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The Wall Paintings in the Chapel of St. John the Theologian in the Kelli of St. Procopios, Mount Athos

Articles

• Τσιγαρίδας, Ευθύμιος
• ΤΣΙΓΑΡΙΔΑΣ, Ευθύμιος Ν.

The subject of this paper is a group of 15th-century wall paintings I was able to identify in the kelli of St. Procopios, a seat of monasticism as far back as the 11th century. The wall paintings are located in the chapel of St. John the Theologian on the exterior of the western wall (Fig. 1). The chapel's interior is decorated with wall paintings from 1537, which have been attributed by M. Chatzidakis to the painter Antonios. The chapel occupies the middle section of a three-part gallery which appears to have been built in the 15th century on top of the three-part narthex of a preexisting 11th-century church which served the devotional needs of the monks. The oldest layer of surviving wall paintings in the chapel of St. John the Theologian is found in two areas. The first area, on the chapel's western wall, contains full-body depictions of St. Procopios (Figs 7,8), St. George (Figs 9,10), the prophet Moses (Fig. 6), and St. Barlaam (Fig. 5). In the second area the Annunciation (Figs 2-3) is portrayed on both sides of the niche above the lintel of the entrance to the chapel, while inside the niche is presented the Crucifixion (Fig. 4). ΓΗΕ CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN KELLI OF ST. PROCOPIOS, ATHOS Iconographically and typologically the wall paintings in the chapel of St. John the Theologian in the kelli of St. Procopios are associated with trends in icon painting from the first Palaeologan period. These trends were later revived in the 15th-century works of the Cretan school and in medieval monuments in Serbia (Resava - Kalenic) that date to the beginning of the 15th century and are associated artistically with Thessaloniki. The high level of artistry in these wall paintings, unique in Macedonia around the first half of the 15th century, combined with the aristocratic nobility and elegance of the figures, the spiritual tranquillity of their faces and the brilliance of the colors all place these wall paintings within the classicizing trends of the late phase of Palaeologan icon painting and confirm that their painter was either from Constantinople or had learned his craft there. On the other hand, technical and stylistic elements seen in Cretan wall paintings and icons locate this monument within the innovative style in Cretan art during the second quarter of the 15th century.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Arts and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4787
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.1205