Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

KAFTOUN

LEBANON

male supplicant, another showing a Virgin
Blachernitissa holding a medallion con-
taining the bust of Christ Emmanuel in
front of her, and an iconostasis beam repre-
senting a Deesis in between Sts Peter and
Paul, the four evangelists and the soldier
saints George and Procopius, all to be da-
ted roughly in the third quarter of the 13th
century, however with wide margins.4 In
particular the Deesis in the church seems
to be a faithful copy of the same, much smal-
ler, scene on the iconostasis beam, but the
formal resemblances between the Virgin
and the one on the bilateral icon are even
more striking. These icons are generally
attributed to a Latin5 or Cypriot6 work-
shop, which Jaroslav Folda baptised 'The
Workshop of the Soldier Saints1,7 but from
our recent research it follows that the art-
ists were very likely indigenous Christians.
The clue to this attribution is the presence
in the present Monastery of Kaftoun of
another 13th-century bilateral icon with
a Virgin Hodegetria on the obverse and
a Baptism on the reverse, which we ascribe
to the same atelier.8 In particular, the styl-

istic features of the Hodegetria on the front
side betray the same hand which painted
a similar image on the double-sided icon
and that of the Virgin Blachernitissa on
Mount Sinai. It should be noted as well
that the face of the Virgin in the Annunci-
ation is very similar to that of St. Bacchus
of the Sinaitic'icon, in particular from the
point of view of graphic rendering of the
features, the modest greenish shadows and
the highlighting.
In the representations on the north wall,
in particular the apostles in the Communion
scene, one discerns a different artistic lan-
guage, distinctively close to Byzantine art.
These figures, with their powerful brush-
strokes accentuating the volumes and the
contrast of colors, incontestably display clas-
sical inspiration. This very refined style has
no precedent in the wall paintings of
Lebanon, in particular in the former
County of Tripoli, but is closely connected
to painted cycles on Serbian territory from
the 13th century, for example the murals of
Studenica, Mileshevo, Pec, and Sopocani.9
It is known that after the capture of Con-

4 The most recent publications about these icons, including references to earlier studies, are the exhibition catalogues:
H. Evans (ed.), Byzantium. Faith and Power (1261-1557) (New York/New Haven 2004), nos. 230, 229, 212, and 232, res-
pectively; and Tresors du monastere de Sainte-Catherine Mont Sinai Egypte (Martigny 2004), nos. 17-20. See also note 8.
5 Weitzmann attributes them to South Italian artists working in one of the crusader states (K. Weitzmann, Icon Painting
in the Crusader Kingdom, DOP 20 (1966), 49-83, esp. 70-71; id., Studies in the Art of Sinai (Princeton 1982), 345-
346, 435; id., "Crusader Icons and Maniera Greca", in: I, Hutter (ed.), Byzanz und der Western Studien zur Kunst des
Europaischen Mittelalters, Sitzungsberichte der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 432 (Wien 1984), 143-170.
6 D. Mouriki, "Thirteenth-Century Icon Painting in Cyprus", in: Studies in Late Byzantine Painting (London 1995),
341-443, esp. 400-403 (reprint from The Griffon 1-2 (1985-86), 9-112). The author suggests that the icons were made
by a Syrian artist working on Cyprus.
7 See note 4.
8 Exhibition catalogue : leones du Liban (Paris 1996), 22-27; N. Helou, "L'icone bilaterale de la Vierge de Kaftoun au Liban:
une oeuvre d'art syro-byzantin a l'epoque des croises", Chronos 7 (2003), 101-131; M. Immerzeel, "Holy Horsemen and
Crusader Banners. Equestrian Saints in Wall Paintings in Lebanon and Syria", Eastern Christian Art 1 (2004), 29-60, esp.
49-53, Pis. 23, 24; id., "Medieval Wall Paintings in Lebanon: Donors and Artists", Chronos 10 (2004), 7-47, esp. 25, PL
13; see also RJ. Mouawad, "Les mysterieux monasteres de Keftun au Liban a l'epoque medievale (Xlle-XIIIe siecles):
maronite et puis melkite?", Tempora 12-13 (2001-2002), 95-113, esp. 105-111, Fig. 2 (Baptism).
9 V.N. Lazarev, Istoria Vizantiiskoi Jivopisi, Moscou 1986, 134 (in Russian); V. Djuric, Visantijske Freske u Jugoslave
(Belgrad 1975), 32-33 (in Serbian).

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