Icons by Anonymous Icon-Painters in the 14^th Century Up To Macedonia’s coming Under Ottoman Turkish Rule (2)

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That mosaic icons were not common place is shown by the delight of certain writers and poets of the time who dedicated works and poems to them. All this points to the fact that the mosaic icons were the very peak of imperial court art.

This icon is made on a board of relatively small size. We should immediately note that the frame of the icon was covered with a revetment which has been completely lost.

Jesus Christ is shown sitting on a red cushion on a throne without a head-rest. He gives a blessing with His right hand and in His left holds a thick closed book. Christ’s feet rest on a decorated pedestal. He is dressed in a hiton and a himation. The base for the hiton is a ochre colured wax mass while that of the himation is a dark bluish-green mass. Only the highlights of the garments and the shadows are worked in mosaic tesserae – the highlights with gold, the shadows on the hiton wit terracotta and those on the himation with blue-black. The ground of the icon is done in gold tesserae. The composition is enclosed by an ornamented band of tesserae in five colours. The face is formed with pale orange and greyish-white resserae. The size of the cubes used does not exceed 1 x 1mm dimensions.

The second mosaic icon, discovered in the same church, was made using tesserae of smaller dimensions. However, with the exception of one very small fragment of the ornament stripe it has been totally ruined. Judging by the partially-preserved impression on the board of the icon, a saint was portrayed in full length.

The icon that can be considered to be the closest to ours in appearance and technical treatment are the well-known mosaic icons of Jesus Christ from Esphigmenos, end of the 11^th century and beginning of the 12^th, the icon from Municipio in Galata, Apulia, end of the 12^th century, and the icon of St. Nicholas from the Kiev State Museum of Western and Eastern Art (inv. No. 139) dated rather uncertainly as from the 12^th century, with metal revetments from the 14^th. These three icons have approximately the same dimensions as ours. The width of the frames is also the same, as is the size of the tesserae, and the treatment of the technique can be considered to be identical. However, they differ in certain iconographic details. In these icons Jesus is portrayed in full length, standing upright, while in our icon He is seated on a throne without a headrest. We find Christ on such a throne in the wall mosaics in the alter-space of the Platine Chapel in Palermo, from the 12^th century. Our icon has similarities with work from the 12^th century. This is the Christ in the apse of the church in Torcello. We find a similar iconographic type of Christ in the bronze icon from the State ermita` (inv. No. chiton 872) discovered at Herson dating from the 12^th century and the icon from the archiepiscopate in Nicosia, Cyprus, dating from 1356.

These comparable examples certainly point to the fact that the largest number of portable mosaic icons appeared between the 12^th and the end of the 14^th.

In spite of the fact that Christ’s head is completely destroyed, a stylistic analysis of the remaining part point to the time when the monumental style in Romaoian painting was being abandoned and a narrative style of painting was increasingly practiced. The line of the drawing is not the dominant feature. The proportions of Christ’s body are perfectly balanced and the foreshortening are logical. The rich use of colour can be seen in every detail, especially in the modeling of the naked parts of the body. Everything supports the possibility that our mosaic should be dated to the first decades of the 14^th century, when Ohrid and a part of Macedonia were still under the rule of the Romaoian Empire.

It is our opinion that the icon dedicated to the Mother of God Hodegetria, discovered in the small church of St. George in the village of Banjani, near Skopje, also belongs to first decades to of the 14^th century. After conservation, when the later retouching had been removed, the oldest layer of painting was discovered where the Mother of god Hodegetria is depicted in full length with the infant Christ in her left arm. It is immediately striking that her clothing is different in some details from that in which the Mother of God is customarily shown in Romaoian painting from this period. The garments corresponding to the chiton is a richly-draped gown fashionably fastened with a single button at the neck. The traditional maphorion too is slightly modified, being more open at the breast, while a short sleeve bordered with gold stripes can be seen on the right arm. The colour of the clothing also has new values. The gown flows in light blue while the maphorion has reddish-violet nuances. The chiton of the infant Christ is burnt ochre and the himation is striped with gold. A detail which attracts particular attention is the hair style of the infant Christ, who has short-cut, bushy hair. In a word, by using such detail the unknown painter is trying to accommodate to the new style which was in full swing at this time, approximating the holy figures to ordinary people.

The work of this unknown icon-painter belongs with that of the circle of painters who worked in the first decades of the 14^th century and bears all the characteristics of the Paleolouge style. The overall impression that one receives, taking everything into consideration, is of a local painter who was certainly under the influence of painters from Michael and Eutychios’ studio. However, he did not originate directly from the studio which produced the fresco-paintings of the churches at Staro Nagoricane and Banjani. It should also be said of him that a certain extent he was endeavouring to utilize the knowledge of painters who were under the influence of another milieu, which turned towards the painting of the West.

There is no doubt that the unknown painter of the icon of the Mother of God Episcepsis, which we discovered in the church of the Physician Saints the Lesser in Ohrid, belong to this group of painters who introduced certain innovations in draughtsmanship and the use of colour. Here, as in the former icon, the Mother of God is depicted in full length. She holds the infant Christ in her right arm. She is dressed in a purple maphorion and dark green gown which is fastened with a single button at the neck. The maphorion is open at the breast so that the gown, decorated with gold band, can be seen. The infant Christ holds a rolled scroll in His left hand while blessing with His right. His chiton is light red with dark blue clavus on the sleeve. His himation is burnt ochre and the highlights are done in gold. Above, one on either side of the Mother of God’s halo, which is designated simply by a line on the gold background, are the archangels Gabriel and Michael, turned towards her.

The unknown painter has portrayed the Mother of God as a young, graceful woman with a beautiful oval face and a serious but not sad look directed gently towards the spectator. The painter has used a realistic treatment, as is indicated by the line of the design and the rich colouring. The close-fitting maphorion emphasizes the slenderness of the figure and the sensitive highlighting contributes to the plasticity of the volume. The modeling of the faces of the Mother of God and Christ deserves special attention. The total impression of plasticity is produced by the soft transitions on the face and neck red tints on the cheeks and above the eyes and the red lips, especially the pronounced fullness of the lower lip, contribute to the rounding out of the figures portrayed. The impression of the realistic approach, as we have already stressed, is supported by the fashionable design of the Mother of God’s maphorion, decorated with discreet but clearly visible golden flowers, the Greek cap, similarly decorated, and the cut of the gown which is fastened at the breast.

Discussing this icon, Professor Vojislav J. Duric indicates the possibility that this painting by an unknown painter could be linked with the work of another, the work of the master who painted the apse of the church. In studies referring to this icon there are references to the influence of the painters of the Comnenus era and on the basis of this icon has been linked with the period around 1300. However, we consider that the icon is the work of a painter who belonged to the group of artists who, in the first decades of the 14^th century, not only accepted but also advanced the narrative style of painting, heralding, a whole pleiad of icon-painters. It is possible that in his youth he had worked in some studios in Ohrid, but this icon certainly belongs to his maturity. Searching for analogies to this painting, we come to the conclusion that the greatest similarity is with the Mother of God with the infant Christ painted on the south-west pillar of the nave of the church of the Monastery of Lesnovo. It may therefore be assumed with considerable certainty that in 1341, when preparing to renovate and decorate the church of the Holy Archangel Michael of Lesnovo, the Despot John Oliver commissioned the painter of the Mother of God Episcepsis, entrusting the painting of the frescoes to him. The master-painter, already elderly, assembled a group in which besides himself there were three painters and a few assistants and carried out the entire work of the frescoes in the church. Looking at the two representations of the Mother of God with the infant Christ in the icon and in the fresco we come upon the same refined face of a young woman cradling her son, whose face is also the same in every detail.

