DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0108
96
PAW7ER.S AND PEPPY; .SEATED PPEA^DP
These features are least characteristic of contemporary Georgian murals. A
Byzantine trend of the turn of the 13th century, however, offers a spectacular parallel:
I refer to the "dynamic" or "expressive" style^ which reached its peak in the 1191
Macedonian frescoes of St. George in Kurbinovo^, with their manneristic refinement.
The murals of the Akhtala altar apse are closer to the other monuments of this
style, with their simpler techniques, conventionalised forms, emphasis on volumes,
and exaggerated figure sizes. All these features were used to achieve a monumental
quality. With the basic expressive features retained and emphasised, the trend is freed
of the manneristic affectation which played such an important role in the Kurbinovo
murals.
This manner appeared in Eastern Christian art rather early. The wall paintings of
the Annunciation Church in Myachino near Novgorod (1189) presents one of its
oldest instances^. As extant monuments show, this style spread about 1200 to survive
throughout the century without considerable change. Several precisely dated murals
of the latter decades offer striking examples of this style, for instance, the 1271
frescoes of St. Nicholas at Manastir in Macedonia^ and those of 1280 in the church
at Moutoulas in Cyprus^. Its monumental expressive power reflected the new ideas
of the age.
The linear stylisation, on the other hand, pleased those of the donors who looked
back to the 12th century in its artistic preferences, with its dramatic expressive force
produced by an air of intense spirituality^.
V. Djuric singles out this style as an independent trend from the turn of the 13th
century 13. He sees radical innovation in the foreshortened proportions, so different
from the Comnenian standards. The heavily-built figures, with their thick necks and
large heads, breathe power: they prefigure the idea! of beauty dominant in the 13th
century, though the Comnenian facial features remain intact, as also do the glowing
and contrasting colours and the linear stylisation widespread in the latter half of the
12th century. The volumes are exaggerated to achieve a monumental quality, with
1 On this trend see Mouriki, "Styiistic Trends", pp. 108-111.
8 Haderman-Misguich, Pttr&inovo.
I See Lazarev, Drewterttsskt'e moaziA'i, pp. 47, 229-338; G.S. Batkhei, "New evidence about the
frescoes of the Annunciation Church at Myachino near Novgorod", Drevnerusskoe iskusstso.'
PYtttdozkestvettnaya ktd'tttra dotnottgoiskoi Past (The artistic cuiture of pre-Mongoi Russia), Moscow,
pp. 243-34.
11* See D. Koco and P. Milkovik-Pepek, Afanastir, Skopje, 1938, and B. Djuric, H'zanti/ske Jreske,
pp. 16, 184.
II See D. Mouriki, "The Wait Paintings of the Church of the Panagia at Moutouias, Cyprus",
Byzanz and der Marten, Wien, 1984, pp. 171-213.
13 Some experts see the "persistence of iinearity" as one of the two basic artistic phenomena of the
13th century. They trace the thoroughly new 'iplastic" style to Constantinople, while the "linear" style,
which only offered a new interpretation of the Comnenian standards, is attributed to northern Greek
artistic centres. See E.C. Schwartz, " The Persistence of Linearity in 13th-century Balkan Painting".
Te?d/:AHHMn? Byzantine Studies Con/erence. Abstracts of Papers, Cincinnati, 1984, p. 17.
13 Djuric, "La peinture morale", pp. 33-26.
PAW7ER.S AND PEPPY; .SEATED PPEA^DP
These features are least characteristic of contemporary Georgian murals. A
Byzantine trend of the turn of the 13th century, however, offers a spectacular parallel:
I refer to the "dynamic" or "expressive" style^ which reached its peak in the 1191
Macedonian frescoes of St. George in Kurbinovo^, with their manneristic refinement.
The murals of the Akhtala altar apse are closer to the other monuments of this
style, with their simpler techniques, conventionalised forms, emphasis on volumes,
and exaggerated figure sizes. All these features were used to achieve a monumental
quality. With the basic expressive features retained and emphasised, the trend is freed
of the manneristic affectation which played such an important role in the Kurbinovo
murals.
This manner appeared in Eastern Christian art rather early. The wall paintings of
the Annunciation Church in Myachino near Novgorod (1189) presents one of its
oldest instances^. As extant monuments show, this style spread about 1200 to survive
throughout the century without considerable change. Several precisely dated murals
of the latter decades offer striking examples of this style, for instance, the 1271
frescoes of St. Nicholas at Manastir in Macedonia^ and those of 1280 in the church
at Moutoulas in Cyprus^. Its monumental expressive power reflected the new ideas
of the age.
The linear stylisation, on the other hand, pleased those of the donors who looked
back to the 12th century in its artistic preferences, with its dramatic expressive force
produced by an air of intense spirituality^.
V. Djuric singles out this style as an independent trend from the turn of the 13th
century 13. He sees radical innovation in the foreshortened proportions, so different
from the Comnenian standards. The heavily-built figures, with their thick necks and
large heads, breathe power: they prefigure the idea! of beauty dominant in the 13th
century, though the Comnenian facial features remain intact, as also do the glowing
and contrasting colours and the linear stylisation widespread in the latter half of the
12th century. The volumes are exaggerated to achieve a monumental quality, with
1 On this trend see Mouriki, "Styiistic Trends", pp. 108-111.
8 Haderman-Misguich, Pttr&inovo.
I See Lazarev, Drewterttsskt'e moaziA'i, pp. 47, 229-338; G.S. Batkhei, "New evidence about the
frescoes of the Annunciation Church at Myachino near Novgorod", Drevnerusskoe iskusstso.'
PYtttdozkestvettnaya ktd'tttra dotnottgoiskoi Past (The artistic cuiture of pre-Mongoi Russia), Moscow,
pp. 243-34.
11* See D. Koco and P. Milkovik-Pepek, Afanastir, Skopje, 1938, and B. Djuric, H'zanti/ske Jreske,
pp. 16, 184.
II See D. Mouriki, "The Wait Paintings of the Church of the Panagia at Moutouias, Cyprus",
Byzanz and der Marten, Wien, 1984, pp. 171-213.
13 Some experts see the "persistence of iinearity" as one of the two basic artistic phenomena of the
13th century. They trace the thoroughly new 'iplastic" style to Constantinople, while the "linear" style,
which only offered a new interpretation of the Comnenian standards, is attributed to northern Greek
artistic centres. See E.C. Schwartz, " The Persistence of Linearity in 13th-century Balkan Painting".
Te?d/:AHHMn? Byzantine Studies Con/erence. Abstracts of Papers, Cincinnati, 1984, p. 17.
13 Djuric, "La peinture morale", pp. 33-26.