Εικόνα του αγίου Γεωργίου στο Βυζαντινό Μουσείο Αθηνών αποδιδόμενη στον Γεώργιο Κλόντζα
Part of : Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας ; Vol.40, 2001, pages 77-86
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Pages:
77-86
Parallel Title:
An Icon of St George in the Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attributed to Georgios Klontzas
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Articles
Abstract:
Icon Τ 234 (0.485 x 0.79 m. Figs 1,3-10) was acquired by theByzantine Museum in 1916. M. Chatzidakis was the first topoint out its close affinity to the technique of the importantCretan painter, scribe and miniaturist of codices, GeorgiosKlontzas (1530/40-1608). The pictorial treatment of thesubject is unique among the host of known representationsof St George the Dragon-slayer. It should be noted thatincluded among these is a sixteenth-century Greek icon (Y.Petsopoulos (ed.), East Christian Art, Exhibition Catalogue,London 1987, no. 49, fig. on p. 61) which, because of an erroneous reading of the dedicatory inscription (...Y ETOYC,ί^ΜΘ instead of: TOY ETOYC ΖΜΘ) was dated to 1441instead of the correct 1540/41.Among the fifty or so known works by Georgios Klontzas-icons, triptychs and illuminated manuscripts- signed orattributed, is a signed icon of St George the Dragon-slayer,in the Benaki Museum, Athens (Fig. 2). Obviously fromanother period in the painter's career and with a quitedifferent negotiation of the subject, it can be ascribed to thecircle of his relatively earlier works. The attribution of theByzantine Museum icon to Klontzas is validated by theelements of style and the strong correspondence betweenthe figure of St George, and of the dragon too, even in thedetails, in the two works. Further common traits, familiar inKlontzas's art, are the imaginative disposition of narration,the opulent decorative elements, the penchant for andprecision of detail, the kind and treatment of Westernborrowings, and the extravagant range in the scale of figuresize, which contributes to their perspective structure. TheByzantine Museum icon, calmer in its chromatic harmony,close in impression to the signed triptych in Patmos, with arich plot and unified narrative, and rendered with sobreplasticity, could be dated to the last quarter of the 16thcentury; its individual elements also corroborate this.In the Byzantine Museum icon the painter focuses on thetriumph of the saint slaying the dragon, rare in bothByzantine and Western art, which is performed in thecentral square of a contemporary fortified town, with officialRenaissance buildings at the sides and merged with thewatery place in front, where the miracle occurs. On theterrace of the palace, left, king Selbios and the queen offerGeorge the crown and the keys to the city, respectively, andthe saint blesses them. On flat roofs, balconies and inwindows with hanging carpets, nobles, soldiers and common-folk, as well as a tight-packed army in the background,exalt the saint. Close to him, right, is the gentle princess inelegant, fashionable Venetian attire that alludes to paintings by Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto, and beyondare three maidens sitting with pitchers. Among other elements, the features of the buildings, which characterizeabove all the icon's inventive composition -many not unfamiliar from the contemporary architecture of Venetianheld Crete- are common in works by Klontzas, particularlyin his codex miniatures.In the second half of the sixteenth century importantpainters of Candia (mod. Herakleion), Georgios Klontzas,Michael Damaskenos and the slightly younger DomenikosTheotokopoulos in his Cretan period until 1567, cultivatedanew and with verve the close artistic ties with the West,which had experienced a marked recession on the islandshortly after 1500. This phenomenon is consistent with theclimate of the Renaissance, which is marked by the flourishing of art and letters in a province of the Serenissima, such asCrete. This icon attributed to Georgios Klontzas is a significant example of the overtly open attitude to Western, andespecially Venetian, painting. Although not alienated fromthe traditional Cretan type of the Dragon-slaying, the painter proceeds to an almost total secularization of the subject,as in a Western painting, in a manner that would certainlyarouse the admiration of the island's Veneto-Cretan nobility, which was delighted by struggles and valiant feats. Theiconographie negotiation certainly deprives the ambitiouswork of the religious character, in the narrow sense, deemedappropriate to an icon of the Orthodox Church and indeedone exposed to veneration. It is quite possible that the Byzantine Museum icon was intended to serve a different purpose, perhaps as a collector's piece or to adorn a public building. The question of purpose has already been raised, on account of the nature of the subject, for other icons attributedto Georgios Klontzas.
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