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Issues of Patmian Iconography in Two Cretan Triptychs in the Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens

Articles

• Κακαβάς, Γιώργος
• ΚΑΚΑΒΑΣ, Γιώργος

Two unpublished triptychs in the collection of the Byzantine and Christian Museum, whose art bears the stamp of the principles of Cretan painting but whose iconography refers to the holy island of Patmos as the possible place of their creation, are examined. 1. The central leaf of the first triptych (T 2857) is decorated by a gilded wood-carved frame, the apex of which is crowned by a large pinecone (Figs 1-3). Depicted in the upper zone are the Virgin Platytera enthroned, flanked by St John the Baptist and St John the Theologian in veneration, and in the lower zone the full-bodied figures of Three Hierarchs. The inside of the side leaves is divided into three registers. Shared between the upper register of both leaves is the scene of the Annunciation; in the middle register of the left leaf are the full-bodied figures of Sts Nicholas and Constantine, and in the lower Sts Panteleemon and Paraskevi; in the middle register of the corresponding right leaf are St Onouphrios and "Our Father Hosios Christodoulos" (OCIOC ΠΑΤΗΡ ΗΜΩΝ XPICTOAOYAOC), and in the lower Sts Barbara and Marina. When the triptych is closed, the lateral leaves are decorated above with the Holy Trinity and below with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The small triptych is of interest for the iconography and composition of its representations. The iconographie type of the enthroned Virgin is the established one in the art of fifteenth-century Cretan icons, the most probable model for which is the despotic icon painted by Andreas Ritzos for the katholikon of the monastery of St John the Theologian on Patmos. The representation of Hosios Christodolous of Latros, founder of the Patmos monastery, is copied to the minutest detail from the monumental figure of the hosios on the bema door in the parekklesion dedicated to him in Patmos, which is dated around 1600. The original composition of the main representation on the triptych can be considered as a singular schema of Deesis, in which the Precursor, left, in the usual position of the Virgin, and the Theologian, right, in the traditional place of the Baptist, intercede to the Christ Child, who now sits in his mother's embrace, instead of to Christ Pantocrator or Great High Priest. The choice of the two homonymous saints in the composition is perhaps not fortuitous but is connected with the name of the dedicator or copied from some disseminated variation of the Deesis. The iconography and style of the painting, together with the wood-carved frame, point to a Cretan workshop and date the triptych to the latter years of the sixteenth century. The iconographie relationship of the triptych with Patmos is obvious, both in the depiction of Hosios Christodoulos holding the church in his hands and that of the Virgin enthroned in a type that has been associated with Patmos. The presence of St John the Theologian, in the expanded central composition of the triptych, could also be considered an indication that the triptych was painted for Patmos. 2. On the central leaf of the second triptych (T 2851) with the integral wooden frame, arched and surrounded by intricately carved decoration, is depicted a variation of the subject of Christ Man of Sorrows (Figs 6, 7, and 10). The lifeless Christ, inside an open sarcophagus, is flanked by the Theotokos left and St John the Theologian right. Depicted on the inside of the left leaf is a winged St John the Baptist, and on the corresponding face of the right leaf, St James the Adelphotheos. When the leaves are closed, the author of the Book of Revelation, St John the Theologian, is shown fullbodied on the left, and Hosios Christodoulos, founder of the Patmos monastery, holding a model of the monastery's katholikon, on the right. Of particular interest is the integral, carved wooden frame of the central leaf, which has one of the most popular and established shapes of sixteenthcentury Cretan triptychs. The representation on the central leaf is an amalgamation of Passion themes, since to the solitary figure of Christ Man of Sorrows are added the figures of the Theotokos and St John, from the Deposition or the Lamentation. The representation of James, son of Joseph from his first marriage and thus "the brother of the Lord", as hierarch and not as apostle, renders visually an old tradition according to which Christ ordained him as first Bishop of Jerusalem. The model for the monumental figure of the Theologian on the outside of the triptych is encountered in fifteenth-century Cretan painting, such as on the bema door in Patmos, which is ascribed to Andreas Ritzos or his workshop. However, the depiction of the Theologian together with the founder of the monastery, Hosios Christodoulos, in the triptych, is close in iconography to the corresponding types of the two saints on the bema doors of the Patmian parekklesion of Hosios Christodoulos, which has been dated around 1600. The art of the triptych places it in the late sixteenth or the early seventeenth century. Iconographie and typological traits link it with Patmian works produced by Cretan artists. The presence of Hosios Christodoulos with the accurate model of the katholikon of the Patmos monastery, as well as of the Theologian himself twice, once on the central leaf as a young man and once on the outside of the side leaf as an old man, suggests that Patmos is the most likely place from which it was commissioned. The Patmian orientation in the choice of iconographie subjects is reinforced by the presence of St James the Less or Adelphotheos, Bishop of Jerusalem, who is constantly depicted in wall-paintings and icons on Patmos, as if belonging to the roll of saints (hagiologion) specifically associated with the island. The combination of these three Patmian themes indicates that triptych was commissioned by a Patmian. The strict choice of the specific saintly figures, hierarchs, ascetics and monks, as well as the meaning of the central representation of Christ Man of Sorrows, which can be paralleled with the humility of the spirit and the body, one of the greatest virtues of monachal life, also prescribe the status of its possessor as a monk or a priest.

• Arts
• History and Archaeology

• Arts and religion

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4153
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.389