3

In 2010 six icons were donated to the Princeton University

Art Museum by Ann Angleton Hyde in memory of her
father, Phocas Angleton (19111997).
1
Categorized as Post-
Byzantine, the icons belong to a large group of religious
paintings that derive from the Byzantine tradition but were
executed in the early modern period. Dating between the
sixteenth and the nineteenth century, the icons exemplify
the survival and transformation of Byzantine art following
the dissolution of the empire and the fnal fall of Constanti-
nople in 1453.
2
The Museums icon additions, which were
painted in diferent regions ruled by various powers, all
within the Greek-speaking territories of the former empire,
underscore the socio-religious complexity of the early
modern Mediterranean world and the signifcant role of
Post-Byzantine art within it.
3

On account of the wide range in the dates of production
and various provenances of the Angleton icons, a study of
selected paintings from the group may contribute to a more
nuanced understanding of what is meant by Post- Byzantine
art.
4
To date, the term has been vaguely employed to
describe a period the centuries of art that followed the fall
of the capital or to defne the style of Orthodox art pro-
duced after 1453 with little acknowledgment of the parallel
and diverse artistic trends that developed across Orthodox
communities in disparate environments.
5
Rather than dis-
miss the term Post-Byzantine, as has even been suggested,
let us bring precision to what it connotes. I propose that
Post-Byzantine art be defned as the Orthodox Christian art
produced in the early modern period that stems from the
cultural traditions of late Byzantium. Characterized by its
stylistic and iconographic fexibility, it simultaneously adheres
to, if not promotes, the doctrinal tenets of Orthodoxy.
6

In this article, I focus on four outstanding icons in the
acquisition: a small Cretan work of the Virgin (fg. 1); a
Baroque-framed Saint Nicholas from the Ionian Islands (see
fg. 8); a carved icon of Saint Anthony from mainland
Greece (see fg.11); and an elaborate rendition of the scene
of the Communion of the Apostles, possibly from the
Cyclades (see fg.14).
7
These icons from the Angleton Col-
lection are notable for their distinctive styles, underscoring
their manufacture in diferent regions of what constitutes
Toward a Defnition of Post-Byzantine Art:
The Angleton Collection at the Princeton University
Art Museum
Emi ly L. Spratt
modern-day Greece. The fnely painted icon of the Virgin,
a product of the famous School of Crete, is representative of
one of the painting styles that would come to widely infu-
ence icon workshops in the Greek-speaking Venetian ter-
ritories and even those in the Orthodox communities of the
Ottoman-held regions. Closely related to this work is the
icon of Saint Nicholas, which refects the popularity of
emulating the style of the Cretan school of painting, par-
ticularly in the Ionian Islands. By contrast, the icon of Saint
Anthony, which was most likely produced on the Ottoman
mainland, is rendered in a more conservative Byzantine
style; it is notable for the design of its ornate engaged frame,
which was popular in the eighteenth century in diferent
contexts. Finally, the early-nineteenth-century Holy Com-
munion of the Apostles demonstrates the ongoing appeal of
the style promulgated by the School of Crete in painting as
late as the period of the Greek states formation (1821).
8
BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: THE CRETAN
SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND THE ICON OF
THE HEAD OF THE VIRGIN
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the artistic
center of the eastern Orthodox world was repositioned from
the shores of the Bosporus to the coasts of Crete, an island
that had been under Venetian rule since 1211. At the cross-
roads of the Mediterranean, Crete had already gained rec-
ognition as an important center of icon painting in the late
Middle Ages.
9
By the turn of the seventeenth century, when
the Princeton icon of the Virgin was painted, new patterns
of cultural exchange had already been frmly established on
account of Venetian commerce. EastWest cultural interac-
tions, which followed the direction of trade routes, are
clearly evidenced in the stylistic diversity of Cretan art. For
example, the International Gothic style, which was popular
in fourteenth- and ffteenth-century Western medieval
painting, was widely infuential in Crete from the ffteenth
to the seventeenth century.
10
The softened features, long
fowing lines, and delicacy in execution of this late medieval
style could blend magnifcently with the increasingly nat-
uralistic, chromatically rich, and emotionally moving art
Figure 1. Post-Byzantine, School of Crete: Head of the Virgin, ca. 1600. Tempera on wood, 17 x 13.5 x
1.5 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, gift of Anne Angleton Hyde (2010-231)
4 5
that characterizes the aesthetics of the Palaeologan dynasty
(12601453) of the late Byzantine Empire.
Indeed, this richly blended style continued to hold sway
on Crete throughout the period of the islands Venetian rule
(12111669). The stylistic openness of this art, so character-
istic of the Cretan workshops, enabled the production of icons
that could function in Orthodox and/or Catholic environ-
ments in accordance with the devotional needs of their
beholders.
11
Produced on speculation and even according to
buyer specifcations in the maniera latina or the maniera greca
(the Latin or Greek styles), icons from Crete were easily dis-
seminated along Venetian trade routes that extended from
the Cretan port of Candia to Venice, Flanders, and beyond.
12
The Princeton icon of the head of the Virgin is an excel-
lent example of the efects of cultural exchange in Crete.
Executed in what scholars have called the Italo-Cretan style,
the work follows Gothic models of the Virgin while main-
taining Byzantine features.
13
The particular almond shape of
the Madonnas eyes and the burgundy coloring of her
maphorion (hooded mantle) suggest that the artist was oper-
ating within the Byzantine artistic tradition, whereas the use
of attenuated lines and softened features suggest Gothic
infuence. The Princeton icon is similar in style to the well-
known Western iconographic type of the Virgin Madre
della Consolazione that was popularized in Crete during the
second half of the ffteenth century and remained in demand
throughout the period. It demonstrates that Italian late
Gothic models held much appeal on the island and were
easily translated into the idiom of the Byzantine icon.
14
A late-ffteenth-century example of this iconographic
type attributed to the Cretan artist Nikolaos Tzafouris, now
in the Canellopoulos Collection in Athens, closely resem-
bles the Princeton head of the Virgin in style (fg.2).
15
The
gentle, yet meticulous, rendering of the Madonnas gold-
bordered, star-crossed maphorion and semi-diaphanous
ivory veil casts subtle, harmonious shadows across her face.
These elements can also be detected in the Princeton head
of the Virgin although they appear coarser on account of
the icons somewhat deteriorated state of preservation.
Other indications of the Cretan production of the
Prince ton icon include the absence of a stretched linen can-
vas to treat the board and the type of underpainting used to
build up the painted surface of the panel. Unlike Italian
paintings, which have greenish undertones, Byzantine icons
were typically painted on a rosy brown ground.
16
This is
particularly apparent in the Princeton icon of the Virgin, as
an abrasive cleaning has stripped the work of its original
chromatic brilliance and over-revealed the pinkish brown
undercoat in the face and neck of the Madonna. Incised
lines are also visible; they create stark light-and-dark con-
trasts on the Virgins face that would not have been visible
when the work was originally produced. These incisions
acted as preliminary guidelines for the artist as he painted
the icon from an anthivolo (imprinted cartoon).
17
This was a
common practice in the production of icons, as is attested in
the will of the Cretan painter Andreas Ritzos, who made
explicit reference to the bequeathal of his model books
containing multiple cartoons.
18

It is unfortunate that an early attempt to restore the icon
removed all but traces of the more delicate paint layers that
indicate the original sophistication of the composition. The
blatantly visible hatch marks on the Virgins veil would
have been subtle hints of the fabrics intricate texture, and
the folds of her tunic, now thick lines of washed-out red,
are indications of the artists acute attention to naturalistic
details. Still striking, the gold-decorated border of the Vir-
gins mantle refects the workshops acquaintance with the
technique of mordant gilding.
19
Considering that there has
been little investigation of the use of mordant gilding in
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art compared to its practice
in Western European contexts, this observation is important
to underscore.
20
The complicated scroll pattern of the
border would have been applied, in gold, to the still-wet
egg-yolkbased red paint of the maphorion and then left to
dry. While the gold surfaces on the icon have been severely
worn, the border of the Virgins mantle has remained intact
enough to indicate the fne execution of details that once
lent to the exceptional delicacy of the icon.
21
Typically
decorated with a pseudo-Arabic design, contemporary rep-
resentations of the border of the Virgins maphorion are
often found to mimic the calligraphy on Islamic textiles; by
contrast, the mantle of the Princeton Madonna boasts an
elegant Renaissance-inspired scroll pattern.
22

