DOI Artikel:
Zaprzalska, Dorota: Ikona tzw. kompozytowa w klasztorze Wlatadon w Salonikach – zagadnienie formuły ikonograficzno-kompozycyjnej i funkcji ideowo-dewocyjnej
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51255#0024
The composite icon
at Vlatadon monastery
in Thessaloniki - its iconographic
and compositional form
as well as ideological
and devotional function1
modus
prace z historii sztuki
art history journal
xix, 2019
0
Wersja polska - s. 5
A two-sided icon in the Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki (see: Figurę 1), the re-
verse of which shows the Crucifixion (see: Figurę 2), is distinguished by a remarkable
feature - a smali icon of Christ between the archangels, and the Virgin with Child
surrounded by the archangel and John the Baptist (see: Figurę 3), which has been
set in the centre of the obverse, which depicts half-length figures of Christ Pan-
tocrator between the archangels, the apostles Peter and Paul and the saints George,
Theodore of Tyre, and Demetrius.2 In fact, it consists of two paintings, which is
why it can be included in the rare category of images defined by the German term
Einsatzbild, in which the independent panel is part of the larger composition, also
acting as its frame.3 The occurrence of such images in Byzantine art has not attracted
the attention of researchers. Sporadic appearance of this type in icon painting was
noticed only by Panagiotis L. Vokotopoulos, who was the first scholar to propose
the term Composite icons (Evv6ete(; eiKÓvec,) for the category.4 For the purposes
1 The article is based on the BA thesis defended at the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian
University in 2018, written under the supervision of professor Małgorzata Smorąg Różycka, to
whom I am most grateful for the research supervision and for all her help during the preparation
of both my dissertation and this article.
2 The larger icon was executed in the techniąue of egg tempera and gold on a primed, linen-canvas
covered panel measuring 98 x 71 cm, whereas the inserted icon, in the techniąue of tempera and
gold on a panel measuring 24 x 21 cm.
3 Individual examples appear in publications dealing with the problem of retrospective tendencies in
art and the cult of images, see, among others: A. Nagel, Icons and Early Modern Portraits, in: El retrato
del Renacimiento, edited by M. Falomir, Madrid 2008, pp. 423-424, fig. 15,22; H. Belting, Obraz i kult.
Historia obrazu przed epoką sztuki, translated by T. Zatorski, Gdańsk 2010, pp. 483,555-558, fig. 253,
294, xi; M. Holmes, The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence, New Haven 2013, pp. 205-206,
fig. 188,189; a slightly broader discussion of Einsatzbilder was included in the work of German
researchers Karl August Wirth and Martin Warnke, see: K.A. Wirth, Einsatzbild, in: Reallexikon zur
deutschen Kunstgeschichte, voL 4, Stuttgart 1958, pp. 1006-1019; M. Warnke, Italienische Bildtabernakel
bis zum Friihbarock, “Miinchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst”, 19,1968, pp. 61-102.
4 P. Vokotopoulos, Composite Icons, in: Griechische Ikonen: Beitrage des Kolloąuiums zum Gedenken an
Manolis Chatzidakis, edited by E. Haustein-Bartsch, N. Chatzidakis, Athens-Recklinghausen 2000,
DOROTA
ZAPRZALSKA
■'
i ’
Figurę 1. The icon of
Vlatadon, obverse from late
fifteenth century, with the
inserted fourteenth-century
icon, Monastery of Vlatadon
(Sacristy). © Ephorate of Anti-
quities of Thessaloniki City
->see p. 5
Figurę 2. The icon of Vlata-
don, reverse with the Cruci-
fixion, end of fifteenth century,
Monastery ofVlatadon (Sacri-
sty). © Ephorate of Antiquities
of Thessaloniki City.
-» see p. 5
ARTICLES
23
at Vlatadon monastery
in Thessaloniki - its iconographic
and compositional form
as well as ideological
and devotional function1
modus
prace z historii sztuki
art history journal
xix, 2019
0
Wersja polska - s. 5
A two-sided icon in the Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki (see: Figurę 1), the re-
verse of which shows the Crucifixion (see: Figurę 2), is distinguished by a remarkable
feature - a smali icon of Christ between the archangels, and the Virgin with Child
surrounded by the archangel and John the Baptist (see: Figurę 3), which has been
set in the centre of the obverse, which depicts half-length figures of Christ Pan-
tocrator between the archangels, the apostles Peter and Paul and the saints George,
Theodore of Tyre, and Demetrius.2 In fact, it consists of two paintings, which is
why it can be included in the rare category of images defined by the German term
Einsatzbild, in which the independent panel is part of the larger composition, also
acting as its frame.3 The occurrence of such images in Byzantine art has not attracted
the attention of researchers. Sporadic appearance of this type in icon painting was
noticed only by Panagiotis L. Vokotopoulos, who was the first scholar to propose
the term Composite icons (Evv6ete(; eiKÓvec,) for the category.4 For the purposes
1 The article is based on the BA thesis defended at the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian
University in 2018, written under the supervision of professor Małgorzata Smorąg Różycka, to
whom I am most grateful for the research supervision and for all her help during the preparation
of both my dissertation and this article.
2 The larger icon was executed in the techniąue of egg tempera and gold on a primed, linen-canvas
covered panel measuring 98 x 71 cm, whereas the inserted icon, in the techniąue of tempera and
gold on a panel measuring 24 x 21 cm.
3 Individual examples appear in publications dealing with the problem of retrospective tendencies in
art and the cult of images, see, among others: A. Nagel, Icons and Early Modern Portraits, in: El retrato
del Renacimiento, edited by M. Falomir, Madrid 2008, pp. 423-424, fig. 15,22; H. Belting, Obraz i kult.
Historia obrazu przed epoką sztuki, translated by T. Zatorski, Gdańsk 2010, pp. 483,555-558, fig. 253,
294, xi; M. Holmes, The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence, New Haven 2013, pp. 205-206,
fig. 188,189; a slightly broader discussion of Einsatzbilder was included in the work of German
researchers Karl August Wirth and Martin Warnke, see: K.A. Wirth, Einsatzbild, in: Reallexikon zur
deutschen Kunstgeschichte, voL 4, Stuttgart 1958, pp. 1006-1019; M. Warnke, Italienische Bildtabernakel
bis zum Friihbarock, “Miinchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst”, 19,1968, pp. 61-102.
4 P. Vokotopoulos, Composite Icons, in: Griechische Ikonen: Beitrage des Kolloąuiums zum Gedenken an
Manolis Chatzidakis, edited by E. Haustein-Bartsch, N. Chatzidakis, Athens-Recklinghausen 2000,
DOROTA
ZAPRZALSKA
■'
i ’
Figurę 1. The icon of
Vlatadon, obverse from late
fifteenth century, with the
inserted fourteenth-century
icon, Monastery of Vlatadon
(Sacristy). © Ephorate of Anti-
quities of Thessaloniki City
->see p. 5
Figurę 2. The icon of Vlata-
don, reverse with the Cruci-
fixion, end of fifteenth century,
Monastery ofVlatadon (Sacri-
sty). © Ephorate of Antiquities
of Thessaloniki City.
-» see p. 5
ARTICLES
23