DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0456
CHAPTERTHREE.THE PAINTERS AND STYLISTIC TRENDS | 453
Master did not use a dark-green layer for the bare parts of the bod-
ies, instead resorting to light colors imitating the flesh and varicolored
shades to achieve a three-dimensional effect. This technique was as
widespread as green priming in Eastern Christian art. It dominated
Byzantine monumental painting before the 12th century; later it was
used for secondary figures, as Winfield points out24, to save time. The
Second Master evidently imitated green priming for the foreheads,
necks and cheekbones by shading in bright green. This gave the impres-
sion that he was using a more sophisticated technique, and enhanced
he expressive power and the three-dimensional effect with contrasting,
slightly conventionalized shadows. This device must have been popu-
lar in Byzantine art at the turn of the 13th century, seeking at once to
preserve the Comnenian ideal and arrive at new expressive means25.
Reddish-browns combine with greens in the shadings of the south
and north wall paintings. Sometimes they are mixed to bring out the
eyebrows, sometimes parallel to each other to produce a three-dimen-
sional effect and bring out certain facial features, as in the Virgins face
in «The Adoration of the Magi» and the face of Christ in «Christ before
Pilate». Minor devices are also used in the shadings. The artist employs
a gamut of colors for the central figures, and only one or two for sec-
ondary figures, avoiding bright green; thus they direct the spectator’s
eye to Christ and the Virgin who stand out amid the simpler figures of
the serving-maids, the Jewish high priests and Roman soldiers. Some-
times, the shades play a dramatic part in the interpretation of the im-
ages. Thus, blackish shades alone are used to bring out the austere faces
of the stylites on the south wall.
The Second Master’s polychromy is far removed from the ascetic
manner of the Chief Master, based on the contrast between the dark-
green layer and bright lights. This difference must be rooted in aesthet-
ic ideals. The Second Master was after verisimilitude, while the Chief
sought the impersonal and symbolic. This difference is repeated in the
forms. The Second Master gave up all conventionality, and the north
and south walls present more life-like lines and shapes, though some-
what emphasising volumes; the altar apse murals reveal an inner con-
tradiction in three-dimensionality combined with decorative planes.
The treatment of lights is interesting in this respect. The altar apse
painter used pure whites for his conventional ornamental lines while
the Second Master preferred wide, soft brushstrokes resembling patch-
Master did not use a dark-green layer for the bare parts of the bod-
ies, instead resorting to light colors imitating the flesh and varicolored
shades to achieve a three-dimensional effect. This technique was as
widespread as green priming in Eastern Christian art. It dominated
Byzantine monumental painting before the 12th century; later it was
used for secondary figures, as Winfield points out24, to save time. The
Second Master evidently imitated green priming for the foreheads,
necks and cheekbones by shading in bright green. This gave the impres-
sion that he was using a more sophisticated technique, and enhanced
he expressive power and the three-dimensional effect with contrasting,
slightly conventionalized shadows. This device must have been popu-
lar in Byzantine art at the turn of the 13th century, seeking at once to
preserve the Comnenian ideal and arrive at new expressive means25.
Reddish-browns combine with greens in the shadings of the south
and north wall paintings. Sometimes they are mixed to bring out the
eyebrows, sometimes parallel to each other to produce a three-dimen-
sional effect and bring out certain facial features, as in the Virgins face
in «The Adoration of the Magi» and the face of Christ in «Christ before
Pilate». Minor devices are also used in the shadings. The artist employs
a gamut of colors for the central figures, and only one or two for sec-
ondary figures, avoiding bright green; thus they direct the spectator’s
eye to Christ and the Virgin who stand out amid the simpler figures of
the serving-maids, the Jewish high priests and Roman soldiers. Some-
times, the shades play a dramatic part in the interpretation of the im-
ages. Thus, blackish shades alone are used to bring out the austere faces
of the stylites on the south wall.
The Second Master’s polychromy is far removed from the ascetic
manner of the Chief Master, based on the contrast between the dark-
green layer and bright lights. This difference must be rooted in aesthet-
ic ideals. The Second Master was after verisimilitude, while the Chief
sought the impersonal and symbolic. This difference is repeated in the
forms. The Second Master gave up all conventionality, and the north
and south walls present more life-like lines and shapes, though some-
what emphasising volumes; the altar apse murals reveal an inner con-
tradiction in three-dimensionality combined with decorative planes.
The treatment of lights is interesting in this respect. The altar apse
painter used pure whites for his conventional ornamental lines while
the Second Master preferred wide, soft brushstrokes resembling patch-