173-188

The Icon of the Life of Joseph by the Painter Neilos and its Western Sources

Articles

• Άσπρα-Βαρδαβάκη, Μαρία
• ΑΣΠΡΑ-ΒΑΡΔΑΒΑΚΗ, Μαίρη

The icon (1.01 x 0.90 m), an important one of its type, bears the signature of the painter and the date of its execution: 'Hand of Neilos A Kokolitzas in the year 1642'. It is in the Museum of the Gonia Monastery, in the district of Kissamos, Crete. Represented are the principal events in the life of Joseph, as narrated in the Old Testament (Genesis 37- 50), arranged in four zones with an unequal number of episodes in each, following the chronological sequence and in boustrophedonic development. The cycle begins just after the right edge of the upper row. Depicted are Joseph's dreams, his meeting with his brothers in Dothan, the stripping of his tunic, its removal from the pit in which he had been cast, his sale to the Ishmaelite merchants and then to the pharaoh's captain, Potiphar, the announcement of his loss to Jacob - depicted out of sequence in the top right corner of the icon -, the attempted seduction by Potiphar's wife, his slander and imprisonment, the pharaoh's dreams and their interpretation, the searching of his brothers for the theft of his gold cup, his embrace with Benjamin, the return of his brothers and Benjamin to their father's house, Joseph's magnificent meeting with his father in the land of Ramses, Joseph's oath to his father that he would bury him in the land of Canaan, Jacob's blessing of Joseph's two children, the carrying of Jacob's corpse and the burial. The romantic story of Joseph, a purely symbolic subject, although known in art from the late 5th century, was of limited dissemination in monumental painting and very rare in portable icons. The only known examples of the latter are by Theodoros Poulakis, shared in the collections of Giulio Sterbini in Rome and Cleopatra Kaftantzoglou in Athens, and this icon by Neilos. It should be noted that the two painters were contemporaries, although Neilos was slightly older, and hailed from Chania in Crete. Three illuminated manuscripts are also known from the Postbyzantine period, while in the earlier painting of Crete the subject is totally unknown. Iconographie analysis of the Life of Joseph in the icons by Neilos and Poulakis showed that both painters not only consulted the same sources, which are mainly the engravings by Jean Sadeler, but also coincide in the choice of specific persons from these. This fact could be explained either within the context of a common collaboration, that is they belong to the same workshop, or that the work of one preceded and influenced to a degree the work of the other. We tend to believe the second alternative, namely that Poulakis's icon was earlier, given that this painter, in contrast to Neilos, was not in the habit of making significant changes to the models he used, particularly in the works of his youth. In contrast, from the stylistic analysis of the icon in question, Neilos emerges as an eclectic painter with considerable ability in synthesis and assimilation. In his icon a host of refined figures in carefully drawn costumes, hats and ornate weapons, move gently and easily, both in the idyllic natural landscape and inside the buildings with their vaulted, pillared rooms and luxurious apartments. The weather-beaten shepherds of the engravings by Jean Sadeler and the icons by Poulakis have been transformed here into wealthy burghers with noble countenances, the models for which are usually encountered in the creations of Michael Damaskenos. The year 1642, when the icon by Neilos was painted, can be considered a terminus ante quern for the relevant undated work by Poulakis, while it also designates the place where it was painted, that is Chania in Crete.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Arts and religion
• Ιστορία

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4311
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.558