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An Icon of Panagia Glycophylousa from Kephalonia in the Byzantine Museum, Athens

Articles

• Κατσελάκη, Ανδρομάχη
• ΚΑΤΣΕΛΑΚΗ, Ανδρομάχη

Icon Τ 2724 (73x65 cm) has a double frame, and waspurchased in 1992 from the family of Gerasimos Psemenatosfrom Kephalonia (Fig. 1). During restoration at the Byzantine Museum's laboratories, Ms. Vivi Galakou uncovered athree-line dedicatory inscription (Fig. 3) in the lower part ofthe icon and a male figure in the lower right-hand corner.The icon depicts the iconographie type of the Virgin Glykophilousa on gold ground, tenderly embracing the infantChrist and deeply bowing her head down towards him (Fig.1). The Virgin is wearing a dark blue maphorion and a russet-colored mantle with a whitish lining. The robust childwith plump cheeks and curly hair is wearing a gold shirt. Inthe lower right-hand corner, next to the inscription, a youngman is depicted on his knees in a posture of prayer; he iswearing aristocratic, western-style attire (Fig. 2).According to the inscription, Vernardos Aninos died tragically when he was suddenly struck by lightning on January24, 1723. The event took place in Vernardos' house in thevillage of Komitata on Kephalonia. The Aninos family wasone of the island's prominent families and had been mentioned in the Libro d'Oro, where information about Vernardos can be found.The icon depicts the Virgin, Glykophilousa type, as found ina Stephanos Tzankarolas icon in the Holy Monastery ofSisia in Kephalonia (Fig. 4). This composition was not anoriginal conception of Tzankarolas, but imitated a typewhich had been created in Italy in the workshops of greatpainters such as Raphael and Titian (Fig. 5).This western type of Glykophilousa had a wide distributionin Kephalonia, as is indicated by the six icons with the sametheme which are located in the island's churches and all datein the 18th century (Fig. 6). Especially interesting amongthem is the icon from Same, which clearly copies an oldericon of the Virgin Glykophilousa theme. Sebastian Venier,the admiral of the Venetian fleet at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, dedicated this icon to the monastery of Phanenton, Kephalonia, in memory of the Christian victory.Since all the Virgin Glykophilousa-type icons that are foundin Kephalonia have the same dimensions, we can postulatethat they all descent from a common drawing (anthivolon)that existed in Kephalonia at the beginning of the 18th century, possibly a product of the Tzankarolas' workshop.Executed in the style of Raphael, this original emphasizedthe human character of the figures and was most often usedas a model for dedicatory icons, since nearly all of the surviving icons bear dedicatory inscriptions. The most importantstylistic features of the Byzantine Museum's icon, such as therenaissance quality in the modelling of the figures, the finelydrawn features, and the precision and consistency of thedrawing, all persuade us to associate this icon with the circleof painters around Stephanos Tzankarolas, in particularwith his student from Kephalonia, Andreas Karantinos.The icon's owner states that the icon was a family heirloombelonging to his mother's side, the Vikatos family, whooriginate from the Castro, the old capital of the island.Members of the Aninos family can also be placed in theCastro in the 18th century. Although we cannot say when,the icon probably passed into the hands of the Vikatosfamily through a marriage with a member of the Aninosfamily. This view is confirmed by an old photograph in theByzantine Museum's collection (Fig. 7) which was taken byYorgios Lambakis at the beginning of the present century inthe area of Argostoli, near the Castro.This icon from the Byzantine Museum's collection is ofspecial interest, not only because it provides us with anadditional important work from the workshop of AndreasKarantinos, but also because it offers valuable informationabout Kephalonian society at the beginning of the 18th century and the influence exerted by the Italian Renaissance in the Ionian region.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Arts and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4806
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.1224