Page 128 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Byzantine Painting through Contemporary Eyes
distinctly alter not its position but its overall mood – especially in the period between 1290 and 1453. As we shall see, analogous changes are also noticeable in the drawing of the relevant compositions.
One of the more particular aims of this study is to demonstrate how the radiant layers of colour of the frescoes at the Monastery of Kalenić in Serbia, manifest a distinct rela- tionship to the magnificent style of frescoes at the church of Perivleptos in Mistra. In our view, the nature of this connection projects a previously disregarded level of significance of the persistence of the hesychast influence in the painting of the last decades of the Byzantine Empire. We note that the connection between the frescoes in Mistra and the frescoes of the last phase of painting in Serbia has previously been briefly observed by David Talbot-Rice, in his book entitled Byzantine Painting: The Last Phase.11 However, as we have already indicated, the hesychast influence in Late Byzantine painting has so far not been examined exclusively as an aesthetic phenomenon – although a number of publications have contributed to a broader understanding of the latter.12 Bearing in mind our previously made emphasis on the importance of the eschatological meaning entailed in the aesthetics of Late Byzantine painting, we shall herein conduct an assessment that can be defined as both aesthetic and theological.
The research and fieldwork undertaken for the present topic has convinced us that in examining the influence of hesychast teaching in Byzantine painting, one should follow an unorthodox line of enquiry. Rather than starting from the frescoes where the phe- nomenon of concern is most evident, in particular, the frescoes of Perivleptos in Mistra, one should begin by observing both the period prior and subsequent to their making – and thereby gradually approach the climax of this influence.13 Of course, this entails having at one’s disposal, good-quality reproductions, or ideally, visiting the relevant monasteries and churches in person. The segment entitled A Concise Historical Overview
11 In particular, Talbot-Rice states: “An approach somewhat similar to that which dominated at Mistra characterises the work of the last phase of painting in Serbia, which had its home in a number of monasteries in the Morava valley. Though the later years of the thirteenth and earlier ones of the fourteenth century, to which period these paintings belong, were by no means happy for Serbia, in that there were constant wars and troubles in face of the Turkish ad- vance into Europe, which steadily progressed after the disastrous defeat of the Serbians at Kosovo in 1389, the art of the age is curiously delicate and tranquil.” For this excerpt see: David Talbot-Rice, Byzantine Painting: The Last Phase (Lon- don: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968), 183.
12 For example see: Dimitris Kalomoirakis, Interpretational comments on the iconographic programme of the Protaton, 197–219. This text is published in Greek: Δημήτρης Καλομοιράκης, «Ἑρμηνευτικές παρατηρήσεις στό εἰκονογραφικό πρόγραμμα τοῦ Πρωτάτου,» ΔΧΑΕ ΙΕ ́ (1989–1990):197–219.
13 It is important to stress that the influence of the hesychast teaching continues to be evident even in Post Byzan- tine Painting. For example, David Talbot-Rice notes that the painting of a certain Anthony, who in 1544 decorated the nave of the old church of the Monastery of Xenophontos (Mount Athos), manifests the influence of the hesychast teaching. See: David Talbot-Rice, Byzantine Painting: The Last Phase (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968), 189.
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