While preliminary examination of the work suggested
that the diminutive head of the Virgin might have been cut
out of a larger composition, conservation of the work has
demonstrated otherwise.
23
The icon was acquired by the
Museum in a waxed linen encasement that obscured its
edges, and only removal of the covering could help clarify
whether the work was an integral composition.
24
To this
end, Norman Muller, conservator at the Princeton Univer-
sity Art Museum, carefully detached the encasement, which
surprisingly exposed the icons fnished sides, conclusively
determining that the work retains its original dimensions
(fg.3).
25
Furthermore, the raised bead of gesso around the perim-
eter of the painting and the exposed wood surrounding the
painted surface reveal that a molding was once attached to
the panel.
26
The barely visible mitered lines at the two left
corners of the Princeton icon also confrm that the work
was frst produced with four applied strips of wood.
27
Unlike
icons from the Byzantine period, which were often carved
out from the panel itself a tradition that continued to
some extent in Post-Byzantine artistic practices, as the
Prince ton icon of Saint Anthony illustrates (see fg. 11)
the head of the Virgin would have featured a molding. An
icon of the Virgin, Hope of All, from the early seventeenth
century with an intact molding suggests the original display
of the Prince ton composition (fg.4).
28
While moldings are
well attested in Western medieval and Renaissance con-
texts, they were also popular design features in Byzantine
and Post-Byzantine art.
29

The icon of the Virgin is a particularly small example of
an ultra-cropped bust portrait of the Madonna that lacks an
accompanying representation of the Christ child (see
fg.1).
30
Similar portraits of the Virgin, depicting only the
area from her head to the upper portion of her shoulders,
are known in larger dimensions and were produced in Crete
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
31
A close
comparison is found in the Museum of Icons at the Hellenic
Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice
(fg. 5).
32
Although nearly twice the size of the Princeton
icon, the Venice head of the Virgin also lacks space for the
inclusion of a fully delineated halo and prominently features
the Madonna on a gold background only to the upper sec-
tion of her shoulders.
33
Another icon of the Mother of God,
close in size to the Venice painting, in Corfu, resembles the
Princeton composition in style and similarly features the
Figure 3. Conservator Norman Muller removing the waxed linen
encasement of the Head of the Virgin shown in fgure 1
Figure 2. Attributed to Nikolaos Tzafouris, Post-Byzantine, School
of Crete: Virgin and Child, late 15th century. Tempera on wood,
56.5x 45 cm, 106 x 85 cm (framed). P. Canellopoulos Collection,
1stEphorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Athens (E 24)
Figure 4. Michail Avramis, Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands
workshop: Virgin, Hope of All, 1622. Tempera on wood,
105 x 80 cm. Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, 21st Ephorate
of Byzantine Antiquities (24)
6 7
Virgin with a halo (fg.6).
34
The gold scroll pattern on the
tunic of the Corfu Virgin also fnds parallels with the deco-
rative border on the Virgins cloak in the Princeton paint-
ing, although the overall composition of the Corfote work
is rendered in a more rigid fashion.
Although the trend for Gothic models in Cretan painting
had mostly diminished by the seventeenth century, the Ven-
ice icon has remarkable similarities in style and subject mat-
ter to an even larger representation of the head of the Virgin
which again includes her halo, attributed to the master artist
Emmanuel Lambardos (15801640), who has been associated
with several icons of this type (fg.7).
35
The Venice head of
the Virgin and the portrait icons associated with Emmanuel
Lambardos were typically part of a three-piece icon set
depicting the Virgin and John the Baptist as intercessors
fanking Christ. Known as the deesis, this was a popular icon-
ographic grouping.
36
Unfortunately, few complete sets have
remained intact. Two icons of a seventeenth- century com-
pilation from Crete, today in the State Hermitage Museum
in St. Petersburg, include a bust-length portrait of Christ,
which would have formed the center of the deesis group,
and a painting of the Virgin whose head turns to the right,
and thus would have been placed on the left of the Savior.
37

The missing portrait of Saint John the Baptist in this group
that would have been positioned on the right side of Christ
of a closely cropped portrait of the Virgin that leans leftward
as a part of a deesis group.
43
Although diferent trends in
Cretan painting refect the stylistic diversity of the school in
its amalgamation of Eastern and Western visual idioms, the
commercialization of icons typically produced in large
quantities to accommodate market demand during this
period also reinforced the conventionalization of iconogra-
phy.
44
With the Princeton icons strong stylistic afnity to
the Madre della Consolazione type, a date of manufacture
in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century seems
likely for the Princeton head. The iconography of the paint-
ing, however, situates it in the context of seventeenth-
century multipart deesis scenes. I would therefore propose
that the icon was produced about 1600, a date that also
acknowledges the works high quality of execution in the
Italo-Cretan style.
45

The dimensions of the Princeton icon, signifcantly
smaller than the aforementioned deesis paintings, make it
likely that the composition was used for private devotional
purposes.
46
Depictions solely of the Virgin were popular in
both the Byzantine and Renaissance traditions, yet they lack
the extreme cropping and unique positioning of the head of
the Virgin encountered in the Princeton painting. The
appearance of the fgure of the Virgin turned leftward may
therefore be on account of the use of a reversed anthivolo of
a deesis Virgin, as iconographic models were often fipped,
either accidentally or intentionally.
47
Therefore, it is most
likely that the Princeton painting copied the deesis type of
Virgin in form, yet functioned not as a part of an icon group
but as a stand-alone image intended for personal devotion.
48

FROM CRETE TO THE IONIAN ISLANDS:
POST-BYZANTINE ART IN THE VENETIAN
TERRITORIES AND THE ICON OF SAINT
NICHOLAS
Although the loss of Crete in 1669 to the Ottomans marked
the ofcial end of the Cretan school of painting, its infu-
ence continued predominantly in the Greek-speaking
Venetian-held territories and within the Greek community
Figure 6. Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands workshop:
Virgin Mary, ca.1600(?). Tempera on wood, 29 x 22 x
1.5 cm. Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, 21st Ephorate
of Byzantine Antiquities (134)
Figure 7. Attributed to Emmanuel Lambardos (1580
1640), Post-Byzantine, School of Crete: Bust of the Mother
of God, ca. 1600. Tempera on wood, 56.5 x 42.5 cm. AXIA
East Christian and Islamic Art, London (no. 61)
Figure 5. Post-Byzantine, School of Crete: Head of the Virgin, early
17th century. Tempera on wood, 41 x 34 cm. Museum of Icons,
Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies, Venice (36)
would have depicted the forerunner leaning left toward the
center panel. Indeed, this is the typical presentation of the
intercession of John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary in both
integral and multipart compositions of the scene.
38
The interpretive complication that arises with the Princeton
head of the Virgin as part of a deesis group is that she atypi-
cally leans leftward, indicating that she cannot be placed in
her prestigious position on the left of Christ, as she would
appear from the perspective of the viewer (see fg. 1). It
should be noted that from the point of view of the Savior,
the Virgin is on the hierarchically appropriate side. Although
the Princeton head of the Virgin is stylistically related to the
multipart deesis groups that were popularized in Crete, this
major iconographic diference in the direction of the
Mother of Gods pose excludes the icons identifcation as
part of a standard intercession group.
The theological interpretation of the deesis and the broad
usage of the term itself, particularly as scholarship has dem-
onstrated during the Byzantine period, does, however, go
beyond the meaning of the traditional three-fgure group of
the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist fanking Christ.
39

Indeed, the deesis usually appears either as an independent
unit in a variety of contexts or as part of a complex, multi-
part composition, such as in the Great Deesis as it is
depicted on the iconostasis (icon screen) of a Post- Byzantine
church.
40
As an elaboration of the commemoration or inter-
cession prayer, the latter type of deesis also includes angels,
prophets, and saints. Deesis scenes of only two fgures,
arrangements that include the replacement of one of the
canonical holy persons, usually Saint John the Forerunner,
and compositions of the standard triad along with other
saints, underscore a degree of fexibility in the interpretation
of this scene.
41

