Técnicas e Instrumentos para la Recolección de Datos

The decoration of the four naves consists of scenes from the New Testament and images of various saints. In all the naves, the wall paintings are organized in registers in accordance with Byzantine church tradition.¹⁸⁰ In this tradition, the registers display a theological hierarchy, with images of Christ and the

178 Private communications and interviews with Prof. Prashkov between 2004 and 2006.

179 R. Meyer, The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques, (Chatham, 1991, first edition 1951), p. 373.

180 Manova, Bulgarska Stenopis XVI –XVII vek, pp. 54-65; Philov, Starobulgarsko Izkustvo, pp. 85-104; Arch. Avksenii, Liturgica, pp. 77-81.

Mother of God occupying the upper registers and the minor saints the lower register.¹⁸¹ In the centre of the ceiling of the main body of each nave the images are associated with the high heavens: Christ, God the Father, the Holy Trinity and the heavenly host. The register below is devoted to Christological and Mariological cycles. The Christological cycle is found on the north wall and the Mariological cycle on the south wall, as is the case in the nave of the Church of the Nativity. In the churches of the Archangels and of St Atanass the order ap-pears the other way round, the Christological cycle unfolding on the south wall while the Mariological cycle is depicted on the north wall. Both cycles have been destroyed in the church of St Dimitr.

In each church there are two additional images depicting the life of Mary, one on the west and the other on the east wall. In the semi-dome of the apse in the east wall of all the naves is the Mother of God Platytera (Πλατυτέρα). In the Platytera type of image, Mary, with her arms raised in prayer, faces the behold-er. Christ is depicted on her breast in a mandorla (aureole).¹⁸² On the west wall, in the space between the ceiling and the head of the doorway, the scene of the Dormition (falling asleep) of the Mother of God is in the first register. In all the churches, the scene depicts the Mother of God on her deathbed, surrounded by the apostles and angels and with Christ holding her soul.

The final lower register on the north and south walls consists of full-size depic-tions of saints. After the fall of Constantinople, but especially after the fifteenth century, when the Ottomans expanded their presence on the Balkans, a gallery

181 This is the direction in which the registers are counted. The first register is immediately after the ceiling and there are usually two or three further registers below the first. Prashkov, Ste-nopisi vTzurkvata Roždestvo, pp. 63-73.

182 This is a popular type of icon in which the Mother of God is depicted with her arms out-stretched and on the front of her chest is a medallion shape bearing the image of the Christ-Child . For a more extensive introduction to the iconographic type, elaborating on the theology behind it, see L. Ouspensky, ‘Our Lady of the Sign’ in L. Ouspensky and V. Lossky, The Mean-ing of Icons (Crestwood, New York, 1999, first edition 1952 in German), pp. 77-78.

of warrior saints and martyrs in the first register became the expected pattern for church decoration. This was not only throughout the present Bulgarian terri-tory, but also in church decoration throughout the present territories of Greece, Serbia and Macedonia. Ultimately the iconographic type originated in Byzan-tine art. The warrior saints and martyrs became popular in the ninth to tenth centuries, being well-liked amongst the military elite and the army in general.

In Bulgarian mediaeval ecclesiastical art the images were popular from the twelfth century. After the Ottoman invasion, belonging to a particular religious denomination replaced the sense of national or even ethnic identity, which con-sequently led to an implied assumption that any Christian warrior was both a martyr for the Christian faith and ultimately a defender of the hypothetical Fa-therland.

For example, amongst the Balkan saints and martyrs depicted in both churches are St Demetrious of Thessalonica and St Govdelii, associated with Crete. St Triphon and St George of Sofia were Bulgarian martyrs for the faith in the early stages of the Ottoman occupation. Others are saints and martyrs venerated throughout the Orthodox world, as for example St George the Victorious, St Minas or St Procopious of Jerusalem. In both naves they were depicted as full figure warriors either in full armour, or in tunics and cloaks but with the equipment of warriors - swords or spears - but very often also carrying a cross.

Traditionally, since Byzantine times, on the west wall, to the left of the entrance door, is a full-figure image of the Archangel Michael, the commander of the heavenly host. To the right of the doorway there is invariably the scene of the Emperor Constantine of Byzantium and his mother Helena. In all four church-es, they are represented holding the cross. The space between the bottom of this last register and the floor, a distance of about a metre and a half, is either fitted

with a row of tall seventeenth century chairs for use by the congregation or is occupied by a lower band of geometric patterns (Figures 13-16).¹⁸³

This survey indicates that the main subject in each register is similar in every Arbanassi nave, while the overall organisation of the decoration is akin to that in the Byzantine tradition. There is a general tendency to allow for a more com-prehensive selection of scenes in a cycle than is found in Bulgarian churches from the period before the Ottoman invasion. The cycle of the passion of Christ in the Church of St Atanass is the most extreme example of these practices.

