International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Flavia Vanni
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 
[e-mail]
Working Stucco in Byzantium: Some Evidence from the Written Sources
The use of moulded stucco for the interior decoration of Byzantine buildings is a topic that lies 
in a grey area of scholarship. The lack of material evidence and its ephemeral nature could give the 
impression that stucco was not frequently used. However a considerable number of churches show 
such decorations. In some cases, there is a double presence of both stucco and marble sculptural 
decoration that lead us to think about craftsmen and about building-site organization.
There was a specific production of stucco mouldings or sculptures? Were artisans who worked 
stucco specialized craftsmen? This paper focuses on passages from written sources of the Middle 
Byzantine period that provide glimpses of the artisans who worked gypsum and stucco within their 
contemporary society and allow us to visualize their artefacts. 
“Human forms made of stucco” were current in the houses of the élites: Theodore Balsamon, in 
his Commentary of the Council in Trullo (12
th
century), complains about the “immoral practice” of 
decorating walls with indecorous scenes in stucco. In addition, people who ‘had to do’ with gypsum 
and stucco are mentioned in Regulation books, such as the Book of the Eparch, in the Life of Saint 
Lazarus, in some Lexika and, incidentally, in some passages of the Church Fathers. The emerging 
blurry picture induces a reflection on the value of written sources for visualizing Byzantine art and 
for understanding Byzantine artistic culture.
Geoffrey Meyer-Fernandez
Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France; 
[e-mail]
Le revêtement en stuc des icônes à Chypre au XIII
e
siècle
À la fin du XII
e
siècle, la production chypriote d›icônes est caractérisée par le développement 
d’un décor en stuc. Les historiens de l›art ont tenté d›attribuer une origine occidentale ou 
orientale à cette technique. Cette communication vise à reconsidérer cette approche. Pour ce faire, 
nous l’appréhenderons comme un mode artistique commun aux différentes cultures du bassin 
méditerranéen. Le contexte historique permettra d›avancer des hypothèses d›explication quant à 
son usage fréquent, au XIII
e
siècle. Enfin, nous tenterons de comprendre son succès en s›interrogeant 
sur les techniques de mise en œuvre des stucateurs ainsi que sur la façon dont ils ont su tirer partie 
d’un contexte particulier pour multiplier les commandes.

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