Page 151 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Chapter II
cave – have taken on the character of formal designs of an almost abstract character, and the light seems to emanate from within rather than to be cast from any natural source, so that the picture becomes almost a divine revelation. This is even truer of the scene of the Transfiguration, where the figure of Christ before a mandorla of unusually compli- cated geometric form is both wholly human and at the same time wholly divine.” 70 It could be said that the painters who worked in Perivleptos and Kalenić, expressed the human presence on earth in relation to their spiritual experience of the uncreated light.
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In conclusion, it is plausible to understand the influence of Hesychasm in the last phase of Byzantine painting as manifest in the reinvention of older artistic trends and models, such as those of the Hellenistic era, especially the emphasized classical render- ing of human form. Generally speaking, the frequently made dive into the past by Byz- antine artists, such as that possibly observed in the Fayum aspect of the portraits at Kalenić, is a phenomenon which commonly occurs after or in face of a spiritual or polit- ical crisis, and primarily constitutes an eschatological search for an exalted meaning of human existence. Most importantly, this dive into the past does not yearn for any par- ticular golden era known to history, but seeks the Taborian Light of the transfigured Christ, a light which according to the hesychast teaching is uncreated and eternal.
On the one hand, the hesychast influence in Late Byzantine painting is manifested formally, through the emphasised classical rendering of human form (i.e. Panselinos), as well as through formal symbolism – as seen for example in the mandorla encircling the figure of the transfigured Christ (image 8). On the other, according to our observations and analyses, in Late Byzantine painting, and especially in the frescoes of Perivleptos and Kalenić, there is a distinct understanding of colour as divine light, which most likely owes to the influence of hesychast teaching. This understanding of colour as divine and uncreated light constitutes the immaterial treatment of the material, a treatment which shows that the painters at Perivleptos, and those at Kalenić, have creatively shared the spiritual experience of their contemporaries (monks and artists alike), and therein au- thentically formulated their own vision of man within eternity.
In the following chapters, by virtue of analytical comparisons between examples of Late Byzantine painting and examples of 20th century abstract painting, as well as by virtue of visual demonstrations, we shall aspire to show how the achievement of the Late
70 Ibid., 178–181.
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