13^th Century Icons

During the first decades of the 13^th century, according to the records available, two very important icons dedicated to Jesus Christ were painted. Th e first was a gift from the Emperor Theodore and his wife Ducena Maria Conmena, and the second was a gift of the famous Archbishop Demetrius Homatian of Ohrid. Both icons vanished long ago. Only the gilded revetment of the Homatian icon remains, which today is in one of the Sophia museums.

The tradition of the Ohrid archbishops of presenting gifts to Ohrid churches on ascending the throne, or, later, continued. This can be seen from the first Ohrid icon accurately dated according to its inscription to have been found to date. On the great throne icon Jesus is painted in half length and on the reverse, in five large circular fields, is an inscription in which Archbishop Constantine Kavasilas of Ohrid is mentioned as donor and the date of painting is given, 1262/63. Constantine Kavasailas was a talented writer and former bishop of Strumica. He wrote a canon dedicated to the Tiberiopolis martyrs and later, on coming to the throne of the Ohrid archbishopric, he wrote a canon to St. Clement of Ohrid, thus achieving particular honor in that city. His portrait was later to be found together with that of St. Clement of Ohrid in the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos, as well as on the walls of the churches of St. John the Divine at Kaneo and The Physician Sinats Cosmas and Damian in Ohrid. Professor Vojislav J. Duric, while discussing this icon, tried to decode a very carelessly executed ligature of two Cyrillic letters (HB) as the signature of the icon-painter, whose name would therefore be Basil. However, we are not convinced that this is the icon-painter’s signature and but a chance addition written at a later date.

Of the Ohrid icons painted in the 13^th century, the icon of Constantine Kavasilas, dedicated to Jesus Christ, can be taken as the most authentic work of icon-painting which has come down to us. With the exception of some minor damageto the right hand and the plaster halo, the icon has entirely retained its original appearance.

The half length depiction of Jesus Christ is characterized by its regular proportions, precise drawing and rich colours. The freshness of the colours is surprising, especially the colour of the dark blue himation, highlighted with gold polyment on its board surfaces. Over the light olive bolus of face and hands, the anonymous painter models in intense red and bright ochre, and in the places where there is greater highlighting he uses short, very fine lines of white. There is no doubt that this painter came from a sound workshop where the development of new trends in painting in the Romaoian Empire had been followed with great attention. After the liberation of Constantinople and the restoration of the Empire in 1261, these once again started to reach the lager church centres in the hinterland of the state.

The new trends of painting are obvious in the treatment of Jesus Christ, whose figure becomes more concrete, with a greater emphasis on the portraiture and humanisation. This is obvious in the work of the anonymous painters who were working mainly in the second half of the 13^th century. We can point to the figure of Jesus Christ Pontocrator in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai and Christ from the Deisis in the architrave of the iconostasis in the Vatopedi Monastery dating from the 13^th century.

Here we should stress that the inscription on the back of the icon is distributed in five large circles placed in such a way as to form a cross. Translated from the Greek, the inscription reads: “In 1262 Indication 1 this sacred icon was painted during the time of Archbishop Constantine Kavasilas.

Only a few years later, in 1267/68, a large throne icon of St. George was painted for the newly-built church of St. George in Struga. It is in that church to this day. The saint is depicted in full figure, wearing military grab consisting a dark green trousers, a short green tunic with seams of small red plates, a monolithic breast-plate with a large, richly-decorated cross and with a red cloak thrown over his shoulder. The young warrior holds a long lance in his hand and in his left he has a large shield.

The icon is worked on a single chestnut board. On the back, as well as on the icon itself, a gift of Constantine Kavasilas, there is an extensive text written in Greek which in translation says: “A gift of your servant the peaceful Deacon John, who has the honour of being a Referendary, and who in veneration has described your image in words while those skilled with paint have painted this icon, placing it in Struga near Ohrid.” John of his own despair puts up a prayer 6775 (1267/8). Indication 5. Painted by the hand of the fresco painter John. The first seven lines of this inscription are written in hexameters. In the opinion of F. Barisic this was the main if not the only form of verse used in this period in Romaoian poetry.