An exceptional early Byzantine icon, now in Kiev,
depicting Saint John the Forerunner between Christ and
the Mother of God, illustrates that there is a remote possi-
bility that the Princeton head of the Virgin was part of a less
standardized deesis compilation.
42
The Virgins presence on
the right side of the group may thus be legitimized as she is
hierarchically in the correct position relative to Christ. It is
therefore possible to theorize that as long as the Princeton
head of the Virgin originally appeared appropriately related
to the other fgures in a deesis compilation, her leftward
leaning posture and, by association, her placement on the
right side of a group could be justifed.
Nevertheless, considering both the socio-historical con-
text of the Cretan school of painting and the much later
production of the Princeton icon than the singular deesis
composition in Kiev, it seems unlikely that the Princeton
head of the Virgin would have functioned in this manner.
To my knowledge, there are no other examples from Crete
8 9
of Venice itself.
49
Just as artists from Constantinople had
begun to relocate to Crete well before the citys fall, so the
gradual subjugation of the strategically desirable island by
the Ottomans just two centuries later initiated an exodus of
refugees, including icon painters, to other areas controlled
by Venice.
50
The Ionian Islands and Venice were the main
points of destination. Corfu, the most politically important
Ionian Island, quickly became the next major artistic center
of Post-Byzantine art in the Venetian colonies.
51
Because
the Ionian Islands were inhabited by artists that had relo-
cated from Crete, it is not surprising that their art stems
from the Cretan school of painting.
The icon of Saint Nicholas demonstrates the continued
infuence of this signifcant school of art, which was further
developed by subsequent generations of artists on the Ionian
Islands (fg.8). Conforming to standard representations of the
saint, the Princeton Saint Nicholas is portrayed enthroned
with his right hand raised in benediction and his left hand
holding the Gospel of John, opened to verse 10:9, the book
being supported on his knee.
52
As the patron saint of sailors
and merchants, Saint Nicholas was widely popular in the
Venetian sea-based colonies (the Stato da Mar) and is fre-
quently depicted on icons on account of his extraordinary
acceptance into both the Orthodox and the Catholic Church.
53
Although Saint Nicholas is usually represented on a
wooden throne with a raised back, the Princeton fgure sits
on a simple marble seat. Rendered, to a degree, in the
Renaissance manner, the shape of the throne recalls the
entablature of a classically inspired Italian edifce more than
traditional Byzantine furniture. Depictions of thrones with
sculptural details reminiscent of Venetian marble work are
known from extant examples in Greece and Italy, such as an
icon of Saint Nicholas signed by Constantinos Palaeokapas
in 1637 (fg.9), from the Gonia Monastery in Crete, and a
painting of the saint, now in Bologna, by Frangiskos Sarak-
enopoulos, from the third quarter of the sixteenth century.
54

While the throne of the Princeton icon does not include any
representation of the human form, the delicately executed
tassel-like reliefs framed in a frieze banded by a cornice and
architrave in gray marble suggest a signifcant engagement
with Renaissance visual culture (see fg.8).
The depiction of the throne with Saint Nicholas upon it
recedes naturalistically into the space of the painting,
revealing the artists attention to Western perspectival
techniques, as the icon appears much more like a window
realistically opening out onto the world. The efect is
maintained despite the Byzantine tradition of using of a
solid red ground and gold background which iconographi-
cally were never intended to make reference to the natural
world. Indeed, icons from Crete and the Ionian Islands
often emulate Western images, with space organized
according to the laws of perspective. Not until the eigh-
teenth century, however, are there some examples where
they are applied so comprehensively that the general
appearance of a composition loses its immediate identifca-
tion as a Byzantine or Post- Byzantine object.
Attired in a gray-white foral-patterned omophorion
(shoulder dressing) with crosses bordered by red lines, a red
phelonion (chasuble) with a green lining, and a golden epi-
trachelion (stole) and epigonateion (a rhombic-shaped panel
that hangs near the knee) embellished with tassels and jew-
els, Saint Nicholas appears as an Orthodox prelate.
55
Unfor-
tunately, the chromatic brilliance of the work has been
largely lost on account of an earlier abrasive cleaning. While
the artist was careful to depict all the abundant folds of the
vestments that would have been accorded such a high-rank-
ing clergyman, they appear here as stylized lines that freeze
the sense of movement in the drapery rather than as subtle
details that create a naturalistic efect. In this sense, they
recall the established Byzantine and Post-Byzantine styles
and may be interpreted as a visual device employed to
cement the saint in his esteemed position, frmly situating
him in space so that his devotee may directly reach him.
Conversely, the gentle execution of Saint Nicholass deli-
cately poised and carefully modeled hands are indicative of
Figure 8. Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands (Corfu?) workshop: Saint Nicholas, mid- to
late 17th century. Gilding and tempera on wood, 35 x 23.5 cm, 48 x 34.5 cm (framed).
Princeton University Art Museum, gift of Anne Angleton Hyde (2010-228)
Figure 9. Constantinos Palaeokapas (f. 163540), Post-Byzantine,
School of Crete: Saint Nicholas, 1637. Tempera on wood, 112 x 67 cm.
Gonia Monastery, Crete
the painters ability to operate in a more naturalistic Renais-
sance manner. It is precisely this combination of Western
infuences on the level of the particular that are incorpo-
rated into overall Byzantine representational strategies and
that hint at the complex cultural interplay that was occur-
ring during this period.
56
The similarity of the Princeton icon to the painting of
Saint Nicholas signed by Constantinos Palaeokapas in
thedepiction of the thrones and the physiognomies of the
fgures underscores the infuence of the artist from the
Cretan school of painting and suggests a mid- to late-
seventeenth-century date for the Princeton Saint Nicholas.
The more pastel-colored palette, the vibrancy of which is
missing on account of the works overcleaning, and the
increased sense of delicacy in the composition, a result of
10 11
the artists nuanced attention to detail, sometimes at the
expense of the overall form, however, indicate a prove-
nance in the Ionian Islands. It also should be noted that the
medium size of the Princeton icon, without the frame only
35 x 23.5 centimeters, compared to the large work by Pal-
aeokapas, which measures 112 x 67 centimeters, points to
the diferent functions of these paintings. The smaller
Prince ton Saint Nicholas could have been produced for pri-
vate devotional purposes or for use on the proskynetarion
(icon stand or shrine) in a church or chapel. The larger
Palaeokapas icon may have been inserted into the central
register of an icon screen.
57

The Venetian-inspired frame of the Princeton icon is
also suggestive of the Ionian Islands (see fg.8). A very simi-
lar frame adorns a late-seventeenth-century icon of Saint
George in the Antivouniotissa Museum on Corfu (fg.10),
and other examples may still be found in churches on Corfu
and Cephalonia.
58
Examples of this type of scrolling foliate
frame in gold refect the drastic development
of the Venetian Sansovino type of frame away from its
architectural associations into a more Baroque form com-
plete with stylized foliage that conveys a sense of undulating
movement.
59
Although the frame of the Princeton icon is
detachable in four parts, the perfect interlocking of the
scroll pattern where the pieces connect suggests that it was
intended for the painting. Given the popularity for framing
Post-Byzantine icons in the Baroque style on the Ionian
Islands, it is likely that this frame is original to the work.
Furthermore, the efaced cartouche on the bottom strip
may have once boasted a coat of arms. Indeed, representa-
tions of coats of arms are sometimes found in regions that
had been under Venetian control.
60
If this was the case, it is
likely that the icon, along with its frame, was commissioned
for private devotion or as a votive ofering.
Although the fascinating subject of the framing of
icons from a theological perspective lies outside the scope of
this paper, I would like to draw attention to changing con-
ceptions of the notion of containment in the development
of Post-Byzantine art. As artists were exposed to Renais-
sance modes of display, Byzantine theological concerns
regarding the inherent problem of enclosing what cannot
be delimited sacred spaces and holy persons were
diminished. In the context of the Ionian Islands, an icons
framing could be interpreted as an act of reverence by means
of adornment much in the same way as an icons encase-
ment in a metal revetment is perceived to enhance the
honor of a depicted holy person. In the Venetian-held
territories, this type of frame also could hold a purely deco-
rative appeal, as contemporary fashions from Venice were
often emulated in the colonies.
It is usually assumed that Western artistic infuence was
slow to reach the territories that Venice controlled; such a
notion thus lends to the characterization of Post-Byzantine
art as retrograde. This observation, typically made in
descriptions of the use of medieval and Renaissance styles in
Post-Byzantine art, is misleading in conveying general pat-
terns of infuence, but it may be true when only certain
aspects of a work are considered.
61
For example, when the
frame and woodwork of the Saint Nicholas icon are also
evaluated, one fnds that the role of Western infuence on
this material can also refect cultural exchanges of a more
contemporary nature.
62
In fact, the Baroque frame of the
Princeton icon is consistent with current Venetian wood-
carving trends, whereas the painting of Saint Nicholas that
it contains reveals aspects of Renaissance infuence in the
details of the composition that are of a retrograde nature.
The patterns of infuence encountered in Post-Byzantine
art, however, are by no means fxed, as an icon from the
Angleton Collection that was produced in Ottoman terri-
tory demonstrates.
63

