Svetlana Tsymbal
Russian State University for the Humanities, Russia
Depiction of architectural landscape as a symbol of oecumene played an important role in the Hellenistic art. It was adapted by the medieval culture with new meanings, like many other elements of antiquity. S. Ćurčić and H. G. Saradi mentioned the special role of architecture in Byzantine painting as means of expressing certain Christian dogmas. Thus, an image of a church represents a “container of uncontainable” (S. Ćurčić), images of cities are symbols of imperial prosperity and rich architectural backgrounds are links to the greatness of Rome (H. G. Saradi). The landscape becomes a vehicle of a peculiar language which alters in style together with its epoch. Architectural backgrounds reach their expanded, fantastic forms and articulate the core semantic points of compositions in the Palaeologan era. The architectural settings are notably picturesque in the paintings of the church of the Virgin Pantanassa in Mistra (1428). We made an attempt to clarify a semantic role of the landscapes, to analyze the stylistic solutions in the context of Palaeologan art. Along with the general interest in antiquity and Byzantine traditions, there is also evidence of contacts with Western medieval culture. It appears in some compositional peculiarities and stylistic trends which evoke Italian paintings of the early Renaissance. After the Latin conquest western motives appear in some other Palaeologan paintings, especially in the areas where connections with the West were very close.