DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0454
CHAPTER THREE. THE PAINTERS AND STYLISTIC TRENDS | 451
the Priest-monk Minas, cooperated with Symeon Plindzahanketsi to
translate liturgical books.
There is no direct proof of this hypothesis, so we shall leave the mat-
ter open. I merely wish to point out that the appearance of an outstand-
ing artist in the Caucasus in the 13th century was a natural consequence
of historical developments. As the 1204 Crusade laid the region bare,
many fled to northern Armenia with its flourishing Chalcedonian cul-
ture, now newly freed from Seljuk rule.
2.THE SECOND MASTER
23 The techniques are close to the fresco, hardly
ever met in Caucasian monuments of the 11th-
13th centuries. Mixed techniques were used there,
as a rule: the work was started on wet plaster,
but most of it was completed after the plaster
dried. This led to the upper layer of paint peeling
off. The technical details were revealed in optic
studies of the paint layer in the visible, ultraviolet
and infra-red part of the spectrum by a team led
by Dr Grenberg from the Restoration Istitute. See
an investigation of the south wall paintings in
the Akhtala church. Preliminary report. Physical
chemistry laboratory of the Moscow Institute of
Restoration. Moscow, 1982.
The Second Master painted the two upper tiers of the south wall, the
entire north wall, except the lower tier, and the vaults of the domed
arches. These are the best-preserved frescoes, with no peeling paint:
the few damaged spots were either washed off or removed with the
plaster. The excellent state of preservation allows us to assume that the
frescoes were mostly painted on wet plaster23. This technique accounts
for the absence of preliminary drawings and inscriptions, unlike in the
altar apse.
The final inscriptions, in Greek letters and the Georgian asomtavru-
li, lead us to interesting conclusions. Some texts are bilingual; in others
the languages alternate, with the longer inscriptions in Georgian and
the shorter in Greek. The Georgian inscriptions reveal two hands. One
is cursive, as in «The Rejection of the Offerings» and «Christ before
Pilate», and repeats the west wall inscriptions under frescoes which,
doubtless, came from another brush. This means that the longer in-
scriptions were all made by one man.
The Greek inscriptions, on the other
hand, are elaborate. Calligraphic let-
ters join in sophisticated patterns, as
in the names of St. Joseph and John
the Baptist, and are carefully arranged
among the painted images. Their white
paint is identical to the one used in the
faces, while the Georgian texts (some-
times not so beautifully inscribed) use
a paint of a different hue and texture. In
the Priest-monk Minas, cooperated with Symeon Plindzahanketsi to
translate liturgical books.
There is no direct proof of this hypothesis, so we shall leave the mat-
ter open. I merely wish to point out that the appearance of an outstand-
ing artist in the Caucasus in the 13th century was a natural consequence
of historical developments. As the 1204 Crusade laid the region bare,
many fled to northern Armenia with its flourishing Chalcedonian cul-
ture, now newly freed from Seljuk rule.
2.THE SECOND MASTER
23 The techniques are close to the fresco, hardly
ever met in Caucasian monuments of the 11th-
13th centuries. Mixed techniques were used there,
as a rule: the work was started on wet plaster,
but most of it was completed after the plaster
dried. This led to the upper layer of paint peeling
off. The technical details were revealed in optic
studies of the paint layer in the visible, ultraviolet
and infra-red part of the spectrum by a team led
by Dr Grenberg from the Restoration Istitute. See
an investigation of the south wall paintings in
the Akhtala church. Preliminary report. Physical
chemistry laboratory of the Moscow Institute of
Restoration. Moscow, 1982.
The Second Master painted the two upper tiers of the south wall, the
entire north wall, except the lower tier, and the vaults of the domed
arches. These are the best-preserved frescoes, with no peeling paint:
the few damaged spots were either washed off or removed with the
plaster. The excellent state of preservation allows us to assume that the
frescoes were mostly painted on wet plaster23. This technique accounts
for the absence of preliminary drawings and inscriptions, unlike in the
altar apse.
The final inscriptions, in Greek letters and the Georgian asomtavru-
li, lead us to interesting conclusions. Some texts are bilingual; in others
the languages alternate, with the longer inscriptions in Georgian and
the shorter in Greek. The Georgian inscriptions reveal two hands. One
is cursive, as in «The Rejection of the Offerings» and «Christ before
Pilate», and repeats the west wall inscriptions under frescoes which,
doubtless, came from another brush. This means that the longer in-
scriptions were all made by one man.
The Greek inscriptions, on the other
hand, are elaborate. Calligraphic let-
ters join in sophisticated patterns, as
in the names of St. Joseph and John
the Baptist, and are carefully arranged
among the painted images. Their white
paint is identical to the one used in the
faces, while the Georgian texts (some-
times not so beautifully inscribed) use
a paint of a different hue and texture. In