Lesnovo and Skopje Icon - Painting Centre

These icons, the work of the unknown masters, have all the features of a period when the quality of the creative work was in decline. Of the more remarkable works, we have already mentioned the icon of the Three-handed Mother of God which was painted in 1626 for the church of the Lesnovo Monastery. Here too, as in the icons from the Slepce centre, one of the specific features is the treatment of the board, which is usually divided into two parts by a line of wood-craving in relief. Two painters from this centre favoured icons showing scenes from the lives of the saints. They also painted icons with very uncommon subject such, for example as the icon of the Hymn of the Mother of God. The haloes of the saints depicted are mostly executed in plaster relief and decorated with floral ornamentation. The plaster haloes could be explained on the one hand as a resourceful substitute for gilded silver revetments and on the other as irrefutable evidence of the poverty of the donors, who were not in a position to invest the larger sums of money required for gold and silver revetments. The desire to decorate the icons, however, did not cease. Gold and silver were replaced by the use of plates made off copper sheeting treated with tin, or filigree ornamentation made in thin silver of copper wire was attached to copper plates.

Towards the close of the 17^th century, in the small church of the Mother of God in the Karpino Monastery near Kumanovo, a cycle of twelve festal icons was painted, of which only seven remain. The creator of these small but interesting icons demonstrates a lively use of constructing of light and shade, and is clearly liberated from the practice of the direct copying of older examples. 

In the period of the 16^th and 17^th centuries we find an increase in the activity of the icon-painters based around Skopje, especially those in the numerous monasteries in Skopska Crna Gora. An unknown 16^th century master painted the richly carved Royal Doors with the composition of the Annunciation for the church of St. Panteleimon at Nerezi. The workman ship of the wood-craving shows great similarities to that of the Royal Doors from the church of Sit. George in the Vlach quarter of Ohrid and with those which are today in the national Museum in Belgrade, of which it is known with certainty that they originated from Ohrid.

Somewhat later, but certainly in the 17^th century, the Royal Doors of the church of the Mother of God (the Holy Saviour) in the village of Kuceviste were painted. A powerful group of monastic painters who worked in a highly-recognizable manner existed around this church and the monastery of the Holy Archangels in the valley of the River Kuceviste in the 16^th and the 17^th centuries. Their icons and Royal Door have a characteristic format and can also be recognized by the treatment of the board. The large icon, which shows an exceptionally rare theme in icon-painting linked to the illustration of the Psalms of David is worthy a note. The icon Praise the Lord (Psalms 148 and 149) illustrates in the best possible way the rich imagination of the unknown artist who showed himself resourceful in what is a complicated iconography. Today the icon is in the Museum of Macedonia and is one of the most impressive works created in Macedonia during this period of Osmanli Turkish domination.

Along the valley of the River Radika we encounter an increase in building activity from the 16^th and 17^th centuries and also the beginning of the formation of several icon-painting and wood-craving work-shops. In the villages of Tresonce, Galicnik, Lazaropole, Gari, and others, masters who laid the foundations of the future famous painting and wood-craving workshops were appearing. They were to leave deep traces of their art in almost all the churches and monasteries on the Balkan Peninsula in the forthcoming period, and especially in the 19^th century.

The results of research into the development of icon-painting in the period of Osmanli Turkish domination confirm that even in the most difficult and critical circumstances the continuity of artistic creation was not interrupted. While in the first decades of this domination there appeared works with the characteristics of 14^th century painting, in the 16^th century, the painters were endeavouring to the utmost of their strength to approximate to old models. In the meantime, icon-painting was passing from the hands of the professional masters to those of the monks and other members of the clergy who took up the brush not out a desire to express themselves artistically, but simply to fill a void, to satisfy the needs of Christians awash in the sea of Islam.

Towards the end of the 17^th century all forces in Macedonia seemed to be concentrated on the organization of armed resistance under the leadership of Karpos, their only hope of liberation from the centuries of domination. However, that desire for freedom was paid for blood. The icon-and fresco-painters were, without exception, men of the people. Because of the character of their work they were in permanent contact with all the events happening in the country, feeling on their own backs the poverty and sufferings the Macedonian people were passing through.

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Icons of Macedonia

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