Page 66 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Byzantine Painting through Contemporary Eyes
In spite of the fact that the existing relevant literature does partly address the issues related to style of Post Byzantine painting, so far, scholars have not been able to surpass the predominately archaeological and historical approach to Post Byzantine painting and thus see it as art in its own right. Also, if one aspires to understand El Greco, one must approach the painting of the Post Byzantine period as contemporaneous with El Greco – in a sense that in El Greco’s experience it was precisely that. Therefore, in the second of the two remaining sections of this chapter, we shall aim to provide a particular perspective on the painting of the most significant Byzantine painter of the Post Byzan- tine period, Theophanes the Cretan: a perspective which in part helps in developing an understanding of the person and achievement of El Greco.
I
In the following pages, we shall outline the basic aesthetic developments in Post Byz- antine Painting. Firstly, before discussing facts relating to its aesthetics, we must ac- knowledge that all separate phases of Post Byzantine Painting should collectively be understood as Orthodox art under foreign oppression – Latin and Ottoman.65 In these phases we observe not only distinct foreign influences, but primarily a reinvention of aesthetics of the previous period (13th–15th century).
At its best, although directly inspired by previous achievements of Byzantine paint- ing, the painting of the Post Byzantine period represents a distinct aesthetic category worthy of special attention. In the second half of the 15th century it was a creativity in search of survival, whereas in the 16th century it became a humble, truthful and rather contemplative revival of everything that Byzantine painting achieved in the period from the 13th to the 15th century. In this revival, the most important role was played by the 16th century painter Theophanes the Cretan, for whom Zacharias Papantoniou so fittingly says: “Theophanes re-contemplated Byzantine Art.”66
65 After the fall of Constantinople, the Ottoman conquest expanded into Asia Minor and Europe. The last free Ser- bian state known as the despotate of Morava was defeated in 1459, the despotate of Morea in Greece was claimed in 1460. In 1458 Athens was conquered whereas Trebizond (Trapezounta) was conquered in 1461. Albania was conquered after 1468. The Venetian held towns and territories of the Aegean and the Adriatic also fell into Ottoman hands. Lesvos was conquered in1462, Evia in 1470 and Samos in 1475. The strongholds of Peloponnese were defeated in 1500 (as well as Naupaktos, Methoni and Koroni). Montenegro was defeated in 1499.
66 Our translation. The original excerpt in Greek reads as follows: «Ο Θεοφάνης ξανασκέφθηκε τη βυζαντινή τέ- χνη.» See: Ζαχαρίας Παπαντωνίου, Η Ζωγραφική στο Άγιον Όρος. Ανάτυπο από: Άγιον Όρος: Άθως, Ιστορία, Τέχνη, Παράδοση. Πρόλογος-Επιμέλεια: I.M. Χατζηφώτης (Εκδόσεις Παπαδήμα, 1996), 48.
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