ORTHODOX ART IN THE OTTOMAN
SPHERE: THE ICONS OF SAINT ANTHONY
AND THE HOLY COMMUNION OF THE
APOSTLES
The small icon of the desert father Saint Anthony the Great
is enclosed in an elaborate frame that is carved out of the
board itself (fg.11).
64
This framing method was utilized in
Western medieval and Byzantine art and developed further
in Renaissance and Post-Byzantine contexts. The engaged
frame of the Princeton Saint Anthony is of the tabernacle or
aedicule type, which is more commonly known in Western
Europe and derives from architectural models such as wall
niches.
65
A common type of freestanding frame in the
Figure 11. Post-Byzantine, workshop on the Greek-speaking Ottoman mainland:
Saint Anthony, 18th century. Tempera on wood, 20 x 12.5 cm, 24 x 18.5 x 3 cm (framed).
Princeton University Art Museum, gift of Anne Angleton Hyde (2010-227)
Renais sance, it was often used to adorn images intended for
personal devotion. Two eighteenth-century icons in Athens
from the Andreadis Collection at the Benaki Museum
(fgs. 12, 13) are closely related to the Princeton Saint
Anthony. Each features a fat-banded border frame within
which two Solomonic half-columns with bases are topped
by ornate foliated capitals that support an embellished arch
with opened fowers in the spandrels.
66
This rusticated and
engaged version of Renaissance tabernacle frames in Post-
Byzantine art was popular into the eighteenth century.
67

Clearly a standard iconographic template in wood
work shops of the period, this type of icon board is of inter-
est for its association with diferent regions of the former
Figure 10. Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands workshop: framed Saint
George, late 17th century. Gilding and tempera on wood, 69 x 54 x
2.3cm. Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, 21st Ephorate of Byzantine
Antiquities (33)
12 13
Figure 12. Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands workshop: Saint
Onouphrios and Saint Paphnoutios, early 18th century. Tempera on
wood, 34.5 x 27.4 x 3.4 cm. Rena Andreadis Collection, Benaki
Museum, Athens (69)
Figure 13. Post-Byzantine, workshop on the southern Greek-
speaking Ottoman mainland: Saint Panteleimon, third quarter of the
18th century. Tempera on wood, 40 x 32 x 3 cm. Rena Andreadis
Collection, Benaki Museum, Athens (70)
Figure 14. Post-Byzantine, Cycladic Islands workshop: Holy Communion of the
Apostles, second quarter of the 19th century. Tempera on wood, 37.5 x 23.5 cm.
Gift of Anne Angleton Hyde (2010-230)
Byzantine territories. On account of the style and technical
execution of their paintings, the icon of Saint Onouphrios
and Saint Paphnoutios has been traced to the Ionian Islands
and that of Saint Panteleimon to a workshop on the Otto-
man mainland in what constitutes southern modern-day
Greece.
68
The fne alternating rosette motif of the punched
halo and the painting style of the Princeton Saint Anthony,
however, point to its likely production in the Greek-
speaking Ottoman mainland (see fg.11).
69

The iconography of the Princeton painting is by no
means atypical: the saint is presented in a full-length pose
holding a wooden staf and a scroll inscribed with an apo-
phthegma (aphorism) on escaping the snares of the devil
through humility as is set forth in the Hermeneia (painters
manual) of Dionysios of Fourna.
70
Analysis of the icon
under black lights in the Princeton conservation laboratory
revealed that the composition has been slightly touched up;
this can be seen with the naked eye where the red ground
of the painting has overtaken the saints left shoe. There is
no doubt that the artist was aware of the Cretan style of
painting and could follow standard iconographic formulas
although he was not trained to fully articulate them. For
example, the delicate highlighting of the drapery near the
saints knee is skillful in its execution but misplaced, as it is
too high in relation to the proportions of the fgure.
Although the delineation of shadowed folds of drapery is a
common stylistic device found in Post-Byzantine art from
Crete and the Ionian Islands, the use of dark solid lines as
they appear in Saint Anthonys cloak is associated with icons
from Veroia and its surrounding region (northern modern-
day mainland Greece).
71

The complex socio-political circumstances of the Greek-
speaking former Byzantine territories under Ottoman con-
trol make it impossible to characterize the Post- Byzantine
art produced there according to one style. For the purposes
of this study, however, consideration of the continued
infuence of the School of Crete in some of these areas
should be underscored. The numerous commissions of
Cretan artists to paint in the monastic centers of Meteora
and Mount Athos demonstrate that Cretan painting gained
infuence on the Ottoman mainland. The portability of
small icons is another factor. Although the Princeton Saint
Anthony was most likely produced in a region under Otto-
man control, the works carving and aspects of the painting
style refect artistic interaction with the territories under
Venetian rule.
Considering the political volatility of these areas as they
moved from the hands of Latin to Ottoman overlords and
eventually to complete Ottoman rule (except in the case of
Corfu), examining the artistic and cultural legacy of Byzan-
tium under only Venetian or Ottoman domination is prob-
lematic.
72
Furthermore, even though the two empires were
often at war, the links between them were vast on account
of mutual mercantile interests.
73
Contact between Ortho-
dox communities in both the Venetian and the Ottoman
territories existed through family connections, the use of
religious cult sites, and the movement of artists and their
workshops across territories in diferent hegemonic circum-
stances. Indeed, Venetian stylistic infuence on art from the
Ottoman lands could have come from a variety of routes.
74

The fourth icon from the Angleton donation dates to the
second quarter of the nineteenth century and portrays the
subject of the Holy Communion of the Apostles (fg. 14).
Deviating from the standard iconography of the scene and
embellished by an ornate tabernacle frame that is integral to
the icon, this unusual icon highlights the limitations of
14 15
utilizing the political borders of the Ottoman or the Venetian
Empire to structure interpretations of the continued cultural
infuence of Byzantium. The painting is rendered in a style
associated with the Ionian Islands; elements such as the natu-
ral sense of movement in the fgures, emphasized by the art-
ists attention to light-to-dark efects in the drapery, recall
the Palaeologan school of painting from the Byzantine
period. The use of a checkered ground was also a frequently
employed motif from the late seventeenth to the early nine-
teenth century in Post-Byzantine art from the Ionian Islands.
The frame of the work, however, recalls the carving style of
the Greek-speaking northwestern Ottoman mainland.
Although the garlanded columns decorated with rosettes
in the capitals and bases along with the arched enclosure of
the painting have similarities with the features of the pre-
viously discussed engaged tabernacle frames, the pediment
of the Holy Communion of the Apostles is unusual. The best
Athens, may be related to the recognition of the neo-
Hellenic state in 1832.
79
In favor of this interpretation is the
prominent, centrally placed crown held by fanking cheru-
bim-like fgures; the crown supports a large sun displayed
in the center of the frames pediment between lavish veg-
etal carvings (see fg. 14).
80
The depiction of a crown, a
symbol usually associated with victory and sometimes with
the subject of Greek independence, in paintings, is perhaps
the best indication of the icons date.
81
If this is the case, the
fgures supporting the crown may be images of Nike, the
personifcation of victory in the Classical Greek tradition,
dressed appropriately in a short, belted chiton.
82

