Page 38 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Byzantine Painting through Contemporary Eyes
dalene with the Cross (image 9) we observe a distinct similarity not only in the gaze of the eyes but also in the bowing of the heads in reverence: it is almost as if a single person was rendered twice in the same position – but simply in two different periods and in different techniques and styles.
With Constantinople being the main centre of artistic activity, the developments in Byzantine painting of the late 11th and early 12th century eventually led to the formation of a characteristic style, which David Talbot-Rice, in order to avoid the use of the more complicated and difficult word Renaissance, rightly termed the Revival style.13 An inter- ruption occurred with the Crusaders’ conquest of Constantinople in 1204, upon which the artists had to flee to other places of the Byzantine Empire. Thus, due to the move- ment of artists, as well as due to the major commissions outside the empire (mainly in medieval Serbia), by the late 13th century the Revival style of Byzantine painting was ef- fectively universalised. In the following paragraphs we shall follow only a very basic line of the developments which occurred between the late 11th and the late 13th century, so that we can focus on the aesthetic analyses of the representative examples of each distinct phase and compare these to El Greco’s later work.14
We start with the church of Daphni, near Athens, which contains groups of mosaics that were most likely rendered in different periods (roughly in the late 11th century). The monumental character of the scene of Crucifixion at Daphni is subtly complemented by the discreetly expressed emotions of the three portrayed figures (image 10). The lament- ing Mother of God is positioned to the left and holds a stature reminiscent of a colossal ancient sculpture. On the right, the figure of Saint John the Theologian discreetly points with a hand gesture towards the crucified Christ in the middle; whilst standing in a clas- sical contrapposto position, with clothes that, much like the clothes of the mother of God, mimic the rendering of drapery in Classical Greek sculpture. The head of the crucified Christ is bent to His right side while His figure is in the strict centre of the composition. Admittedly, many later Byzantine examples of Crucifixion could be compared much more successfully with El Greco’s rendering of the same theme. Although in terms of style the Crucifixion at Daphni is not very similar to El Greco’s renderings of Crucifix- ion, such as the one shown in image 11, a basic connection can be observed in the iconic frontality to which El Greco adhered throughout his entire development. This significant phenomenon shall be encountered again.
13 David Talbot-Rice, Byzantine Painting: The Last Phase (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968), 31.
14 For a more comprehensive insight into the phases of painting of this period see Talbot-Rice’s chapters, The Twelfth-Century Renaissance in Byzantine Art and Byzantine Painting in the Thirteenth Century, in: David Talbot-Rice, Byzantine Painting: The Last Phase (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968), 9–37, 39–56.
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