The small festal of the Annunciation which was purchased by the Art Gallery in Skopje in the sixties is attributed to a very talented and skilled icon-painter. However, its origin is unknown. Stylistic analysis shows that its painting can be associated with that of the first decades of the 14^th century. In overall impression, the refinement of the draftsmanship, the rich use of colour, the brilliant achievement of the composition and its perfect execution, the unknown painter seems to be close to the painter of the royal church at Studenica, which leads as to think that we should search for the creator of this icon among the painters of the church of Ss.Jehoiakim and Anna at Studenica. However, Professor Vojislav J. Duric considers the painters of the royal church to be the well-known medieval painters Michael and Eutychios.

The small icon with the portrayal of the dead Christ as belongs to somewhere very close to this period, the first decades of the 14^th century. Christ is depicted in half length with His head leaning on His left shoulder. The line of the drawing, the dark complexion, the crude modeling of the face and the body of the dead Christ betray the hand of a local icon-painter. The iconography of this icon is well known from numerous examples from the 11^th to the end of the 14^th century.

The icon has a partially-preserved gilded silver revetment. In the upper part of the icon the arms of the cross are formed by the plates of the revetments. In the other icons, the cross is usually painted. The revetment was certainly made to correspond to the size of this icon. An ornamentation of branching tendrils is worked on the background, including the halo, in filigree and repousse. On the frame, in repousse only, are half length figure of holy martyrs. The surviving inscriptions are written in Greek. Amongst the saints on the revetment we can recognize St. Theodore Stratylate, St. Theodore of Tyron, the Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen, St. Cosmas and the martyr Eleutherios. The appearance of St. Eleutherios, whose cult was most widespread in Albania, suggests that the iconography of the revetments could be linked with that area. The unknown craftsman, whose abilities as a goldsmith were certainly limited, no doubt belonged to one of the numerous workshops scattered along the Albanian coast. The iconography of the revetment , with the holy martyrs arranged in a vertical row with large crosses in their hands, has not been found so far in the revetment of Ohrid icons.

Among the icons from the well-known Ohrid collection, two large throne icons – the largest discovered in Macedonia to date - attract particular attention. The first is dedicated to Jesus Christ Almighty and the second to the Mother of God the Soul Saviour. Jesus Christ Almighty is depicted in half length with a large open book written in Greek in his left hand. He is dressed in a blue chiton and white himation. The icon has a gilded silver revetment which completely covers the background and the frame. On the basis on the surviving text engraved on separate plates affixed to the revetment, the icon has been considered in studies to date to be a present of the Sebastocrator Kyrios Isaac Doucas Kersak. There is now doubt that the icon of the Mother of God the Soul Saviour, which has all the characteristics indicating the same workshop, is a partner to it. She is depicted in half length with the infant Christ in her left arm. However, the chiton and himation – they alone – have been repainted by the well known painter Dico from the village of Tresonce. While obliged to intervene on this ancient icon, he showed his respect for the work of his distant predecessor in his own way, by leaving the face and hands of the Mother of God and the figure of the infant Christ untouched. There were also some interventions on the revetments, which we shall discuss later.

Writing about the figure of Jesus in the icon Christ Almighty, Professor O.S. Popova from the university of Moscow particularly underlines the impression that this figure makes on the spectator: “Christ’s face in the Ohrid icon of Isaac Doucas Kersak is wholly a “portrait”. The power of the character, the sharpness of the mind, the concentrated will and the penetration of the spiritual resolution can be seen in his straining form, in his sharp and serve look and in the contrasting lights of his face, full of inner fire, both withdrawn and attractive at the same time. Above all, the figure looks like the portrait of a philosopher, a thinker who thirsts for and attains knowledge. The expression of the face has no external dynamics and is totally turned towards an inner dynamics. Anxiety and mystical absorption now replace the neutral beauty and tranquillity in the works of Paleologue classicism”. Popova dates the icon to the first half of the 14^th century, emphasizing that here one of the most characteristic images of the Pantocrator in the first half of the 14^th century has been painted.

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Icons of Macedonia

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