15^th Century Icons from the Treskavec Icon - Painting Centre. The Work of the Metropolitan Jovan Zograf and His Brother Makarie Zograf from Zrze

Primarily, these are the icons dedicated to Jesus Christ the Saviour and Life Giver and the Mother of God Pelagonista, from the church of the monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in the village of Zrze.

The first of the dedicated to Jesus Christ the Saviour and Life Giver, is considered to be the work of the well-known master Metropolitan John the Icon-painter from the village Zrze near Prilep, who painted the frescoes in the church of St. Andrew on the River Treska. The Great Act made for the iconostasis of the church of the Holy Transfiguration from the village Zrze, we would attribute to John’s collaborator in the painting of the church of St. Andrew.

The icon of the Mother of God Pelagonista, according to the extremely well-preserved inscription on the lower and upper parts of the frame, is the work of Makarios the icon-painter, brother of Metropolitian John, who came from Zrze. It was painted in 1422. Information about the icon painting brothers is obtained from an inscription in fresco on the south wall of the church of the holy Transfiguration in the village of Zrze. In this inscription it is said that the church was the inheritance of the painters John and Makarios, and that in the hard times that came about, having no funds to maintain the monastery “either by force or against their will” they gave it to their serf Constantine. The inscription with this information is dated about 1400.

The icon of the Mother of God Pelagonista is an exceptionally important work in medieval Macedonian art, both in technical execution, which in later period would be neglected, and for its inventive treatment of the composition which has in very simple way made possible a portrayal of and emphasis on the inner emotions. The infant Christ lovingly touches the cheek of His mother with His lips. Moved but sorrowful, she accepts the child’s play, holding Him in a loving embrace. To convey this scene as naturally as possible, the infant Christ is portrayed with His back to the spectator.

The appellation Pelagonista which the Mother of God has on this icon is undoubtedly connected with the name of the fertile plain Pelagonia, in whose immediate vicinity the monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in the village of Zrze is to be found. It is iconographic features, this icon is very close to that dedicated to the Mother of God Hodegetria, taken to the Skopje Art Gallery from an unknown Ohrid church. There is no inscription on this icon, but stylistic analysis shows that it comes from the same hand, that of the Makarios the Icon-painter from Zrze.

An opinion has been put forward recently that Makarios was the painter of the frescoes in the church at Ljubostinja. However, a study of the fresco-painting there has shown that this opinion is unfounded and that it is not supported either by the text of the inscription or by the analysis of the icons by Macarios.

In the work of Metropolitian John the Icon-painter and his brother Makarios, who lived and worked in the last decades of the 14^th century and the first decades of the domination by Osmanli Turks in the 15^th, we still find all the essential elements of the mature painting of the 14th century. The importance of their workshop, in which the painter Gregory also worked, is all the greater for the fact that it relied on traditions developed in the painting centres of Macedonia. It was, in a sense, the road that was to be taken by later generations of painters who, in the period of great trials, made use of the experience of these great masters. Thus an unknown painter who was active towards the middle of the 14^th century painted an icon of the Mother of God with Christ under the influence of the iconography used by Makarios the Icon-painter. This icon was taken from the church of St. Nicholas in the village of Varos, near Prilep, to the Skopje Art Gallery. Today it is in the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje.

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Icons of Macedonia

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