International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Fani Drosogianni
Athens, Greece; 
[e-mail]
Naxos. Sparse Western Influences at Naxos
Present-day scholarship only hesitantly admits the existence of western influences in the 
13
th
century Byzantine paintings at Naxos. Yet there do exist some paintings there where western 
influence is somewhat pronounced and consequently rather indisputable. At the church of Saint 
John the Theologian near Agia there survives a wall-painting with a figure of Saint Mary holding the 
child Christ in her arms. The markedly wide shape of the beautiful face of Saint Mary, the huge eyes 
wide apart, the somewhat ungraded colouring of the flesh and the suavity of expression are vaguely 
reminiscent of the painting of Saint Mary in the Nativity at Purgg.
The rendering of the infant Christ is also somewhat peculiar. His head is tossed backwards 
away from the face of His Mother (a rather rare posture) while His blessing right hand is raised in 
a vigorous upward movement quite different from the dignified and masterly gesture of a blessing 
hand. Also quite peculiar is the ingenuous expression of the infant Christ.
The rest of the figures depicted in the church, though sharing the suavity of expression of Saint 
Mary, are more conventional.
Another church out of the common run is that of Saint Nicholas at Sangri. Its wall-paintings 
have been touched upon time and again in the past. Yet there is more to be said about them.
This church has three if not four overlapping strata of painting and a dedicatory inscription 
(among others) that gives a dating corresponding to A.D. 1269-1270. We take it for granted that 
this attribution is correct, though the layer of stucco underlying the inscription does not connect 
directly with any of the layers of stucco underlying the different strata of painting.
It is the last stratum that mostly survives in the church and that displays certain peculiarities. It 
comprises mainly a Baptism, a Nativity, a Saint Mary Vlachernitissa in the conch of the apse and an 
Annunciation on the pilasters on either side of the apse. The somewhat surprising uncouthness of the 
two figures of the Annunciation is due to unlucky restoration work attempted in the past as is apparent 
in the artless overpainting of the borders of the composition and of the overlapping wing of the angel.
It is in the scene of the Nativity that western influence is blatantly in evidence. The western traits 
in the dress of the young shepherd in this scene have already been observed and have been attributed 
to a painter who was depicting the style of dress current at the time at Naxos. However it seems more 
likely that the painter was here only employing an imported draught. If there was any originality in the 
painting it would have been also evident in the depiction of the rest of the figures. Intimation about 
the use of foreign draughts is afforded by the overall setting of the scene in an idyllic verdant landscape 
with the young shepherd nonchalantly playing his flute impervious to the seriousness of the occasion.
Further examples of western influence are attested in the 13
th
century Naxos.
Of the two cases mentioned above the first one is I believe attributable to the taste and choice 
of donors who were possibly in awareness of western works of art of a more worldly character as 
opposed to byzantine aloofness, while the second one is evidently attributable to a more or less 
mechanical adoption of ready-made forms.

---

854