Zograf : časopis za srednjovekovnu umetnost

: The Siena relic of St John the Baptist’s right arm; The paper takes a systematic approach to the hitherto unpublished relic of St John the Baptist’s right arm which is kept in a cache in Siena cathedral. It includes the available historical information about the relic’s journey from Serbia until its arrival in Siena (1464) and the circumstances in which it came into the possession of pope Pius II. It provides a detailed description both of the relic and of the reliquary, an exquisite piece of medieval goldsmithing and filigree work with few direct analogies. Particular attention is devoted to the inscription on the reliquary lid: “Right arm of John the Forerunner, cover me, Sava the Serbian archbishop.” Based on the inscription, the reliquary is identified as one of the founding objects of the treasury of the monastery of Žiča (the Serbian cathedral and coronation church) which was gradually built up in the first decades of the thirteenth century through the effort of Sava of Serbia. Discussed in the context of this topic are also the “veil” and the “cushion”, the luxurious textiles in which the Baptist’s arm was brought to Siena. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177003: Medieval heritage of the Balkans: institutions and culture]

: The So-called "Athonite" Type of Church and Two Shrines of the Theotokos in Constantinople; The textual descriptions of alterations carried in the two most important Theotokos’ churches in Constantinople, the Blachernae and the Theotokos in Chalkoprateia, focus on the addition of lateral apses to the buildings. This type is very likely the source of influence and also the basis for the transference of the concept of lateral apses in Athonite katholika.

: The Staging of the Passion Scenes; The paper analyses the creative approach in the configuration of compositional schemes depicting the Passion scenes in several painted ensembles from the 14th century in terms of the stylistic nuances of their execution. Starting from the interaction of structural components of the pictures, it gives insight into the artistic qualities of the scenic arrangement of the represented motifs.

: The Stone Synthronon and the Frieze of Fresco Icons in the Altar in the Church of the Ascension of Christ in Žiča; The semi-circular exedra at the end of the altar apse, with a single or step-like bench and a cathedra in the centre, is among the important, focal points in the liturgical rites of the Orthodox Christian Church: the hierarchs dwells in the "upper place" several times during the Divine Liturgy. Here, in the act of enthronement, he receives the administration of his church. The synthronon is reserved for the co-administrants. The function of this part of the building soon began to influence the programme of the painted ornamentation. Among the mechanisms linking the exedra and the painting in the altar area, one can distinguish the translation of the symbolic base of the cathedra in the upper place and the synthronon in the programme and the adaptation of the ornaments to their liturgical and ritual application. The painting of the lowest zone of the apse in Žiča, the initial seat of the autocephalous Serbian church, comprises both these principles. It is testimony of the mutual inter-relationship of the function of the space, and the symbolism and painting that was created from it...

: The Symbolical Investiture of the Archbishop Basil of Bulgaria at Melnik; The heretofore variously explained fresco in the apse of the church at Melnik showing the apostle Peter, a bishop and Christ is now interpreted as the symbolical investiture of archbishop Basil. The interpretation is based on iconography analysis taking into account the other frescoes in the apse as well as on the sources relating to the short-lived union of the Bulgarian (Tirnovo) Archbishopric with Rome. The fresco has been dated between 1204 and 1207. .

: The Third Chrysobull of Žiča; The chrysobulls of King Stefan the First Crowned, and his son, Radoslav, to the monastery of Žiča, written on the walls of the passage beneath the bell-tower of the Church of the Holy Saviour, were already observed in the 1820s and were published several times, on the basis of various transcriptions. However, no one noticed that beside them, on the surfaces beneath the figures of the saint apostles, Peter and Paul, in the soffit of the arch on the western side, there were severely damaged texts, inscribed in small script, the traces of which allow us to recognise yet another deed of gift of King Stefan. The text started off on the southern side with an invocation and intitulation, followed by an exposition containing a series of toponyms that resumed on an appropriate surface on the northern wall, also enumerating the donated possessions, and ending in a sanction. This third chrysobull was probably granted before the end of the reign of Stefan the First Crowned, when the need was felt to officially confirm possession of the estates that were later granted. Nevertheless, given the worn out state of the text from exposure to bad weather conditions, the content does not offer any significant data that could fill in the picture of the Žiča feudal holdings, with unknown estates. Like the two previous documents, the third chrysobull was also inscribed when the church was being redecorated, in the time of Archbishop Sava III (1309-1316). Technically, it was done in the same layer of plaster and has the characteristic lettering used in the first two chrysobulls. The fact that its contents were written in smaller letters on small fields at the side, although there was enough space on the larger empty surfaces beneath the first two, can probably be explained by the intention to repeat the way in which the chrysobulls were arranged in the passage beneath the bell-tower, in the time of Archbishop Sava I. Then, also in an abbreviated version, in front of the first two documents, extracts from the third were displayed on the free, relatively small surfaces.