Two surviving paintings of God in Judgment presiding
over the coronation ceremony of the newly elected leaders
of the Kingdom of Greece, King Otto and Queen Amalia,
along with representatives of the Great Powers (the United
Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire), make a rele-
vant comparison to the Princeton icon.
83
In both paintings
angels are presented crowning the state leaders and ofering
victory wreathes to underscore Gods divine favor of Greek
independence from the Ottoman Empire. While the
Prince ton icon remains devoid of representations of specifc
persons, it makes reference to the independence movement
through its use of the emergent symbols of the newly
defned state. In conjunction with the presentation of what
I would interpret as a temple front adorned with celebratory
garlands, over which a new sun brilliantly rises, the sym-
bolic language of ancient Greece is also invoked, thus her-
alding an important component of the new symbolic idiom
in which the Greek state would cast its identity.
84
What is also striking about this work is the choice of
subject in the painting. Clearly labeled ea [] (Theia
Metalips[i], Holy Communion) in red, this image of Christ
and an angel ofering the Eucharist to the apostles is unusual.
Scenes of the Holy Communion of the Apostles typically
feature either a double or a single representation of Christ
ofciating over both the bread and the wine, but never paired
with an angel. While this may seem a complete deviation
from the standard iconography, interest in the subject of the
Eucharist is well attested in Post-Byzantine art.
85
For exam-
ple, the innovative Cretan painter Michael Damaskinos
introduced a new icon type, the Allegory of the Holy Com-
munion, to the island of Corfu at the end of the sixteenth
century, and it gained mass appeal over the next two hun-
dred years. Although the Allegory of the Holy Communion
and the Holy Communion of the Apostles are distinct icon-
ographic types, both clearly feature the artos (raised bread)
that is ofered in the Orthodox Communion as opposed to
the unleavened wafer utilized in the Catholic Eucharist.
Interest in the subject of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy in
Post-Byzantine art, particularly on the Ionian Islands during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is not surprising
given the Catholicizing pressures that the Orthodox com-
munity faced under Venetian rule.
86
While the degree of
Catholic proselytizing in the Venetian territories varied
greatly according to the region and period of the empires
rule, in the case of the Ionian Islands there was sustained
religious contention between the Eastern and Western
Churches that was observable on the popular level.
87
It is in
this context that one fnds a new development in the iconog-
raphy of the Corfote (and also in some cases, Cephalonian)
iconostases: the incorporation of a scene referring to the
liturgy as it is performed in the Orthodox Church in the
upper, centermost part of the screen.
88
Indeed, the promo-
tion of Orthodoxy was an important part of the emerging
Greek national identity.
89
Given the neo-Hellenic associa-
tions of the frame, it is tempting to interpret the choice of
subject for the painting as an assertion of the continued
Orthodox liturgical tradition as the very core of the Greek
state, which provides the structure to shelter and, thus,
triumphantly honor Orthodoxy.
The icons delicate style of painting, associated with the
continued infuence of the School of Crete, in disjunction
with the rather roughly rendered frame, more akin to the
elaborate wood carvings from Epirus, suggests that the icon
is neither from the Ionian Islands nor from the northern
part of the Ottoman mainland. Given the refugee move-
ment of artists out of Crete after the Ottoman occupation
not only to the Ionian Islands but also to the Cyclades, the
Cycladic Islands are a potential site for the production of the
Princeton Holy Communion of the Apostles. In the Cyclades,
Cretan art was transformed into a local idiom that also
encompassed features more traditionally associated with the
Ottoman mainland, a phenomenon that may account for
the unusual combination of styles in the painting.
90
Further-
more, given the nationalist symbolism of the Princeton
icons engaged frame, it is likely to have been conceived in
an area within the borders of the newly founded Greek
state, such as the Cyclades.
91
POST-BYZANTINE ART REVISITED:
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON BYZANTINE
ARTISTIC CONTINUITIES IN THE EARLY
MODERN PERIOD
During the early modern period, the commercialized
pro duction of icons from the Venetian-controlled island of
Crete was recognized across the Mediterranean and even in
markets as far north as Flanders. As new patterns of cultural
exchange emerged, particularly in the Venetian-held terri-
tories, mercantile conditions ripened for Cretan icons to
exert infuence on the development of stylistic trends in
Figure 15. Post-Byzantine, Ionian Islands (Corfu?) workshop:
frame, 18th century(?). Tempera on wood, 137 x 88 cm., opening
79 x 61 cm. Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, 21st Ephorate of
Byzantine Antiquities (1401)
Figure 16. Detail of sawed-of spline joint of the icon Holy
Communion of the Apostles shown in fgure 14
comparison is, perhaps, the fnely executed tabernacle frame
from Corfu, which may have been used as a private prosky-
netarion that has been uncritically dated to the eighteenth
century (fg.15).
75
The crown in the upper section of this
frame, along with the presence of jubilant horn-blowing
cherubim, suggests that the painting that was once placed
within it had a similarly triumphant connotation.
76
Both
the Corfu frame and the Holy Communion of the Apostles
thus attest to the unique development of tabernacle frames
in Post-Byzantine art, a subject that has to date escaped
scholarly attention.
77

The Princeton icon recalls the woodworking style of an
eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Epirote iconostasis, and
there are good indications that the Holy Communion of the
Apostles was, in fact, part of an icon screen.
78
Two wooden
slots can be observed on the sides of the icon, one of which
still retains half its wooden spline joint from where it was
sawed of (fg. 16). Considering the architectural associa-
tions of the frame with a temple and the subject of the
painting it shelters, it is more than likely that the Prince ton
Holy Communion of the Apostles was designed for the upper,
centermost part of an iconostasis.
The iconography of the frame, according to Anastasia
Drandaki, curator of Byzantine art at the Benaki Museum,
16 17
both Eastern and Western devotional images. That icons
could be produced en masse does not mean that they were
necessarily generic or had lost, by consequence, their poten-
tial religious functions.
92
Even though icons are by nature
formulaic, the most typical examples of Post- Byzantine art
reveal uniqueness in their complex amalgamations of styles
and subjects. By 1669, the fall of Crete, when Western taste
in Post-Byzantine art was declining and, thus, the lucrative
commissions for it were dwindling, the production of icons
for Orthodox patrons continued unhindered. The contin-
ued manufacture of Post-Byzantine art despite changes in
demand from foreign markets and the loss of Byzantiums
political autonomy underscores one way in which the Byz-
antine tradition was maintained by Orthodox communities.
At a time of political fragmentation in the Orthodox world,
as the former Byzantine territories were constantly divided
and placed under either Latin or Ottoman rule, the role of
icons as visual markers of Orthodox allegiance was critical.
Geographically spread between and beyond the shift-
ing Ottoman and Venetians worlds, and chronologically
suspended, uneasily, from the decline of Byzantium to the
Balkan independence movements, Post-Byzantine art inher-
ently defes boundaries and has remained, not surprisingly,
undefned. My attempt to articulate a specifc meaning as
to what is meant by Post-Byzantine art can by no means
be comprehensive, given the complicated nature of this
material, yet the establishment of a template by which the
cultural and artistic legacy of Byzantium may be measured
is not futile. Most commonly assessed in isolation, Post-
Byzantine art could be better understood within a broader
material culture if clarity were brought to the meaning of the
term. Rather than only pointing out limitations, or search-
ing for other words to convey what Post-Byzantine already
implies, let us establish a useful defnition of it.
93

While stemming from the late Byzantine tradition, Post-
Byzantine art is best characterized by its receptivity to stylis-
tic and iconographic innovation. It is therefore essential not
to typecast Post-Byzantine art as being representative of a
singular style when a variety of schools of painting coexisted
with drastically diferent aesthetic values.
94
The art pro-
duced in the areas under Venetian domination reveals an
interest in and reaction to contemporary politics and cul-
tural trends in its mixed style and nuanced subject matter.
As we have seen, exposure to Renaissance art and culture
had a signifcant impact on stylistic developments. By con-
trast, icons from Ottoman-controlled mainland Greece are
more likely to reveal their ties to the regional styles that
existed in these areas during the Byzantine Empire. These
characteristics, however, are not fxed, and it is precisely
such fexibility that makes this material so unique.
Post-Byzantine art thus refects innovation and continuity,
although it is the former quality by which the progression of
art through history has, by and large, been measured, and the
latter that has led to this materials exclusion from the canon.
95

In the context of both the Venetian and Ottoman hegemo-
nies, Post-Byzantine art is consistently faithful to Orthodox
doctrinal tenets, and it is in this capacity, from within its own
tradition, that this material should be defned, not disre-
garded, in order to contribute to our understanding of the
religious and artistic complexity of the early modern world.
highlighted the difculties in describing the Orthodox art produced post-
1453, there has been no consideration of the use-value of creating an exact
defnition of it. I frst proposed a version of this defnition of Post-Byzantine
art in my masters thesis, The Allegory of the Holy Communion: An Inves-
tigation of a Post-Byzantine Icon Type that Developed on the Ionian Islands
during the Period of the Venetian Hegemony (University of California, Los
Angeles, Fall 2007), and further developed the concept in a recent conference
paper: Defning Post-Byzantium: Historiographic Considerations on the
Legacy of an Empire and the Role of Formalism in Description of Its Art, in
Mis/re/presentation, November 13, 2010, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
On the problematic usage of the term, see Olga Gratziou,
: [Post-Byzan-
tine Art: Chronological Designation or Conceptual Category?], in 1453:

