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The Wall Paintings of Three Churches in the Despotate of the Morea : The Work of a Single Workshop?

Articles

• Δεληγιάννη - Δωρή, Ελένη
• ΔΕΛΗΓΙΑΝΝΗ-ΔΩΡΗ, Ελένη

his article compares the frescoes of three churches in theDespotate of the Morea: the church of the Panagia (1400)in Vrestena, which was the seat of the bishop; the church ofSt. Nicholas (ca 1300) in Agoriani; and the church of theTaxiarches (ca 1400) in Agriakona. The striking similaritiesin iconography, style and technique between the wall paintings in these monuments lead to the conclusion that theymust have been executed by the same workshop or bypainters who, although from different workshops, shared acommon background of artistic training. The donor's inscription in the church of St. Nicholas in Agoriani, whosedate has worn away, provides the only surviving painter'sname, Kyriakos Frankopoulos, a painter who is not mentioned in connection with any other church decoration.Of the three monuments, the church of the Panagia inVrestena ranks highest in the church hierarchy and is theonly one which can be dated with some certainty. Based oniconography and style, the wall paintings date to 1400, andthis date is supported by a piece of historical evidence.Nikon, the bishop whose name appears in the donor's inscription, can be identified with the Bishop of Vrestena,whom the sources mention at the beginning of the 15thcentury in the oldest reference to this diocese. Despite theindisputable similarities between the three monuments, thelarge time gap of about one hundred years which separatesthe wall paintings in Agoriani, ca 1300, from those in thetwo churches in Agriakona and Vrestena, both ca 1400,creates a certain difficulty. There are, however, two ways inwhich this difficulty can be overcome. The first would be toassign a new date to the wall paintings in Agoriani, onewhich would place them closer to the wall paintings in theother two churches, i.e. about the middle of the 14thcentury; the decoration of the three churches would thusfall within the chronological limits of the activities of asingle workshop. The other solution would be to assumethat the unknown painters of Agriakona and Vrestena musthave been trained in their craft at the Kyriakos Frankopoulos workshop or at the workshop of his students and thatthey continued the tradition of the painter of Agoriani downto the year 1400.Kyriakos Frankopoulos and his students were undoubtedlylocal painters who learned and practised their craft withinthe Despotate of the Morea. The large number of smallchurches in this region with wall paintings from the middleof the 14th century to 1460 suggests that there was a considerable amount of work which employed and supportedthe workshops of the local painters, whose number includedKyriakos Frankopoulos and his students.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Arts and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4788
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.1206