the images of the Virgin Peribleptos, reflected in the research literature, is contradictory. There is no detailed and comprehensive analysis of these artworks. The term “Peribleptos” is often used as an iconographic type, not an epithet, but it applies to the artworks very different in iconography. Obviously, it is necessary to clarify the definition “Peribleptos” and to eliminate the contradictions connected with it.
It was M. Tatic-Djuric who supposed that Peribleptos is a specific iconographic type, a variant of Hodegetria. According to her classification of the Virgin’s iconography, the defining characteristic of the Peribleptos is a slight bend of the Virgin’s head towards the Child. In Tatic-Djuric’s view, this type is connected with the lost icon of the Constantinopolitan Peribleptos monastery founded by Romanos III Argyros (1028–1034).
The analysis of surviving monuments does not confirm the classification proposed by M. Tatic-Djuric and leads to the conclusion that all the images with the inscription “Н ПЕРΙВΛЕПТОС” belong to different iconographic types, including not only the various types of Hodegetria, but also of Glykofilousa. In the present paper the iconographic analogies for each of the icons with the inscription “Н ПЕРΙВΛЕПТОС” will be demonstrated. These are typologically similar monuments, which are not marked by such an inscription. These monuments form several groups.
The extant icons and analysis of the sources do not provide solid grounds for the reconstruction of the iconography of the Virgin’s image from the Constantinopolitan Peribleptos monastery. In Palaeo­logean period monasteries with the same name existed in different regions of the Empire, but there is no information on the iconography of the Virgin’s icons venerated in these monasteries (except Ohrid). The origin of typologically different icons with the inscription “Н ПЕРΙВΛЕПТОС” from two monasteries of the same name (in Ohrid and in Veria) leaves the question open. We have here not quite a standard situation, when the toponym is an epithet, the translation of which, moreover, is ambiguous and requires further interpretation.

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Palaeologan Renaissance, the flourishing in art and the letters in the Byzantine Empire under the Palaeologan dynasty, can be also attested in Venetian Crete. The small church of the Panagia in the village of Sklavopoula, diocese of Selino, western Crete, is decorated with wall paintings which can be related to an elegant stylistic trend deriving from Constantinople and dated to around 1400.
The church in question, dedicated to the Virgin, is a single-nave building, measuring 7.66 × 5.33 m, with a semi-circular apse projecting on the east. It is covered by a pointed barrel-vault and divided by a transverse strainer arch in two bays. Its south wall, which is pierced by a window, is supported by two buttresses. The entrance door is set in the west wall.
The iconographic programme of the sanctuary comprises the Virgin Blachernitissa flanked by two miniature archangels, the Melismos among four co-officiating bishops, the Ascension, the Annunciation, the Sacrifice of Abraham, the Marys at the Tomb, church fathers and holy deacons. The painted decoration of the naos comprises Christological scenes (Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Betrayal of Judas, Crucifixion, Descent into Hell, Incredulity of St. Thomas, Pentecost), a few scenes from the life of the Virgin (Prayer of St. Anne, Birth of the Virgin, Blessing of the Priests), a large composition of the Last Judgment and portraits of saints (a monk, St. Nicholas, Archangel Michael, warrior saints, Virgin Hodegetria). On the west part of the north wall we face the donor portrait with a partially preserved dedicatory inscription.
The study of the painted decoration in the church of the Panagia in Sklavopoula, which was probably associated with aristocratic patronage, can shed light on art and society of Crete under Venetian rule.

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