DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0109
CA/LT MATTER
97
geometrically conventional outlines and generalised lights and shades that provide a
monolithic impression.
Among the monuments analysed by V. Djuric, the murals of Christ Antiphonitos in
Cyprus ^ ^ are the closest to the Akhtala paintings. The frontal images of the holy
bishops reveal not only a general likeness but numerous technical coincidences, as in
the stylised lights in the faces, brought out by shades etched in gossamer lines. Unlike
the decorative patterns formed by the lights in earlier monuments, this technique,
simplified to the point of abstraction, stresses the geometry of the form and increases
the impersonal quality of the image. The saints' grey hair is treated similarly: a dark
background on which long parallel lines join in ornamental patterns is made even
more decorative by black contouring. There is a striking likeness between the faces in
both murals, with broad foreheads, the dark sideways gaze of sunken eyes, and the
tightly-compressed small mouths with their bright-red lips. Apart from slight
differences arising from the artists' personal styles, the similarity convinces us that
both painters may have used the same stylistic source.
Other murals of about 1200 present a wealth of similarities, for instance, on
Mount Athos where this style was very popular. It is felt in the images of SS. Peter
and Paul in both the keliion of Ravdouchou and the library of the Vatopedi
Monastery, dated 1197-98^, and in the mosaic of the Virgin with the Child,
approximately dated 1198^, in other words, in . all the three extant Athonian
monuments going back to the end of the 12th century. The technical perfection of the
mosaic icon, attributed to a Constantinopolitan or Thessalonian artist, testifies to the
prestige of this particular style. Not provincialism but a conscious metropolitan
concept stood behind the huge, intent eyes of the Virgin, the exaggerated volume and
the schematic lines. This ideal had its antecedents in Byzantine art, suffice it to recall
the mosaics of the Hosios Loukas Monastery (first half of the 11th century). The
style was revived again and again, and enriched with new traits. Its deliberate
renunciation of classical tradition made it welcome in monasteries, where it was seen
as an embodiment of the ascetic ideal that shunned secular aesthetic values. This
hypothesis is borne out by the exceptional similarity in the works of three Athonian
artists active at the turn of the 13th century.
The Ravdouchou and Vatopedi frescoes, while starting from common origins
display many individual differences in style that allow us to trace the evolution of this
particular artistic trend. The Vatopedi mural must be the older, with a pronounced
stylisation reminiscent of the Novgorodian Church of the Annunciation at Myachino;
1 ^ See A. Papageorghiou. Marferp/ecer of Ryzanhaezlrf ofCy/jra.s, Nicosia. 1963, pi. XXXI, 2-3.
p. 28. The frontal images of hoty bishops are extant in the attar apse. The murats of the Church of
Christ Antiphonitos, in the Turkish part of Cyprus, are difficult of access, and their pubiication ieaves
much to be desired. The author of this work used V. Djuric's pictoriat materiais. for which he is deepty
grateful.
See Lazarev, Afonya, p. 102, pi. 333-337; Djuric, "La peinture murale", p. 23; S. Radas,
Moaafydf/:ox, Athens, 1980, pp. 83-86.
16 See V. Djuric, "The Mosaic Icon of Ilodegctria in the Ililandar Monastery", Zogra/, I (1966),
Pp. 16-20.
97
geometrically conventional outlines and generalised lights and shades that provide a
monolithic impression.
Among the monuments analysed by V. Djuric, the murals of Christ Antiphonitos in
Cyprus ^ ^ are the closest to the Akhtala paintings. The frontal images of the holy
bishops reveal not only a general likeness but numerous technical coincidences, as in
the stylised lights in the faces, brought out by shades etched in gossamer lines. Unlike
the decorative patterns formed by the lights in earlier monuments, this technique,
simplified to the point of abstraction, stresses the geometry of the form and increases
the impersonal quality of the image. The saints' grey hair is treated similarly: a dark
background on which long parallel lines join in ornamental patterns is made even
more decorative by black contouring. There is a striking likeness between the faces in
both murals, with broad foreheads, the dark sideways gaze of sunken eyes, and the
tightly-compressed small mouths with their bright-red lips. Apart from slight
differences arising from the artists' personal styles, the similarity convinces us that
both painters may have used the same stylistic source.
Other murals of about 1200 present a wealth of similarities, for instance, on
Mount Athos where this style was very popular. It is felt in the images of SS. Peter
and Paul in both the keliion of Ravdouchou and the library of the Vatopedi
Monastery, dated 1197-98^, and in the mosaic of the Virgin with the Child,
approximately dated 1198^, in other words, in . all the three extant Athonian
monuments going back to the end of the 12th century. The technical perfection of the
mosaic icon, attributed to a Constantinopolitan or Thessalonian artist, testifies to the
prestige of this particular style. Not provincialism but a conscious metropolitan
concept stood behind the huge, intent eyes of the Virgin, the exaggerated volume and
the schematic lines. This ideal had its antecedents in Byzantine art, suffice it to recall
the mosaics of the Hosios Loukas Monastery (first half of the 11th century). The
style was revived again and again, and enriched with new traits. Its deliberate
renunciation of classical tradition made it welcome in monasteries, where it was seen
as an embodiment of the ascetic ideal that shunned secular aesthetic values. This
hypothesis is borne out by the exceptional similarity in the works of three Athonian
artists active at the turn of the 13th century.
The Ravdouchou and Vatopedi frescoes, while starting from common origins
display many individual differences in style that allow us to trace the evolution of this
particular artistic trend. The Vatopedi mural must be the older, with a pronounced
stylisation reminiscent of the Novgorodian Church of the Annunciation at Myachino;
1 ^ See A. Papageorghiou. Marferp/ecer of Ryzanhaezlrf ofCy/jra.s, Nicosia. 1963, pi. XXXI, 2-3.
p. 28. The frontal images of hoty bishops are extant in the attar apse. The murats of the Church of
Christ Antiphonitos, in the Turkish part of Cyprus, are difficult of access, and their pubiication ieaves
much to be desired. The author of this work used V. Djuric's pictoriat materiais. for which he is deepty
grateful.
See Lazarev, Afonya, p. 102, pi. 333-337; Djuric, "La peinture murale", p. 23; S. Radas,
Moaafydf/:ox, Athens, 1980, pp. 83-86.
16 See V. Djuric, "The Mosaic Icon of Ilodegctria in the Ililandar Monastery", Zogra/, I (1966),
Pp. 16-20.