153-166

A Cretan Triptych with Scenes of the Dodekaorton

Articles

• Κακαβάς, Γιώργος
• ΚΑΚΑΒΑΣ, Γιώργος

The triptych (max. h. together with integral carved frame0.367 m, overall width 0.485 m), with five scenes from theDodecoarton, belongs to a private collection in Athens. Depicted on the inside are the Nativity, at the centre (Figs 1-2),the Annunciation, on the left leaf (Fig. 1), and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, on the right leaf (Figs 1, 3).On the back of the left leaf is the Baptism (Fig. 3) and of theright the Transfiguration (Fig. 4), which is visible when thetriptych is closed. The central leaf has an integral woodenframe, intricately carved with mainly foliate decoration andsurmounted by a central pine-cone ornament. The iconography of the scenes faithfully reproduces the establishedtypes in Cretan painting with Palaeologan roots, as thesehad been crystallized by painters in Crete in the fifteenthcentury and adopted by their successors in the sixteenth.Outstanding in the work is the artist's miniaturist technique,principal characteristics of which are the balanced compositions, the vivid colours and the meticulous rendering ofdetails, mainly of the landscape. The iconography, the styleand the wood-carved frame of the triptych assign it to aCretan workshop of the second half of the sixteenth century.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Αρχαιολογία
• Arts and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4167
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.300