: The Wall Painting in the Church of St. Nicholas tes Rhodias near Arta; The paper deals with the wall paintings in the Church of St. Nicholas tes Rhodias near Arta. Many scenes and individual figures are identified for the first time, and the majority of inscriptions on the frescoes are deciphered. A significant part of the text consists of a detailed analysis of the iconographic program, with particular emphasis on the iconography and style of certain depictions, which are seldom encountered in Byzantine wall painting, or possess specific features. The findings suggest that the decoration should be dated in the second half of the thirteenth century.

: The Wall Painting in the Outer Narthex of Đurđevi Stupovi (Church of St. George) in Budimlja, near Berane; Altered by repairs and largely concealed by later additions, the walls of the exonarthex in the cathedral Church of St. George near Berane (Vasojevići), now reveal very little of their earlier fresco decoration. There was the developed cycle of a frescoed menology depicted in the higher zones of the walls, whereas in the lowest zone were the images of saints archangels and the portraits of rulers. Judging by analogies that can be established with similar Serbian monuments of that epoch, the vault probably depicted the Ecumenical Councils...

: The Wall Painting on the Western Façade and the Lunette of the Southern Portal of St. Nicholas in Ljuboten; The wall painting on the façades of St. Nicholas in Ljuboten near Skopje, the endowment of 'Lady Danica', a noblewoman in the time of King Dušan, was destroyed in 1928, during the restoration of the church. Evidence of the appearance of the hitherto unnoticed decoration on the western facade and the southern entrance can be seen on glass plates in the Photograph Collection of the National Museum in Belgrade. When the photographs Nos. 1438, 1444 and 1567 were taken, the painting on the Ljuboten church façades, although damaged or washed away, was still partly visible. On the western façade it extended in three zones (the socle, the standing figures and the busts) across the entire façade and from the ground to the porch, the roof of which stood at the foot of the western wall archivolt, while the ornamentation of the southern façade covered the lunette above the entrance and its archivolt. Although in 1925, the painting did not contain a single legible signature or physiognomy, thematically, the outer ornamentation of Ljuboten is essentially clear. The bust of the Mother of God with the infant Christ, facing south, was in the centre of the compositional focus of the western façade. Three figures stood on the left and on the right sides of the portal, one on each of the pilasters, and one monumental figure in each of two niches. From the south, a church hierarch, with short, curly beard, was moving in a stooping position towards the Mother of God. He, certainly, could be identified as the patron of the church, St. Nicholas. The saint raises his right hand in a gesture of exhortation. Behind him, a figure in monastic habit was painted. This person holds a model of the church in the left hand, with the right hand in a gesture of prayer. Undoubtedly, it was the donatrix of the church painted here. As opposed to the figures in the southern part of the western façade, those in the northern part were facing forward. We recognized a saint on the pilaster beside the entrance, by the traces of his robes, but this was insufficient for establishing what category of saints he belongs; there was a standing image of a holy warrior in a niche, clad in a tunic and cloak, while the outermost northern pilaster was occupied by the image of a holy martyr. Evidence of the zone of the busts (between the figures and the roof) is to be seen only fragmentarily (above the figure of the patron) with the traces of clothing that was typical for martyrs. The depictions in the lunette and in the niches were framed by ornamental bands but it is not known what the socle looked like. Above the southern entrance there was a bust of St. Nicholas, recognizable by the remains of presentations of Christ and the Mother of God, who, on the images of this saint, were holding out a Gospel and an omophorion to this courageous hierarch. The painting of external façades was a widely cultivated feature in the region of Macedonia, from the twelfth century at the very latest. According to the volume of façade surfaces covered with frescoes, Ljuboten belongs to the churches in which ornamentation of this kind occupied a significant place. In keeping with a practice that had been cultivated for centuries, the painter chose the façades that had an entrance and portals as the basis for his painting, and as the starting point for the gradation of themes according to their importance. The frescoes on the west façade, where it concerns the position of the details in the whole, follow a program topology that is typical of the external ornamentation of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The entrance to the church was already reserved in the time of Constantine the Great, for the visualization of the religious and legal aspects of the donor's undertaking. The general features of the art of this epoch included also the donor's portrait supraporta. Positioned in such a way for the merits of the founder already to be visible on entering the churchyard, the portrait of Lady Danica, both in terms of its structure and its place in the whole - thanks to the symbolism of the entrance - placed the eschatological meaning of φιλοκτεσια in the foreground. Owing to the condition in which it existed before its destruction, the fresco painting on the western façade does not offer much material for an iconographical analysis. