IMAGES FROM THE BYZANTINE PERIPHERY
STUDIES IN ICONOGRAPHY AND STYLE
by
EFTHALIA CONSTANTINIDES
This book contains nine essays published by the author in various journals during the last ten years, except for the last one, which appears here for the first time. Most of the original illustrations have been substituted here by colour ones and new illustrations have been added to them.
The material mainly deals with painting in Cyprus and Georgia. The author, known by her superb publication on the church of the Panagia Olympiotissa at Elasson, studied and photographed the monuments in numerous journeys in Greece, Constantinople, Cappadocia, Armenia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus, Georgia, Egypt and Sinai.
These studies contribute immeasurably to the knowledge of how Byzantine art, radiating from Constantinople, influenced the entire Orthodox periphery by demonstrating the way the technology and aesthetics of itinerant artists traveling to distant regions preserved the ideology and iconographic norms of the Capital.
The essay on the Monumental Painting in Cyprus during the Venetian Period (1489-1570) examines the Paleologan trends and the synthesis of the Italo-Byzantine cycle in a number of churches. The 16th-century churches of Chrysopantanassa and St. John the Baptist at Aska are distinguished through no less than five extensive narrative cycles in the former, among which a large cycle of St. Nicholas, consisting of sixteen episodes, and subtle personifications of Virtues. The latter church reveals the continuous contact with religious life portrayed by the holy images which kept the Orthodox Faith during the Venetian period alive and deeply inspiring, immortalised despite the passage of time.
The large 13th-century icon of St. George at Sinai distinguishes itself by the rarity of its prolific scenes, as well as by the appearance of a Georgian donor, portrayed in a Deesis attitude.
The first of the three essays dealing with monumental art in Georgia examines the 11th-century paintings in the church of Zemo-Krikhi in comparison with paintings in the Mani region. The local artists retained intact the Byzantine iconographic program, but created their own style, which distinguished their periphery by the inventive individuality of the monumental painting in its numerous churches.
Essay No. 8 investigates the Byzantine influence on the paintings in the Caucasus and the Lowlands during the 11th-14th centuries. It includes monuments such as those in Ateni, Gelati, Svaneti, Vardzia and Saphara.
The 14th-century paintings of the Church of the Dormition at Lykhne illustrate the dissemination eastward of the excellent Paleologan painting from Constantinople, the prevailing hagiology of this period and the superb workmanship of Byzantine Art in Georgia.
CONTENTS:
Preface.
1. The Tetraevangelion Manuscript 93 of the Athens National Library.
2. The Question of the Date and Origin of the Earliest Akathistos Cycles in Byzantine Monumental Painting in the Light of the Akathistos of the Olympiotissa at Elasson.
3. Observations on the Iconography and Style of the Mural Painting in the Church of the Chrysopantanassa at Palaichori on the Troodos Mountain range of Cyprus.
4. Monumental Painting in Cyprus during the Venetian Period (1489-1570).
5. Aspects of the Historical Background and an Iconographic Analysis of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the Village of Aska, Cyprus.
6. Une icône historiée de Saint George du 13e siècle au Monastère de Sainte-Catherine du Mont Sinaï.
7. The Frescoes of the Church of the Holy Archangels of Zemo-Krikhi, Raca (Georgia) and contemporary monuments of Mani in Southern Greece.
8. Byzantine Traditions and Churches of Georgia in the Caucasus and the Lowlands. Iconography, Style and Liturgical Influences.
9. Wall Paintings in the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin at Lykhne, Abkhazia, Western Georgia. History, Style and Symbolic Images.
Index
List of Illustrations
Illustrations 1-351
Bound, 24x17 cm., 480 pp. (304 pp. text plus 309 illustrations in full colour and 42 in black and white)
2007 ISBN: 978-90-806476-7-1 Price: EUR 250
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Enthroned Virgin, Panagia Podithou, Galata,
Cyprus
Virtue of Love, Chryssopan-
tanassa, Palaichori, Cyprus
Archangel Michael,Cathedral of the Virgin,
Gelati, Georgia
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