DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55208#0039
3o THE DEESIS PANEL OF THE SOUTH GALLERY
more rugged features. The oval face is elongated, the nose fleshy, the hair
generally straight, and the features tense, puzzled, and more concentrated. A
Syrian or an Egyptian hermit has replaced the Hellenistic deity. One of the
earliest examples of this type is the sixth or seventh century icon in the Theo-
logical Academy at Kiev [94]. Subsequent to the Iconoclastic Strife [95], this
type became the acknowledged Prodromos in the Cappadocian frescoes [96]
and the later paintings in the Balkans [97].
In the course of time this vision of the Saint changed. Although keeping the
traditional features of selfless severity, the figure weakens. The apparition of
this late manifestation is in one of the now destroyed mosaics of the Koimesis
Church at Nicaea, the first half of the eleventh century. Here the hair spreads
in soft locks over the shoulders, as on the Maximianus chair [98].
Around the beginning of the twelfth century, this new type crystallized in
the ultimate iconographical variant of the representations of the Prodromos,
perfected in spirit and in power. The Saint is represented lean, with prominent
cheek-bones, a thin aquiline nose, and lambent dishevelled hair. The emaciated
expression reveals a prophetic agony which marks other representations of the
twelfth century [99]. All this is in the image of St.John of the Great Church.
Other similar representations are in the mosaics of the Capella Palatina (1147)
[100], in the wall paintings of Spas Neredica near Novgorod dated 1199 [101],
and in the twelfth century manuscript Paris. Grec. 64 [102]. From the twelfth
century begins the decline to the seventeenth century in Russia, Bulgaria,
Serbia, and Mount Athos [103]. In these later representations there appears
sometimes a greater refinement in general outline of the figure, but the expres-
sion of passionate suffering which holds the germs of instruction is lost in
weakness and defeated resignation. Thus evidence abundantly convincing
places the effigy of St. John in the mosaic of Haghia Sophia as the earliest
embodiment of the type of the twelfth century.
CONCLUSION
The studies in palaeography and of the types found in the Deesis Panel together
give an equal date. Here we have a monument of the early Comnenoi of the
utmost significance both in its functional location and in the nobility of its
execution. The style epitomizes the epoch. As elsewhere throughout the
mosaics of Haghia Sophia, here also the artist shows himself master of monu-
mental architectural painting and, in the constructive use of light, the effulgence
of colour reaches fullness of form. We do not know the name of the artist, nor
is it intended that we know. Byzantine Art is impersonal, free from devisive
more rugged features. The oval face is elongated, the nose fleshy, the hair
generally straight, and the features tense, puzzled, and more concentrated. A
Syrian or an Egyptian hermit has replaced the Hellenistic deity. One of the
earliest examples of this type is the sixth or seventh century icon in the Theo-
logical Academy at Kiev [94]. Subsequent to the Iconoclastic Strife [95], this
type became the acknowledged Prodromos in the Cappadocian frescoes [96]
and the later paintings in the Balkans [97].
In the course of time this vision of the Saint changed. Although keeping the
traditional features of selfless severity, the figure weakens. The apparition of
this late manifestation is in one of the now destroyed mosaics of the Koimesis
Church at Nicaea, the first half of the eleventh century. Here the hair spreads
in soft locks over the shoulders, as on the Maximianus chair [98].
Around the beginning of the twelfth century, this new type crystallized in
the ultimate iconographical variant of the representations of the Prodromos,
perfected in spirit and in power. The Saint is represented lean, with prominent
cheek-bones, a thin aquiline nose, and lambent dishevelled hair. The emaciated
expression reveals a prophetic agony which marks other representations of the
twelfth century [99]. All this is in the image of St.John of the Great Church.
Other similar representations are in the mosaics of the Capella Palatina (1147)
[100], in the wall paintings of Spas Neredica near Novgorod dated 1199 [101],
and in the twelfth century manuscript Paris. Grec. 64 [102]. From the twelfth
century begins the decline to the seventeenth century in Russia, Bulgaria,
Serbia, and Mount Athos [103]. In these later representations there appears
sometimes a greater refinement in general outline of the figure, but the expres-
sion of passionate suffering which holds the germs of instruction is lost in
weakness and defeated resignation. Thus evidence abundantly convincing
places the effigy of St. John in the mosaic of Haghia Sophia as the earliest
embodiment of the type of the twelfth century.
CONCLUSION
The studies in palaeography and of the types found in the Deesis Panel together
give an equal date. Here we have a monument of the early Comnenoi of the
utmost significance both in its functional location and in the nobility of its
execution. The style epitomizes the epoch. As elsewhere throughout the
mosaics of Haghia Sophia, here also the artist shows himself master of monu-
mental architectural painting and, in the constructive use of light, the effulgence
of colour reaches fullness of form. We do not know the name of the artist, nor
is it intended that we know. Byzantine Art is impersonal, free from devisive