Λέξεις κλειδιά: Μεσοβυζαντινή περίοδος; υστεροβυζαντινή περίοδος; ανάγλυφες εικόνες σε ξύλο; εικονογραφία; άγιος Γεώργιος; άγιος Δημήτριος; Καστοριά.
Keywords: Middle Byzantine Period, Late Byzantine Period, Relief Icons on Wood, Iconography, Painting, Art, St George, St Demetrios, Kastoria
Στο άρθρο αυτό δημοσιεύονται έξι ανάγλυφες εικόνες, οι οποίες προέρχονται από την Καστοριά ή βρίσκονται σε ναούς γειτονικών οικισμών με την πόλη. Οι εικόνες αυτές, οι οποίες χρονολογούνται στο δεύτερο μισό του 13ου και του 15ου αιώνα, αποτελούν ένα μοναδικό σύνολο ανάγλυφων εικόνων σε ξύλο που συνδέεται με μία βυζαντινή πόλη.
Tsigaridas Euthymius, Carven Wooden Icons from Kastoria and its environs
In Upper Macedonia, Byzantine relief icons carved on wood occur in Kastoria and its environs and in Ohrid. Six such icons are associated with the city of Kastoria and its surrounding area. Of these, one comes from a church in Kastoria, and the rest are found in or come from churches in nearby villages; one of these, from a church in Nestorion, has been lost. It should be noted that only one such icon, depicting St. Clement, comes from Ohrid, which is the seat of the diocese to which Kastoria belongs.
Of the surviving icons from Kastoria, two date from the second half of the 13th century and the other three from the second half of the 15th. The tradition of carved wooden icons in Kastoria and its environs was thus an artistic phenomenon of limited duration, which did not continue into the 16th, 17th or 18th century.
From the iconographic point of view, the wooden relief icons from Kastoria, which are single full-length figures of St. George and St. Demetrios, depict only military saints.
Considered from the technical aspect, in the earlier icons the relief is in some cases low, with soft curves, as in the case of the icon of St. George in the Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens (Fig. 4), and elsewhere so high as to create a sense of sculpture in the round, as in the case of the icon of St. George from Omorfokklissia (Fig. 1). In both these icons, the volume of the body and the face, the facial features and the garments are rendered sculpturally. Indeed, the impression of sculpturality achieved in the Omorfokklissia icon of St. George is unique in Byzantine art. The Byzantine artist did not, however, make the leap that distinguishes Russian icons of the 14th century, which are indeed fully sculptural images in wood, but adhered to the form and flat surface of the portable icon from which the carved figure of the saint stands out.
In the 15th-century icons (Figs 9, 12, 13), by contrast, there is much less high relief. The carved surface of the saint depicted emerges from the panel by excision of background material, but remains flat and fairly low (3 cm), without incised or raised anatomical details, while in the depiction of the figure the artist confines himself to a painter’s rendition: thus, while the figure of the saint is raised, the exclusive use of egg tempera in the portraiture shows that the artistic connection with the Eastern Orthodox Church portable icon that had been disturbed by the Omorfokklissia icon of St. George had been restored in the relief icons of the 15th century.
There can be no doubt that the artistic trends governing the making of relief icons in wood or marble originated in Constantinople and spread to the provinces. It is thus quite possible that in the years of the Despotate Arta was a centre for the production of wood or marble relief icons, as were most probably Kastoria and Ohrid as well.
In the three 15th-century low-relief icons (Figs 9, 12, 13) from villages in the Kastoria district, by contrast, there is no recognisable Western influence. They have, however, been shown to be products of Kastorian workshops flourishing in the second half of the 15th century. This is confirmed by the painting of the icon of St Demetrios from the church of Aghios Georgios in Omorfokklissia (Fig. 9), which is representative of the Kastorian School of the last quarter of the 15th century.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου