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The Dormition of the Virgin in two Cretan Icons from Kos

Articles

• Αχειμάστου - Ποταμιάνου, Μυρτάλη
• ΑΧΕΙΜΑΣΤΟΥ-ΠΟΤΑΜΙΑΝΟΥ, Μυρτάλη

An the episcopal chapel of the Annunciation on the island of Kos, in the Dodecanese, there are two important Cretan icons of the Dormition of the Virgin. They have certain points in common and also certain differences, which make it especially interesting to study the two of them together. Both come from Crete, both depict the same subject, and their dates are not far apart in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In both of these icons the treatment of the subject departs from the usual iconographie type, and each in its own way would appear to be the work of one of the foremost artists of its period. However, the difference in their size indicates that they were intended for different purposes, and their stylistic features suggest that they were painted in different workshops and different artistic milieux, one in Heraklion and the other in Hania: the larger icon is in the style associated with Georgios Klontzas, in Heraklion, while the smaller one appears to be the work of an artist living in Hania, probably the monk Amvrosios Emboros. This paper sets out to examine the icons' stylistic relationships with the work of those two artists. I.The larger icon (116x77,5x3 cm, Figs l-9),which was a Despotic icon on a church iconostasis, has iconographie affinities with paintings attributed to Georgios Klontzas, most noticeably with the Dormition in a triptych belonging to the Greek Institute in Venice, and with an icon in the monastery on Mount Sinai (Fig. 10). Its technical and stylistic features are those of Klontzas, by and large, though with certain differences which prevent its being firmly attributed to him. Georgios Klontzas was one of the best-known painters of his time (1540-1608). More than forty works —illustrated manuscripts, triptychs and icons— bear either his signature or the unmistakable stamp of his personal style. Three of his four sons, Maneas, Nikolos and Loukas, followed in their father's footsteps, but there are no known paintings signed by any of them. Although the Kos icon of the Dormition has close affinities with the work of Georgios Klontzas, it is not a painting that can definitely be acknowledged as coming from his hand. Nevertheless, its excellent workmanship, in combination with all the features that are the main distinguishing marks of Klontzas's style, argue in favour of its attribution to him. And the hypothesis is indirectly supported by the fact that there are no known paintings in the same style bearing the signature of any other major artist from among the dozens of painters who were working in Heraklion at about the same time as Georgios Klontzas. Certain features, such as the modelling of the faces, the strict geometric structure of the composition and the intense, almost harsh, colours of the monochrome angels attendant on the central figure of Christ in glory, when compared with the Sinai Dormition with its almost identical iconography, suggest that this may be a relatively early work by Klontzas. If it is indeed by him, it reveals some distinctive nuances of his style which raise interesting questions as to their interpretation and their place in the oeuvre of this major artist. II. The smaller of the two icons (77x54x3,4 cm, Figs 11-15), which has a dedicatory inscription in the bottom right-hand corner mentioning two nuns named Magdalene and Pelagia, a mother and daughter, was perhaps intended to be placed on an icon-stand or used for some other purpose, probably in a nunnery. The treatment of the subject, with many unusual details, closely follows the story given in the synaxaries. Its iconographie parallel is found in a very large icon of the Dormition in the church of the Hagii Anargyri at Hania, Crete (155x245 cm, Figs 16-18), which is probably by the monk Amvrosios Emboros, whose signature is to be seen on an icon of the Last Judgement in the same church, which is almost exactly the same size and painted in an almost identical style. From the inscription on the icon of the Last Judgement, which informs us that its donor was Niccolò Venier, the Venetian Governor of Canea, the two icons in the church of the Agii Anargyri can be dated to c. 1625. Amvrosios Emboros, a painter of whom little is known, is probably to be identified with the artist-monk Ambrosio Brosini who is mentioned in a document of 1621. Two other signed works of his are known: an icon of the Last Judgement in the public Art Gallery at Fabriano and an icon of St. John the Baptist in a private collection in Athens. A distinctive feature of the iconography in the Dormition icons of Kos and Hania is the presence of a town in the background at the top right, which is probably intended to denote Gethsemane, where the Virgin's funeral took place, and is depicted anachronistically to look like a Cretan town of the time when the icons were painted. The inclusion of the town is usual in Italy, where it is often found in pictures of the Assumption, and it is not uncommon in Cretan painting, but this is its only appearance in an icon of the Dormition. The manneristic composition of this iconographie type is well suited to the Kos icon, which is itself manneristic in style. In the Hania icon, on the other hand, Amvrosios Emboros has deployed the scene horizontally and adopted a more Classical approach in its treatment, which was presumably felt to be more in keeping with the high social status of the person who commissioned it. From this and other evidence it is conjectured that the Kos icon is earlier than the one from Hania, and that it was probably painted between 1600 and 1625. The iconographie type to which it belongs almost certainly originated in Hania —as indicated, moreover, by the fact that after this period it was used only on a limited scale, and mainly in the works of the well-known painter from Hania, Theodoros Poulakis— and probably in an ecclesiastical milieu —as indicated by its close adherence to the synaxary narrative, the inscription with the prayer of the two nuns and the probability that this icon was painted by the monk Amvrosios Emboros. The work of Amvrosios has yet to be studied in detail, and therefore the unsigned Kos icon can hardly be attributed to him with certainty, in spite of its iconographie and stylistic similarities with the Hania icon of the Dormition. Finally, it is worth mentioning that there is a certain stylistic affinity between the work of Amvrosios Emboros and that of Venediktos Emborios, another painter from Hania who lived and worked in Venice in the early decades of the seventeenth century. This general resemblance, combined with factual information derived from documentary records, makes it likely that the two were members of the same family, possibly brothers, who would appear to have studied under the same teacher or worked together in Hania before Venediktos left for Venice.

• Arts
• History and Archaeology

• Art and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4626
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.986