Here the number of the scenes is such that the cycle is accommodated over one and a half registers.

There are also variations between the churches, pertaining to the choice of the scene representing a certain part of a biblical story in the individual churches.

For example, in the cycle of the passion of Christ, the scene of Christ on the cross appears in two of the churches; St Atanass and the Archangels. In the Church of the Nativity, the scene of the road to Golgotha replaces that scene.

Even in a familiar composition referring to a specific event, such as the scene of the Dormition, the compositional arrangement in each nave differs to a greater or lesser extent. The discrepancies, however, are in the detail, such as the num-ber of the saintly figures around Mary’s bed, their garments, additional personages or some other minor compositional elements. Thus it can be con-cluded that the freedom of interpretation as displayed by the Arbanassi decoration is of an ancillary nature as, in all these cases, the enumerated permu-tations of the nave decoration do not compromise the biblical teaching in any way, but only enhance the didactic qualities of the decoration.

183 In the Church of St Dimitr the seats are not preserved, but the presumption is that there had been a row of them all around the chamber as in the other churches, Vatchev, ‘Enoriiskiat hram v Turnovskata Mitropolia’, p. 202.

In fact Bulgarian research since the 1930s maintained that the increase of the in-structive merits of the decorative programmes used in Bulgarian churches appears to be a characteristic development in the first centuries of the post-Byzantine tradition.¹⁸⁴ Scholars concluded that the particularly descriptive qual-ities of the Arbanassi decoration indicated the high significance placed by the seventeenth century Church and society on the Christian narrative. The con-quest was considered to be the key factor in the conscious preservation of the Byzantine iconographic tradition through the post-Byzantine era and particu-larly in the first few centuries.¹⁸⁵ In a broader sense, the demonstrated stability of form was linked to the struggle of the Church to safeguard Orthodox Chris-tian identity under Ottoman rule where the nature of the religion of the conqueror was antagonistic.¹⁸⁶

However, the conscious preservation of the Byzantine iconographic tradition in the first centuries of the post-Byzantine era was not simply in opposition to the

184 B. Philov, ‘Znachenie na Atonskite manastiri za Bulgarskata tžurkovna živopis’, Otetž Paisii:

onshtestveno-kulturno-politichesko spisanie, No. 9, (1930), pp. 125-127; Prashkov, ‘Razvitie i raz-prostranenie na ikonata v Bulgaria’, pp. 112-117; Prashkov, Stenopisi vTzurkvata Roždestvo, pp.

93, 95, 102; Manova, Bulgarska Stenopis XVI –XVII vek, pp. 54-56; Rutževa, ‘Ikonographska i stilova arakteristika na stenopisnija ansamble‘, pp. 38-43; Mitjaev, Kr., ‚Dekorativnata sistema na Bulgarskite stenopisi‛, Sbornik v Chest na V. Zlatarov, No. 49, (1973), pp. 135-149; Gerov, G., An Iconographical Theme from Mount Athos and its Spread in the Bulgarian Lands: the miracle of the archangels at Docheiario, (Thessalonica, 1987).

185 B. Philov, ‘Znachenie na Atonskite manastiri za Bulgarskata tžurkovna živopis’, Otetž Paisii:

onshtestveno-kulturno-politichesko spisanie, No. 9, (1930), pp. 125-127; Prashkov, ‘Razvitie i raz-prostranenie na ikonata v Bulgaria’, pp. 112-117; Gerov, G., An Iconographical Theme from Mount Athos and its Spread in the Bulgarian Lands: the miracle of the archangels at Docheiario, (Thessalonica, 1987).

186 After the invasion, for the non-Muslim minorities, belonging to a particular communion re-placed the notion of belonging to a state. Hence, in the post-Byzantine era, temporal references were made to the high officials of the Church, in a way that parallels the time-frame provided by the reigns of various emperors or by the duration of the imperial houses, as in Byzantine times. For example, there is an inscription stating that the decoration in the outer narthex of the Church of the Nativity was executed in the days of Partenious, Patriarch of Constantinople, while the decoration of the nave of the Church of St Atanass was referenced by the name of the Turnovo Metropolitan Gerasim II Kakavelas (1658-1673). Another sign identifies the paintings as from 1643.

