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Recent evidence regarding the post-byzantine fresco collection in the Byzantine and Christian Museum

• Θεοχαροπούλου,  Ειρήνη

The Byzantine and Christian Museum’s collection of Post-Byzantine frescos includes two groups of detached frescos that had been recorded in one case as coming from the church in Atalanti that was destroyed by earthquake in 1894, and in the other as coming from a church at Delphi; some of them had been specifically connected with the church of the Virgin Mary. Following a thorough investigation of the French School’s photographic archives, it became possible a) to attribute the detached frescos believed to have come from Atalanti to the katholikon of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary and the church of Agios Nikolaos at Delphi, and b) to undertake a full restoration of these two monuments’ iconographie programs.The Monastery of the Koimisis tis Theotokou (Dormition of the Virgin), a metochion (dependency) of the Monastery of Jerusalem at Davleia built atop the ruins of the ancient gymnasium of Delphi, was torn down in 1898 so that the French Archaeological Schoo l could excavate at the site. The most interesting sections of the lavishly-painted katholikon, which was of the complex cross-in-square type and according to inscriptional testimony was built in 1743 and painted in 1751, were transferred to the Byzantine Museum in Athens. Their iconographie program, which generally followed trends in 18th century churches and katholika, is characterized by its tendency towards a freedom of conception frequently observed in the decoration of small monasteries, and reflects common practices by representatives of the Epirote and Cretan schools, recalling comparable examples of monuments in Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia. The uneven quality of execution is probably owing to different hands from the same workshop, and was a custom known from numerous examples of both earlier and contemporary monuments. The eclectic elements of the iconographie program, which as a rule accorded with 16th and 17th century prototypes of the Epirote School and their subjec ts for monastery churches, testify to an ability to combine elements from the iconographie tradition, above all those of northwest Greek workshops, with local idioms, while betraying the limited influence of the Cretan tradition of the large monastic centers. They may be interpreted largely by the movements of local workshops and the use of pattern books. Furthermore, the fact that the wealthy sponsor of the decorative program for the katholikon came from Ioannina cannot be unrelated to these choices. Identifiable western iconographie elements are discreetly confined to secondary subjects, chiefly many-figured compositions, and are fully adapted to the Byzantine character of the decoration. The stylistic and iconographie approach to the monument's wall decoration, which reflects the fruitful union of elements from different traditions together with characteristics of the 16th and 17th century monumental art of the school of mainland Greece, was a good work by experienced icon-painte rs capable of absorbing earlier models and different tendencies. It forms an interesting whole which is not a representative example of any one artistic movement, but rather the product of a competent workshop that belonged within the context of 18th century provincial art.The wall frescos of the church of Agios Nikolaos at Kastri, which had been built on the site of the sacred precinct north of the temple of Apollo, are dated on the basis of a dedicatory inscription to 1721. The frescos decorating the church’s walls show a stylistic and iconographie vision comparable to that in the katholikon of the Monastery of the Panagia, with which it appears to have adopted common models. In the case of Agios Nikolaos, however, these were expressed through a more popular idiom. Despite the obvious artistic connection between the two series of frescos, in the scenes from Agios Nikolaos one observes an emphasis on the Passion cycle and a host of secondary figures crammed together in crowded sc enes, to which are added a fair number of individual episodes and picturesque details. The coupling of elements from the older tradition with new approaches led to the creation of a folk style in the rendering of figures and to an expressive dynamism, thus creating a work of provincial character that belongs within the framework of a local idiom and reflects the spirit of 18th century folk painting.In the summer of 2007, small fragments of painted plaster located in the storerooms of the Byzantine and Christian Museum were attributed by the undersigned to the cross-vaulted church of Palaiopanagia in Steni, Euboea. More specifically, they were identified with the figure of the military Agios Georgios (St. George) from the chorus of military saints in the lower zone on the north wall. At the same time, their stylistic resemblance to fragments from two other frescos long in the Museum’s storerooms (recorded as coming from the Nea Makri area) was ascertained. These were the heads of t wo male figures that also belonged to the Eu- boean monument. One, a youthful bearded male within a medallion, preserves traces of an inscription and is identified as Agios Gymnasios (St. Gymnasius), from the series of medallions in the middle zone on the side wall. The second depicts a bowing hierarch and comes from the easternmost end of the south wall.The fresco decoration of Palaiopanagia has been dated by different scholars to sometime between the late 15th and mid- 16th century, and a relation between it and the work of Katelanos and the so-called Theban School has been claimed. The particular iconographie and stylistic features of the fresco decoration make a date in the first half of the 16th century more probable, although only detailed research and publication of the whole of the decoration from this important monument will lay to rest questions regarding its exact date.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Archaeology and religion
• Architecture and religion

Στον αείμνηστο Δ. Κωνστάντιο, τον πρόωρα εκλιπόντα διευθυντή του Βυζαντινού και Χριστιανικού Μουσείου, που με υποδέχθηκε εγκάρδια στο Μουσείο και μου εμπιστεύθηκε εξ αρχής την ευθύνη της επιμέλειας της Συλλογής των Τοιχογραφιών, οφείλω ευγνωμοσύνη. Ο ίδιος μου παρεχώρησε ασμένως την άδεια μελέτης και δημοσίευσης των τοιχογραφιών των ναών των Δελφών και της Παλαιοπαναγιάς στη Στενή, που ανήκουν στη Συλλογή του Βυζαντινού και Χριστιανικού Μουσείου. Στη μνήμη του αφιερώνεται αυτή η μελέτη., Περιέχει εικόνες, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες