Μια μεταβυζαντινή εικόνα με παράσταση του αγίου Δημητρίου στο Βυζαντινό Μουσείο
Part of : Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας ; Vol.31, 1988, pages 113-124
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Pages:
113-124
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A Post-byzantine Icon of St. Demetrios in the Byzantine Museum
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Articles
Abstract:
This icon of St. Demetrios comes from the church ofthe Hypapanti (the Presentation in the Temple) inThessaloniki. It is a panel 95x69 cm in size, made fromone piece of wood. The integral frame is decorated witha gilded foliate ornamentation in relief. The iconoccupies the left-hand intercolumnar space reserved forthe Despotic icons on the post-Byzantine iconostasis inthe new room of the Byzantine Museum's west wing.St. Demetrios is portrayed in a frontal pose, down tojust below the waist. He has his lance in his right hand,his sword (held by the hilt) and his scabbard in the left.He is wearing a sleeved tunic, a chain-mail corslet oflozenge-shaped links and a splendid mantle which isfastened with a large knot on his chest. There is a small,round, gilt relief medallion of Christ at the point ofintersection of the metal straps of his corslet. His helmetand small round shield are slung from his shoulders. Hehas a diadem on his head, which is surrounded by agilded halo in relief, with floral ornamentation. The redmajuscule inscription reads: Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ.The icon, which is in a very good state of preservation,was once overpainted. On being cleaned in 1969 it wasfound that the original paint was slightly damaged insome relatively unimportant areas. Further restorationwork was done in 1981.The saint's body is disproportionately thin below thecorslet. His head is rather small and his neck elongated.His face is a perfect oval, his nose long and thin, his eyesrelatively large, his mouth small with fleshy lips. Hishair is arranged in regular rows of curls, giving him anextremely well-groomed appearance. The icon is clearlyinfluenced by Palaeologan models that lean heavilytowards the ancient tradition, as illustrated, for example,in the masks adorning the helmet and shield. Anotherpeculiarity is that the figure is cut off just below thewaist, which is rare in icons of military saints paintedbefore the fall of Constantinople. Certain features, suchas the gilded relief halo and the inlaid relief medallion ofChrist on the corslet, are common to a large group ofsixteenth-century wall-paintings associated with the socalled Epirot School, which exerted a wide influence inthe areas roundjabout. |The most important artists of theEpirot School whose names are known are FrangosKatelanos and the brothers Georgios and FrangosKontaris from Thebes.The figure of St. Demetrios shows iconographie andstylistic affinities with the wall-paintings in the catholicon and narthex of the Philanthropinon Monastery(1542) on the lake island of Yannina, and even morenoticeably with those in the catholicon of VarlaamMonastery (1548), Meteora, and in Zavorda Monastery,near Grevena. These resemblances make it possible fora fairly precise date to be assigned to the icon. Inparticular, the similarity of the decorative motifs on thishalo and the one round Christ's head in the narthexvault of the Philanthropinon Monastery indicate that itwas probably painted between 1542 and 1548. Moreover, the similarities with the signed frescoes of FrangosKatelanos in the chapel of St. Nicholas in the GreatLavra and other wall-paintings attributed to him lendstrong support to the hypothesis that this icon is also byhim. If so, it is the only portable painting by FrangosKatelanos that is known so far.
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