[The Fall of Constantinople and the Transition from the
Medieval to the Modern Period], ed. Tonia Kiousopoulou (Heraklion:
[Crete University Press], 2005), 18396;
Slobodan Curcic, The Absence of Byzantium The Role of a Name,
Nea Estia 82, no.164 (Sept. 2008); and Linda Safran, Byzantine Art in Post-
Byzantine South Italy, Common Knowledge 18, no.3 (Fall 2012): 485504.
5. The concept of Post-Byzantine as a period marker fails to acknowledge
either a specifc chronology or the political orientation of the places it
describes. For the classic account of this nebulously defned period, see Nico-
lai Iorga, Byzance aprs Byzance (Bucharest: Institut dtudes byzantines, 1981).
Also see Lowell Clucas, ed., The Byzantine Legacy in Eastern Europe (Boulder:
East European Monographs, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1988).
6. Since the term Post-Byzantine art remains inconclusively defned, it could
in fact refer to any Orthodox art produced after 1453; nevertheless, I think it
is useful to distinguish a period for which this term is most relevant. By the
time of the Balkan independence movements, I would argue, Orthodox
communities were negotiating a diferent relationship with the legacy of
Byzantium than had existed in the early modern period, one that was much
afected by nationalism. The term neo-Byzantine art has been utilized by
some scholars in southeastern Europe to describe modern Orthodox art,
albeit uncritically. Olga Gratziou has also pointed out this problem of asso-
ciating Post-Byzantine art with a precise period; see her
, 196.
7. The icons are catalogued in the Princeton University Art Museum as
accession nos. 2010-231, 2010-228, 2010-227, and 2010-230.
8. The year 1821 marks the beginning of the Greek Revolution; the First Hel-
lenic Republic was proclaimed in 1822, and ten years later Greece gained
recognition as the independent Kingdom of Greece.
9. Concerns over the impending fall of the Byzantine capital to the Ottomans
led to the gradual relocation of most Constantinopolitan artists to the more
politically secure environment of Crete. For an excellent overview of how
these changing political circumstances afected the artists, see Maria Vassilaki,
Religious Art under Foreign Rule: The Case of the Painter, in The Greek
World under Ottoman and Western Domination: 15th19th Centuries, ed. Paschalis
Kitromilides et al., conference proceedings (New York: Alexander S. Onassis
Public Beneft Foundation, 2008), 8089.
10. Although many of the Western infuences in Post-Byzantine art are in fact
retrograde, this phenomenon may have more to do with the status of Gothic
images as holy cult objects that held religious appeal for painters from Crete.
It was not uncommon for Post-Byzantine artists to also have been monks or
priests. The infuence of Italian Mannerism would later become an impor-
tant trend in Cretan art.
11. I would argue that even Post-Byzantine icons intended for Catholic patrons
generally do not betray the doctrinal tenets of Orthodoxy, although artists
were receptive to depicting scenes outside the canon of Byzantine
iconography.
12. M. Cattapan, Nuovi elenchi e documenti dei pittori in Creta dal 1300 al
1500, Thesaurismata 9 (1972): 21113. Orders for icons were also requested
in forma alla greca or in forma alla latina (in the Greek or Latin form). See
Robin Cormack, Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks, and Shrouds (London:
Reaktion Books, 1997), 214.
13. See Manolis Chatzidakis, Icnes de Saint-Georges des Grecs et de la Collection de
lInstitut (Venice: N. Pozza, 1962), 1719. A rich bibliography exists on the
use of the term Italo-Cretan. See the following essays by Manolis
Chatzidakis: Essaie sur lcole dite italogrecque prcd dune note sur les
rapports de lart vnitien avec lart crtois jusqu 1500, in Venezia e il
Levante fno al secolo XV, ed. A. Pertusi (Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1974),
7281; Les dbuts de lcole crtoise et la question de lcole dite italo-
grecque, in [In memory of Sofa Antoniadis]
(Venice: Hellenic Institute for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies, 1974),
169211; La peinture des Madonneri ou veneto-crtoise et sa destina-
tion, in Venezia, centro di mediazione tra oriente e occidente (secoli XVXVI):
Aspetti e problemi, vol. 2, ed. H. G. Beck, M. Manoussacas, and A. Pertusi
(Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1977), 67490.
14. Many commissions for this type of devotional image that attest to the popu-
larity of the subject have been preserved in the Venetian archives. See
Angelos Delivorrias et al., eds., From Byzantium to Modern Greece: Hellenic Art
in Adversity (New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Beneft Foundation,
2005), cat. no.10 (Icon of the Virgin Madre della Consolazione, by Anastasia
Drandaki).
15. Myrtali Acheimastou-Potamianou, ed., Holy Image, Holy Space: Icons and
Frescoes from Greece (Athens: Byzantine Museum, 1988), 136 and 21112, cat.
no.53 (Virgin and Child).
16. On Italian methods of panel painting, see the Renaissance text by Cennino
Cennini, The Craftsmans Handbook [Il libro dellarte], trans. Daniel V. Thomp-
son (New York: Dover, 1954). Compare with the eighteenth-century
treatise that reveals much of what is known about Byzantine painting prac-
tices: Dionysios of Fourna, The Painters Manual of Dionysios of Fourna,
trans. Paul Hetherington (London: Sagittarius Press, 1974).
17. Artists worked from model books and used anthivola (imprinted cartoons) to
guide the structural layout of their compositions. For a general discussion of
this subject, see Robert Scheller, Exemplum: Model-book Drawings and the
Practice of Artistic Transmission in the Middle Ages (ca. 900ca. 1470) (Amster-
dam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995); and Ernst Kitzinger, The Role of
Miniature Painting in Mural Decoration, in The Place of Book Illumination in
Byzantine Art, ed. Kurt Weitzmann et al., 99142 (Princeton: Art Museum,
Princeton University, 1975).
18. See Chryssanthi Baltogianni,
14
[The London Dormition by Andreas Ritzos and the Dependence on
Painting and Ideological Currents of the 14th Century], in :
[Jubilation: Tribute to Manolis Chatzida-
kis], ed. Evangelia Kypraiou, 2 vols. (Athens:
[Archaeological Resources Receipts Fund], 1992),
1:34553.
19. I thank Norman Muller for pointing this out to me.
20. Basic aspects of an icons manufacture, which tell us so much about the
provenance of an object or its makers artistic training, are often overlooked
in art-historical studies on this material; therefore, I have highlighted some
of these points here. A pioneering study on the practice of mordant gilding
was recently carried out in Thessaly. See Olga Katsibiri and Russell F.Howe,
Micro-Analytical Study of the Mordant Gilding Technique in Three Post-
Byzantine Churches in Thessalia, Greece, in Ninth International Conference
on NDT of Art, Jerusalem, Israel, May 2530, 2008 [available online at www.
afr.org.ro/sica/refe/2008_Katsibiri.pdf]; Olga Katsibiri, Investigation of the
Technique and Materials Used for Mordant Gilding on Byzantine and Post-
Byzantine Icons and Wall Paintings (M. Phil., University of Northumbria at
Newcastle, 2002).
21. It remains undetermined whether the icon was once adorned with a
revetment.
22. The use of pseudo-Arabic script in Italian Renaissance paintings is also well
known. See Rosamond Mack, Oriental Script in Italian Paintings, in
Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 13001600 (Berkeley: Univer-
sity of California Press, 2002), 5171. An excellent account of Venices
interaction with the East and the efects on material culture is given by
Deborah Howard, Venice, the Bazaar of Europe, in Bellini and the East,
ed. Caroline Campbell and Alan Chong (London: National Gallery Com-
pany, 2005), 1235. While there has been much recent interest in the
connection of Renaissance Italy with the East, studies of this subject by
Renaissance art historians have largely neglected consideration of the art
produced by Christians in the Islamic world.
23. Padgett and Spratt, New Acquisitions, 14.
NOTES
I would like to thank J. Michael Padgett, curator of ancient art at the Princeton
University Art Museum, for ofering me this exciting opportunity to study the
Angleton Collection. His support and advice on the project were invaluable.
Anastasia Drandaki, curator of the Byzantine collection at the Benaki Museum,
Athens, kindly reviewed this article and provided me with many suggestions on
the interpretations of the icons. I would also like to express my gratitude to Sharon
Gerstel, professor of Byzantine art at the University of California, Los Angeles,
for her many helpful comments on the project, and to Patricia Fortini Brown,
professor of Renaissance art history at Princeton University, for her direction on
the article. Diamando Rigakou, director of the 21st Byzantine Ephorate in Corfu,
provided welcome assistance, as did Janet Rauscher, associate editor at the Princ-
eton University Art Museum. I am especially grateful for the meticulous com-
ments and excellent suggestions provided to me on the fnal draft by copy editor
Sharon Herson. I thank Norman Muller of the Art Museum for working with
me on the research of the icons preservation history; Anastasia Sakellariadi, Hel-
lenic Studies Post-Doctoral Fellow at Princeton, for her editing assistance and
advice on the imagery associated with Greek independence; and Yanni Petsopou-
los, owner of the AXIA Art Consultants, Ltd., in London for his comments on
the Prince ton head of the Virgin. Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank Mrs.
Ann Angleton Hyde for discussing the history of the collection and her fathers
life at length with me. I am indebted to all who assisted me on this project.
1. Notice of this donation frst appeared in J. Michael Padgett and Emily Spratt,
New Acquisitions, Princeton University Art Museum Magazine (Fall 2011):
14. The donation also included a wooden bread stamp. Originally from
Cephalonia, Phocas Angleton, the collector of the icons, was a businessman,
philanthropist, and theologian with strong ties to the Orthodox Church.
2. For a concise discussion on the waning political infuence of Byzantium, see
Nevra Necipoglu, The Shrinking Empire and the Byzantine Dilemma
between East and West after the Fourth Crusade, in Byzantium between the
Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2009), 1841. On the artistic legacy of Byzantine art
during this period, see Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power
(12611557), exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004).
3. For the purposes of this study, I will occasionally invoke the imperfect, yet
useful, linguistic marker of identity, Greek-speaking regions, to defne the
Orthodox populations that are found in territories with changing political
allegiance in order to avoid the nationalistic and anachronistic description of
these places according to notions of the nation-state of Greece.
4. To date, the most comprehensive discussion of the problematic use of the
term Post-Byzantine in the history of art has been by Olga Gratziou, in a
conference on the fall of Constantinople and the period following Byzan-
tiums decline as a state. While scholars have criticized the term and
18 19
24. A waxed linen encasement was employed in an earlier conservation efort to
keep moisture out of the wood and to prevent the panel from warping.
25. I thank Norman Muller for examining the work and explaining its state of
conservation to me in great depth.
26. Gesso would have been applied to the panel and its frame, followed by boll,
gold leaf, and paint. I thank Norman Muller for describing this to me in detail.
27. The frames of icons sufering from woodworm infestation are often removed
in attempts to preserve the painting from deterioration. Considering that
evidence of woodworms is apparent on the left side of the unpainted portion
of the Princeton head of the Virgin, one might speculate whether the
removal of the frame occurred at the same time as the works overcleaning.
I am grateful to Yanni Petsopoulous for this assessment.
28. Stamatios Chondrogiannis et al., The Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, trans.
Deborah Brown Kazazis (Thessaloniki: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and
Tourism, 2010), 181, cat. no.24 (The Virgin, Hope of All, Enthroned).
29. See Timothy Newbery et al., eds., Italian Renaissance Frames (New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990), 1314.
30. Other icons of this subject with similar dimensions are known, although rare.
31. See Maria Kazanaki-Lappa, ed., Arte bizantina e postbizantina a Venezia:
Museo di icone dellIstituto ellenico di studi bizantini e postbizantini di Venezia
(Trevisi: Eurocromlibri, 2009), 102, cat. no.36 (Testa della Vergine).
32. Ibid.
33. The work measures 41 x 34 cm.
34. The halo of the Virgin in the Corfu icon also features a bordering band of
punched rosettes. Although it has been dated to about 1600, I would date the
icon a century later, if not more. See Chondrogiannis et al., The Anti-
vouniotissa Museum, 25051, cat. no.134 (Virgin Mary).
35. Yanni Petsopoulos, ed., East Christian Art, exh. cat. (London: Axia, 1987),
7475, cat. no.61 (Bust of the Mother of God); Theano Chatzidakis et al.,
LArt des icnes en Crete et dans les sles aprs Byzance, exh. cat., Palais des
Beaux-arts (Charleroi, 1982), cat. no. 30. The work was sold to a private
collector in London during the 1970s. Also see Nano Chatzidakis, Da Candia
a Venezia, icone greche in Italia, XVXVI secolo, exh. cat., Museo Correr,
Venice (Athens: Fondazione per la cultura greca, 1993).
36. The literal meaning of the term deesis is entreaty; scholars have used the
word to describe compositions of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist
fanking and gesturing toward Christ. It may also be used to describe images
of the Virgin or a donor presenting a petition or simply to connote the
Mother of God praying. See Alexander P. Kazhdan, ed., Oxford Dictionary of
Byzantium (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 599600 (Deesis).
I am very grateful to Anastasia Drandaki for suggesting the iconographic
connection of the Princeton head of the Virgin with the multipart represen-
tations of the deesis.
37. See Manolis Borboudakis, ed., Icons of the Cretan School, from Candia to
Moscow and St. Petersburg (Heraklion: Ministry of Culture, Crete, 2004),
cat.nos. 15 and 16 (Christ and the Virgin, respectively). I have described the
positions of these fgures and their postures as seen by the viewer of the
paintings.
38. For an excellent discussion of Post-Byzantine deesis scenes as represented in
integral, not multipart, compositions, see Doula Mouriki, A Deesis Icon in
the Art Museum, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 27, no. 1
(1968): 1328.
39. See Anthony Cutler, Under the Sign of the Deesis: On the Question of
Representativeness in Medieval Art and Literature, Dumbarton Oaks Papers
41 (1987): 14554.
40. Mouriki, A Deesis Icon, 16.
41. Cutler, Under the Sign of the Deesis, 146.
42. Kurt Weitzmann, The Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Icons
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), 3435, pls. XIV, LVII.
43. One of the largest repositories of Post-Byzantine portrait icons of the Virgin
may be found in the Tsakyroglou Collection. Even in this group, one does
not fnd any representations of the Virgin turning leftward as she does in the
Princeton icon. On this collection, see Agapi Karakatsani, ,
[Icons: The Collection of George Tsakyroglou] (Athens:
[Melissa], 1980).
44. Mouriki, A Deesis Icon, 2122.
45. I thank Yanni Petsopoulos for his opinion on the dating of this work, with
which I am in agreement.
46. I have been unable to locate any icons of the Virgin with the same iconog-
raphy (head of the Madonna leaning leftward) that were or were not part of
a deesis group.
47. See Anastasia Drandaki, Four Icons from Veria [sic] and Their Painter,
c.1400, Benaki Museum 6 (2006): 7791.
48. Although it is not completely impossible that the Princeton head of the
Virgin was a part of a deesis group, if part of a larger arrangement, the
unusual placement of the icon on the right of Christ (from the viewers
perspective) would have been truly exceptional.
49. Unfortunately, most scholars who write about Post-Byzantine art do not
look beyond the Cretan school of art. The negative aesthetic bias toward
later Post-Byzantine art in the Greek-speaking regions has led to a lack of
scholarship on this material although there are notable exceptions. See, for
example, Panayiotis Vokotopoulos, [Icons of Corfu]
(Athens:
[Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece], 1990) and Anastasia
Drandaki, Greek Icons: 14th18th Century: The Rena Andreadis Collection
(Milan: Skira, 2002).
50. See Maria Konstantoudaki-Kitromilidou,
,
[Trends and Main Representatives of Icon Painting in Crete,
Cyprus, and the Ionian Islands after the Fall], in
[Grecia durante la venetocrazia / Greece during the Venetian Period], ed. Chryssa
Maltezou, 2 vols. (
[Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine
Studies, Venice], 2010), 1:493534.
51. See the chart refecting the distribution of painters according to periods and
districts, reproduced in Vassilaki, Religious Art under Foreign Rule, the
Case of the Painter (as in note 9 above), 90.
52. The presentation of this text is standardized in representations of Saint
Nicholas. It reads: E : : ,
, . . .) [The Lord said: I am the door: by me if any
man enters in, he shall be saved. . . .]. I am using the translation ofered in
Drandaki, Greek Icons.
53. See Edward G. Clare, St. Nicholas, His Legends and Iconography (Florence:
L.S. Olschki, 1985), 9. Also see the recent exhibition catalogue on this sub-
ject: Michele Bacci, San Nicola: splendori darte dOriente e dOccidente (Milan:
Skira, 2006).
54. See Borboudakis, Icons of the Cretan School, 52021, cat. no. 167 (Saint
Nicholas) and Chryssa Maltezou, ed., Il contributo veneziano nella formazione
del gusto dei greci (XVXVII sec.): Atti del convegno, Venezia, 23 giugno 2000
(Venice: Istituto ellenico di studi bizantini e postbizantini di Venezia, 2001),
174, cat.no.42.
55. Although the omophorion decorated with gray-white fora is more common
in late-seventeenth- to early-eighteenth-century icons, this type of patterning
is known to have been employed on Cretan icons from the mid-seventeenth
century and may be found on works such as the icon of Saint George and
Saint Demetrios now in the Veroia Collection. See Thanasis Papazotos,
The Work of an Unknown Painter in Veroia, Makedonika 1979, 17476;
Borboudakis, Icons of the Cretan School, 176.
56. Discussion of this type of cultural interaction has been largely disregarded on
account of its peripheral status in relation to the Renaissance center of Venice.
57. I thank Anastasia Drandaki for discussing these critical points with me.
58. See Chondrogiannis et al., The Antivouniotissa Museum (as in note 28 above),
153.
59. On Italian Renaissance and Baroque frames, see Paul Mitchell and Lynn
Roberts, Frameworks: Form, Function & Ornament in European Portrait Frames
(London: P. Mitchell in association with Merrell Holberton, 1996), 6478.
60. See the example of the icon of Saint Barnabas resting his feet on the island of
