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Nektarios Zarras
University of Münster, Münster, Germany;
nectarios.zarras@gmail.com
Innovation and Experimentation in 13-Century Painting:
The Phenomenon of Eutychios and Michael Astrapas
Study of the work of two paramount painters of the early Palaiologan period, Eutychios and
Michael Astrapas, is an ongoing challenge for
historians of Byzantine art, as the deeper and more
detailed examination of still unexplored aspects of their artistic creation continues to arouse great
interest. A dominant characteristic of their painting, which appears already at the beginning of
their career, is the conscious effort to renew the pictorial art of their time. Expression of the novel
and the different seems to have been a profound artistic need for Michael and Eutychios, which is
imprinted clearly in the first church they are known to have decorated, the Peribleptos in Ochrid
(1294/5).
Study of the Peribleptos, whether in the minutiae or in the totality of its painting, reveals a
pioneering monument, which in comparison with the known painting of this period is innovative to
such a degree that it makes the church unique. The innovations in the Peribleptos are encountered
both in the iconography of the representations and in the design of the iconographic programme.
The depiction of new and extensive iconographic cycles but also of individual subjects of profound
theological content, the secular themes with their explicit
references to antiquity, as well as the
remodeling of earlier subjects in new types, all compose an emblematic monument which is clearly
differentiated from its contemporaries. Furthermore, the innovations in the manner of organizing
the iconographic subjects, either by using large single surfaces
for narrative renderings, or smaller
surfaces for individual subjects, in combination with the symbolism of the space, enhance the
Peribleptos as a revolutionary monument in the thirteenth century.
The church in Ochrid represents all those changes in art that justify the transition from
the Middle to the Late Byzantine period and which were to progress in the fourteenth century.
Masterworks of Palaiologan monumental painting, creations not only of
the Astrapas painters but
also of other important artists in Constantinople, Thessaloniki and other cities, are the evolution of
the basic pictorial principles observed in the Peribleptos. The remarkable effect of the Peribleptos
on artistic developments during the fourteenth century leaves no doubt that the formation of the
artistic personality of Michael and of Eutychios, in the period after the recapture of Constantinople
(1261), is linked with the imperial capital. The artistic osmosis of the two painters from Thessaloniki
with nearby Constantinople must have been continuous, because only
thus can we explain their
uninterrupted artistic development, which enabled them to evolve stylistically, but mainly to renew
their iconographic repertoire and to create a new status quo through the pioneering way in which
they project their painting within the architectural space. In their art and life, Michael and Eutychios
are perhaps the most characteristic examples of professional painters of the
Palaiologan age who left
behind them a bold and groundbreaking oeuvre, the impact of which on artistic circles of the period
was analogous to their surname – Thunder and Lightning!