Ottomans, but was also a response to the assimilation policy of the Western Church. The Council of Florence, in 1439, had agreed the reunification of the Latin and Orthodox Christians in exchange for the West guaranteeing the pro-tection of Byzantium.¹⁸⁷ Nevertheless, in reality, the anti-Western lobby in the Eastern Orthodox Church, which included many Athonites, prevailed, and the treaty was not implemented.¹⁸⁸ However, there is evidence that the Roman Catholic Church embarked on missionary work amongst Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Balkans.¹⁸⁹ This intensified during the sixteenth century. In ad-dition, as interaction and trade with the West increased during and after the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1522-1560), examples of Western religious art were imported by Christian merchants. Western artefacts such as lamps, icons and prints began to appear even on Athos.

Western stylistic influences became increasingly discernible in some interiors of significance to the Eastern Church. For example, a Cretan painter who signed himself Theophanes Painter worked in St Nicholas Anapausa (1527) in Meteora.

There, in his representation of the Last Judgement, the anatomy of the nude

187 F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford, 1997).

188 From its establishment, Athos was regarded as one of the greatest strongholds of Eastern Or-thodox Christianity. Its first foundations, which appeared in the tenth century, were the result of the combined initiative of visionary monks and pious Byzantine emperors and nobility. The Monastery of the Great Lavra was established in the second half of the tenth century, with the help of lavish gifts of money and precious objects from the Emperor Nikephorus II Phokas (963-969). The Monastery of Iviron was founded in about 980 with the patronage of the Emperor Bas-il II (976-1025). All Orthodox nations of any significance acquired and maintained foundations on Athos from the Middle Ages. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monastic es-tablishment became cosmopolitan, with the appearance of the first Slavic monasteries, housing respectively Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian monks. The first known Slavic monastery was founded by Zelianos and became a Russian monastery in 1142; the Monastery of Chelandariou became Serbian in 1198 and in the thirteenth century the Monastery of Zographou, Bulgarian, after the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Tzardom (1185-1396).

189 E. Mutafov, ‘Živopista na Aton prez prizmata na novite nauchni izsledvania. Razmisli’, PI, No. 1 (2012), p. 4.

body can be discerned in putti- and bambini-like figures.¹⁹⁰ Those elements can also be detected in some of the later wall paintings of Theophanes Painter in the Monastery of Stavronikita on Athos (1546). These historic evidences raise ques-tions concerning the extent to which Western imagery was introduced into the Eastern iconographic tradition. Can any elements within the Arbanassi decora-tion be associated with any degree of Western influence, bearing in mind the links of the Arbanassi merchants with Europe? Moreover, what steps did the Church take to secure the preservation of its visual tradition and its continuity?

The only indication of any Western influence in the decoration of the Arbanassi churches is the posthumous portrait of Hajji Gjorgy and his heir. It is situated in the outer narthex of the Church of the Nativity, to the right of the door, and was created between 1643 and 1649 (Figure 17).¹⁹¹ The main tools used in the con-struction of the image are line and flat juxtaposed areas of single colours.¹⁹² However, thematically and compositionally the painting deviates from the es-tablished tradition. Donors were typically represented either in an act of worship, as for example in the donor portrait from the katholikon of the Bach-kovo Monastery (1643), or in the context of a composition symbolic of the dedication of their wealth to the veneration of particular saint, as in the other donor portrait that can be found in the Church of the Nativity (Figure 18). In both these types of composition, the image of a particular saint dominates the scene. For example in the Bachkovo katholikon it is the Mother of God (Figure 19), while in the Church of the Nativity it is St John. By contrast, in the portrait of the donor and his heir heavenly reality is not present, but is sought as a

190 Penkova, B., ‘Za Njakoi Osobenosti na Postvizantiiskoto Izkustvo v Bulgaria’, PI, No 1 (1999), 3-8 and X. Proestaki, Western influences in 17^th century post-Byzantine wall Paintings’ in the proceedings of Byzantinoslavonica, (Prague, 2010). Putti and bambini are representations of young children or babies which became very popular in Baroque art. Putti are often winged, cherub-like figures.

191 E. Tantcheva, ‘At the Crossroads of East and West: Donor Portraits in the Church of the Na-tivity of Christ in Arbanassi’, Ikonotheka, No. 22 (Warsaw, 2010).