The relatively well-preserved inscription provides a lot of extremely interesting and valuable information. In it we find the first known name of a medieval painter in Macedonia as well as the first mention by that name of the present town of Struga on the shores of the Lake Ohrid.

V.N. Lazarev, who devoted a special study to the figure of St. George represented as a warrior in the art of the Romaoian Empire and Russia, particularly stresses that “the Romaoians very much liked to represent St. George standing erect, leaning his left hand on his shield and holding a lance in his right hand”. Closest to the figure of St. George in this Macedonian icons is, firstly, the steatite icon dating from the 10^th century in the Vatopedy Monastery on Mt. Athos and then 11^th century gilded silver icon from Sujuana, Georgia, the considerably damaged 11^th-12^th centuries mosaic icon from Machvarish, Georgia, the 13^th-14^th century steatite icon of St. George with the figures of Ss. George and Theodore Stratilates in the historical Museum in Moscow, the relief with a depiction of St. George from the church of St. George in Jurievo Pole in Russia, 1234, and also the 13^th century figure of St. George painted in fresco in Tomotesubani, Georgia.

If one were to neglect the fact that the icon is accurately dated, one would have the impression that it is older, because of the great similarity with painting from the 11^th and 12^th centuries in Macedonia; we would stress in particular its simularity to the painting in the church of Ss. Cosmas and Damian the Penniless in Kastoria. However, the exact date inscribed on the back of the icon requires a more careful approach. The figure of St. George painted by the fresco-painter John is not enclosed by a thick black line which reduces the impression of plasticity such as there is, for example, in the figure of the same saint in the church in Kastoria. The use of colour is livelier and the modeling, with gentle transitions, helps to give an impression of plasticity and of a real incorporation of the figure into the space. Analyzing the work of the painter John, known to date only from this icon, his aspiration towards new approach becomes clear. The essential measure of quality lies in this aspiration towards a greater reality. He shows himself to be a connoisseur of tradition, as well as a painter who has not stood aside from the new currents in painting which originated in Nicaea and spread via Constantinople after its liberation from the Latins.

Here we should mention the opinion of V.N. Lazarev, who considers that this period gave a stimulus for the flourishing of local national schools. “A more intensive artistic life in Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia puts these schools on the road to independent development.” In the 13^th century Macedonia and Serbia began to play an important role in the capacity of independent art schools, where it was not rare for the focus of development to be found. In the 14^th century Macedonia was increasingly becoming one of the great artistic centres of the Romaoian Empire, having already starting to play an important role in the 13^th century. Tending towards Thessaloniki, it was no doubt an important staging-post in the process of the spreading of the Romaoian art to Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia.

In view of the work of the icon-painter John, it can be concluded that in the Ohrid art centre there were capable painters who were able to keep abrest of the new trends which were spreading with increasing intensity from the liberated Constantinople.

There are no written records about John the fresco-painter which would say something about his origins, date of birth or death or the place of his schooling. Judging by his only signed work known to date we can assume that he worked and was formed as a painter outwit such fresco and icon-painting centres as Constantinople and Thessaloniki.

Whether John who painted the Struga icon dedicated to St. George worked on the decoration on the great three-naved basilica dedicated to St. Nicholas in the village of Manastir near Prilep in the Mariovo region has not been confirmed to date by a single source document. A certain number of art historians who have studied the Struga icon and the frescoes in the monastery church at Manastir have found similarities which have enabled them to assume that his engagement is not to be ruled out. The supposition of the connection between “the Referendary of the Holy Archbishopric the Deacon John” from Manastir, who has been presumed to be one and the same person with “the Referendary Deacon John” of the Struga icon, i.e. with the painter John, supports this opinion. However, a comparison of the St. George of Struga icon with the St. George painted in fresco in church of Manastir does not convince one that the same painter is in question. It is possible that this is the result of collective work by the same workshop, because another name, that of the painter Rufim, is known: he indicated his participation in the work of the painting there with his signature on a fresco in the altar-space of the Mariovo church.

The extent to which the tradition of the old Comenus painting was present in the work of a significant number of painters working in Macedonia during the last decades of the 13^th century can be seen not only in the Struga icon and the frescoes of the great basilica in Manastir, but also in the works of later painters, amongst them the frescoes in church of St. John the Divine at Kaneo in Ohrid.