Cyprus, from the Holy Monastery of Machaira: Veronica della Dora, Win-
dows on Heaven (and Earth): The Poetics and Politics of Post- Byzantine
Cartographical Icons, Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 38, no. 1
(2012): 84112, especially 92. For a late-ffteenth-century example of a Post-
Byzantine icon with a coat of arms, see Maria Vassilaki, Some Cretan Icons
in the Walters Art Gallery, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 48 (1990): 7592.
61. The complexities surrounding the concept of infuence and reception in
Renaissance art have been well summarized by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann.
See his Hermeneutics in the History of Art: Remarks on the Reception of
Drer in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries, in New Perspectives
on the Art of Renaissance Nuremberg; Five Essays, ed. J. C. Smith (Austin,
1985), 2239, especially 24.
62. A more critical examination of the question of Western infuence and its
reception in Post-Byzantine art is needed.
63. On the problematic nature of assessing infuence in the history of art, see
Michael Baxandall, Patterns of Intention: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 5862.
64. He is also known as Anthony of Egypt or Anthony of the Desert. On the life
of Saint Anthony the Great, see Robert Gregg, Athanasius, the Life of Antony
and the Letter to Marcellinus (New York: Paulist Press, 1980).
65. See Christine Powell and Zo Allen, Italian Renaissance Frames at the V & A:
A Technical Study (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010), 3233; New-
berry et al., Italian Renaissance Frames (as in note 29 above), 24; Paul Mitchell
and Lynn Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames (London: P.Mitchell
Ltd., 1996), 1520; Timothy Newberry, Frames in the Robert Lehman Collec-
tion, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2007), 2627. There was also a recent exhibition on this subject at the
National Gallery of Art (without catalogue): Tabernacle Frames from the Samuel
H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., July 7September 9, 2007.
66. These features are integral to the icons discussed here.
67. Drandaki, Greek Icons, 26669, cat. nos. 69 (Saint Onouphrios and Saint
Paphnoutios) and 70 (Saint Panteleimon).
68. Ibid.
69. I thank Anastasia Drandaki for ofering this assessment of the work.
70. Dionysios of Fourna states that Saint Anthony should be painted with this
inscribed scroll (The Painters Manual of Dionysios of Fourna, 86).
71. Even during the late Byzantine period, artists from Veroia employed the use
of particularly heavy black lines in their icon paintings. See Thanasis Papazo-
tos, Byzantine Icons of Verroia [sic], trans. John Davis (Athens: Akritas, 1995).
72. Unfortunately, this has been the trend in scholarship as little consideration is
given to the period after the Cretan school of painting.
73. This has been demonstrated particularly well in the case of Crete. See Molly
Greene, A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediter-
ranean World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
74. I thank Anastasia Drandaki for underscoring the importance of this point to me.
75. See Chondrogiannis et al., The Antivouniotissa Museum, Corfu, 26465.
76. Unfortunately, we will never know the subject of the painting that the frame
held.
77. To the best of my knowledge, the use of this frame type in Post-Byzantine
art has not been previously recognized. This is not surprising given that Post-
Byzantine art is typically evaluated by Byzantinists and not by Renaissance
art historians. Rarely is there consideration of this material from the perspec-
tives of both felds. Indeed, the history of Renaissance, Ottoman, and
Byzantine art should all factor into the analysis of Post-Byzantine art.
78. Note the nail that is in the back of the icon holding the remaining spline
joint in place.
79. I am very grateful to Anastasia Drandaki for her evaluation of this icon.
80. Michael Padgett has suggested that this vegetal motif may represent grapes,
in which case they may symbolically refer to the Eucharist. I think there is
also a possibility that they are pomegranates and relate to the themes of
immortality and resurrection. The symbolism of either fruit would comple-
ment the subject of the icon in relation to the formation of the new Hellenic
state and the role of Orthodoxy in it. See George Ferguson, Signs and Sym-
bols in Christian Art (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 3132 and 37.
81. The stylistic presentation of this crown is related to the long tradition of
coronation imagery in Christian art. See ibid., 166.
82. It is interesting that in the Corfu frame the fgures are cherubim and in the
Princeton frame they appear as Nike fgures. I thank Emil Nankov, classical
archaeologist and assistant director at the American Research Center in
Sofa, for his consultation on the interpretation of the Nike fgures.
83. Both paintings are from the famous series commissioned by General Makri-
giannis, one by Dimitrios Zografos and the other by Panagiotis Zografos.
They date between 1836 and 1839 and may now be located in the National
Historical Museum of Athens (inv. no. 3750) and the Gennadius Library
(no. 19), respectively. See Euthymia Papaspyrou-Karadimitriou and Maria
Ladas-Minotos, The National Historical Museum (Athens: Historical and
Ethnological Society of Greece, 1990), 37. For the series of paintings by
Panagiotis Zografos in the Gennadius Library, see the outdated book: Karin
Aridas, Giorgos Aridas, and Elke Erb, Freiheit oder Tod: Bilder des Panagiotis
Zografos ber den Kampf der Griechen gegen die trkische Fremdherrschaft 1821 bis
1830; mit Auszgen aus den Memoiren d. Generals Makrygiannis (Leipzig [u.a.]:
Kiepenheuer, 1982).
84. The archway of the temple front may also be interpreted as a triumphal arch.
85. Spratt, The Allegory of the Holy Communion.
86. See D. D. Triantafllopoulos, o
. (1318 .) [Reli-
gious Antagonism in the Field of Religious Art: The Case of the Ionian
Islands, 13th18th Centuries], in , 1217
: . . : ,
1415 1994 [The Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, 12th
17th Centuries: Proceedings of the International Symposium in Memory of
D. A. Zakythinos, Athens, January 1415, 1994] (Athens:
. [Foundation of Ethnographic
Studies: Institute of Byzantine Studies], 1998), 21741.
87. Spratt, The Allegory of the Holy Communion.
88. Ibid.
89. It is interesting to note that the role of religion in Greek nationalism has had
a tremendous impact on the historiography of Post-Byzantine art. This sub-
ject requires further analysis. On the relationship between Orthodoxy and
nationalism, see Benjamin Fortna et al., eds., State-Nationalisms in the Otto-
man Empire, Greece and Turkey: Orthodox and Muslims, 18301945 (New York:
Routledge, 2013). Also see Paraskeuas Matalas, :
: [Nation and
Orthodoxy: The Adventures of a Relationship: From the Helladic to the
Bulgarian Schism] ( [Crete University
Press], Heraklion, 2002); E. Skopetea,
[The Model Kingdom and the Great Idea] (Athens: Polytypo, 1988).
90. The Skordiles family, in particular, is associated with the style of painting
that developed on the Cyclades, which was a local derivative of the Cre-
tan school of painting. See Manolis Chatzidakis and Eugenia Drakopoulou,
(14501830) [Greek Painters after the Fall],
2 vols. (Athens: Center for Neohellenic Studies, 1997), 2:35559. Unfortu-
nately, there is little scholarship to date on Post-Byzantine Cycladic art. I
am thankful to Anastasia Drandaki for emphasizing to me the connection
between the Princeton Holy Communion of the Apostles and the Cyclades.
91. The types of subjects and styles incorporated into the Princeton Holy Com-
munion of the Apostles would hold particular appeal to modern Greek
painters such as Demetrios Pelekasis (18811973), who found inspiration in
the fexibility of Post-Byzantine art to pay homage to the Byzantine tradition
and to refer to contemporary socio-religious issues. See Yiannis Rigopoulos,
18811973 [Demetrios Spyrido-
nas Pelekasis Painter, 18811973] (Athens: [Platyforos], 2001).
On the continued infuence of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art in the
modern period, see the recent exhibition catalogue from the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Andros: Christos Margaritis, ed.,
, [Depicting
Transcendence from Byzantine Tradition to Modern Art] (Athens:
A [Mikri Arktos], Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Andros, 2013).
92. Unfortunately, strong biases against the aesthetics of Post-Byzantine art have
fostered its exclusion from the canon of art history.
93. While Olga Gratziou, Slobodan Curcic, and Linda Safran have articulated
perceptive and important criticisms of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine termi-
nology, a positivistic approach to this material may also be of use to the feld.
See the publications by these scholars cited in note 4 above.
94. The idea of a uniform Post-Byzantine style derives from the equally prob-
lematic notion that there is also a single Byzantine style. The interpretation
of Byzantine art as a fxed Greek style with negative connotations was frst
espoused by Vasari in the context of the Florentine Renaissance and his
description of the art of Cimabue. See Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists,
trans. George Bull, vol. 1 (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1965), 5051.
95. For this reason, it is not surprising that Post-Byzantine art from the Ottoman
territories has received less scholarly attention than that produced in the
Venetian colonies.