192 James, Light and Colour in Byzantine Art; Prashkov, Stenopisite na Tzurkvata Rozdesto Hristovo.

text in which the portrait is set, reminding the beholder that the sitters are wor-thy of saintly company.

Moreover, as in the best of the Western tradition, the focus of the composition has been shifted from the transient world, to the intimate space of man.¹⁹³ Even within the simple, almost schematic mode of the composition, the artist man-aged to convey the sense of quietly affectionate relations between the sitters.

The way the figures of the donor and his son are arranged in the simple compo-sitional space creates an illusionary sense of the youth walking towards the massive adult figure. The donor stands in the right half of the compositional space, with his body facing the beholder, but his head turned towards the much smaller figure of a young man. The fact that his son holds a flower, which ap-pears in the middle of the void between them, charges the scene emotionally by allowing the viewer to witness the act of attention of the son towards his father.

Instead of being portrayed as a ‘servant of God’ with an ancillary place to the immediate saintly figure(s), the sitter is himself the object of his son’s adoration.

To conclude, while stylistically following the visual tradition of the Eastern Church, the portrait is conceptually very different from the traditional form of a donor portrait.

The increasing presence of imported Western artefacts and images of worship, as well as evidence of the introduction of some representational and composi-tional strategies borrowed from Western visual practices, eventually provoked an antagonistic reaction. Conserving the form of Byzantine art became part of the survival strategy for the preservation of doctrine. ¹⁹⁴ A directive was given by the Church Synod to benefactors and artists to maintain the ‘purity’ and the

193 For more details see E. Tantcheva, ‘At the Crossroads of East and West.’

194 Gerov, G., Vodata kato granitža, PI, No. 2 (2002), pp. 31-57; Vassilev, A., Erminii, Tehnologii i Ikonographija ; Prashkov, Stenopisite na Tzurkvata Rozdesto Hristovo.

‘true’ nature of any drawn or painted images by only using as references Greek and Russian examples from the past.¹⁹⁵ As a result of this policy the representa-tional system of the Eastern Church began to show some signs of stagnation.

Even members of the Cretan iconographic School, who were close to Europe, remained conservative in their approach and only a very few of them adopted new themes or changes to the traditional form of representation, and then only after the seventeenth century.¹⁹⁶ Thus, it is not surprising that the unconven-tional portrait in the Nativity appears to have been deliberately damaged, as the rest of the wall-paintings throughout the church are well preserved.

In this context, the combination of its spiritual significance to the Orthodox Church, its autonomous status and the availability of funds allowed Athos to become the greatest artistic focus of the Orthodox world in the first century and a half after the Ottoman conquest.¹⁹⁷ The availability of funds permitted the in-vitation of leading artists, but ones adhering to the Byzantine visual tradition, to work on the numerous building, renovation and restoration projects of Athos.¹⁹⁸

195Russia had received Christianity from Byzantium in the tenth century, was still a Metropoli-tan of the Patriarchate of ConsMetropoli-tantinople and so effectively under its jurisdiction. The Russians had rejected the decisions of the Council of Florence thereby proving their loyalty to the Church. Russian art was considered to be doctrinally sound. See Božkov, ‘Bitovite elementi v stenopisite ot Arbanashkite tžurkvi, pp. 99-132

196 R. Cormack, Byzantine Art, (Oxford, 2000), pp. 200 and 212.

197 Until the end of the fifteenth century the community relied on the generosity of foreign rulers - Russian, Moldovan, Wallachian and Serbian - just for the survival of the community. Their donations mainly helped to retain monastic estates that had been confiscated in 1454 by Mehmed II, in breach of earlier agreements. However, by the beginning of the sixteenth centu-ry all of these principalities, except Russia, had become Ottoman vassals, which made the monasteries dependant on donations from the newly emerged Christian merchant community within the Empire.

198 For example, the best sixteenth-century wall painter, Theophanes Strelitzias, also known as Theophanes the Cretan, and his son Simeon worked for a long period on Athos. Theophanes and his son and assistants painted in several Athonian monasteries; Great Lavra, Sravronikita and Pantocratoros. Another Cretan studio, led by one Tzortzis, who came initially from the

198 For example, the best sixteenth-century wall painter, Theophanes Strelitzias, also known as Theophanes the Cretan, and his son Simeon worked for a long period on Athos. Theophanes and his son and assistants painted in several Athonian monasteries; Great Lavra, Sravronikita and Pantocratoros. Another Cretan studio, led by one Tzortzis, who came initially from the