In the archepiscopal city there can, however, we found icons from the same period which according to their stylistic characteristics, technique and precision belong to another group, or rather to another centre which fostered icon-painting, in which the new tendencies in painting are evident. Among these works we would first cite the processional icon from the famous collection in the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos in Ohrid, now in the icon Gallery in Ohrid. On one side of the icon the Mother of God Hodegetria is painted in half length and on the other is the Crucifixion of Christ. The opinion of the majority of art historians is undivided, this icon is masterpiece of Romaoian easel painting.

The Mother of God Hodegatria is shown in half length with the infant Christ on her left arm. With her right arm raised to the level of her breast she points towards Christ, who holds a rolled scroll in His left hand and gives a blessing with His right. The Mother of God wears a burnt ochre maphorion with dark blue shadows. On her head, under the maphorion, she wears a dark green cap while at her wrist a part of the sleeve of a chiton decorated with gold bands is visible. The infant Christ wears an olive chiton with dark blue shadows and intense white highlights on the folds. The himation is red with black shadows. The Mother of God’s face is painted with soft but precise lines which emphasize the deep sorrow of the Mother who knows the fate of her beloved Son. The ovals of the faces of the Mother of God and the infant Christ, as well as the naked parts of their bodies, are accomplished in light burnt ochre over which there is modeling in red and white. Even at first sight one can notice a difference in the modeling of the face and arms of the Mother of God on the one hand and the face, arms and legs of Christ on the other. The assumption that the painter did not finish the face of the Mother of God has no proof. We believe that it was damaged by unskilled cleaning towards the end of the 19^th century or, more probably, in the first decades of the first decades of the 20^th century.

On the background and the icon frame there is a revetment of gilded silver, which will be discussed later.

On the other side of the icon the composition of the Crucifixion of Christ is painted. On the large cross is Christ’s dead body with the head leaning towards the right shoulder. A very skillfully modeled loincloth covers her hips. Below the arms of the cross, one on either side, are the Mother of God and St. John. The Mother of God is depicted bowed in sorrow, but in a dignified position of adoration, with hands raised to the height of her breast and slightly bowed head, turned towards Christ; she is wearing a burnt ochre maphorion. St. John is in a similar position, with a more bowed head supported in his right hand while with his left he holds the hem of the himation. Above the horizontal beam of the cross there are two angels in flight with their hands raised. The place where the cross is painted is a conical rock where the tomb of Adam is to be found, indicated by skull. That this is a processional icon is testified to by the specially made slot in the lower part of the frame where the holder would have been inserted when the icon was carried in procession.

Analyzing the work of the anonymous master who painted both sides of the icon it becomes clear that this is the work of a painter of high artistic worth who undoubtedly belonged to one of the best-known painting workshops in the capital of the Romaoian Empire. If we bear in mind the previous cases where particular icons were brought or commissioned by some of the newly-appointed archbishop of Ohrid, in this case too we should look for the donor among them. On the basis of a stylistic analysis the icon dates from the last decades of the 13^th century, and for this period we can give a survey of the newly-appointed archbishops of Ohrid. Thus after Constantine Kavasilas, who is considered to have died or given up the throne in 1270, Jacob Proarchus, a religious who was a monk, came to Ohrid. He was a friend of the well-known writer Nicephoruis Vlemid, and a man who in outlook proved to be close to the Uniates. Perhaps it was for this reason that he was soon obliged to withdraw from the archiepiscopal seat and join the monks on Mt. Asthos. He was replaced, by all accounts, by a religious who had s completely different outlook on the Uniate question.

This was Archbishop Hadrian, of whom it is said that he was well-known for his polemical writings against the Latins. However, during this period the archbishops of Ohrid were changing rapidly. After Hadrian, Gennadius came to throne, who seems to have been forcibly appointed by Emperor Andronicus II Paleologus.

The processional icon which so convincingly presents the qualities of the Constantinopolitian workshops of the period could well be connected with one of these archbishops. Regarding this icon there is one more question which arises concerning exclusively its revetments of gilded silver: did the icon leave the workshop with the revetments or were they added to it later, in Ohrid?

Page 2 >>

<<  >>

Icons of Macedonia

Webmaster