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to note that, in conceptualizing the composition of the donor, the painter decided on a formula of modesty and praesentatio, less frequently practiced in the fourteenth century, and that in depicting the donatrix, he opted for a symbiosis of the motive of supplication and guiding by the hand, retaining from the previous model, the position of the model of the endowment, and finally, in writing out the inscription, he used 'cartouches', combining, like some contemporaries, tabulae and circular 'shields'. In terms of style, the façade frescoes (the shallow volume, broad forms, soft, languid lines and the mild contrast) are linked with the younger layer of fresco paintings of the Ljuboten interior (1343-1345), attributed to the fresco painters of Mateič and Dradnja. The article systematically explains the dating of the younger paintings of the church of St. Nicholas, and suggests a more precise time frame for its creation, in the years 1343-1344, expressing the conviction that the façade was painted during the same campaign, just before the task was completed in the naos. As for the history of Ljuboten, the fresco painting on the west façade is the only proper addition to the data offered by the inscription carved on the lintel of the western portal. The fact that the credit for building the church is attributed only to one member of the donor's family in the time of decorating the lower zones of the naos with frescoes, most clearly supports the conclusion that the portrait of the Lady Danica stood in the southern niche. A detail of importance for prosopographic research is provided by the robes of the prudent donatrix. Lady Danica took the veil at some time between 1336/1337, when the inscription was carved above the entrance, and the painting of the western façade (1343-1345). Today, unfortunately, we do not know whether the founders of the church building also financed the painting of her endowment. In searching for the reasons why the work on the decoration of the church was suspended, the author considers that the reasons for the interruption must have been serious. He believes that the work was suspended due to events in the donatrix's life, perhaps as a result of her death (already in her mature years at the time when the church was built), which would mean, consequently, that the noblewoman Danica only financed the first phase of the church's painting works. Who - if this were so - would be the donor of the younger part of paintings? In the absence of proof that would provide the right answer, the author returns to the thesis of I. M. Djordjević, according to which the monogram Dmitar, carved into the lower side of the lintel on the western entrance, reveals in fact the name of the younger son of Lady Danica, the co-donor of his mother at the time when the building was erected. This name is concealed on the inscription from the face of the mentioned lintel ('other son'). For Dmitar, the care taken to complete the task of painting the frescoes would be the resumption of an endeavour that had been undertaken much earlier. In support of this would be the fact that a holy warrior was painted in the northern niche, as the counterpart of the donatrix. The appearance of a saint of this type in such an important place in the fresco decoration of the noblewoman's endowment would primarily reflect the social status of the donor's family, but - due to the frequent coincidence of the name of the client and his protector - one cannot neglect the possibility, either, that it was connected with the person from the monogram, i.e. that St. Demetrius was standing opposite the donatrix. It would also indicate that this choice of saint in the northern niche served as testimony of the participation of the 'other son' in the decoration of his mother's endowment. .

: The Wall Paintings of the Church of Al-Adra in the Monastery of Deir-el-Baramus (Wadi-el-Natrun); The fragmentarily preserved frescoes of the Church of Al-Adra in the monastery of Deir el-Baramus were fortunately discovered in 1986. They are located in the apse, on the southern wall of the altar area and along the walls of the nave. The condition of the frescoes makes it difficult to give a stylistic evaluation, and it is hard to determine the chronology of the frescoes because of the lack of literary sources and inscriptions. The style of the painting and the architectural data on the church lead one to dating all the preserved frescoes of Deir-el-Baramus to the same period. It probably involves the period after the repair of the central and lateral aisles, which probably took place after 1200. Apart from that, a comparison with other works from the same epoch indicates that the thirteenth century was most probably the time when the frescoes came into being.

: The architecture of the church of Saint George at Rečani - the original design and subsequent alterations; The church of Saint George at Rečani, destroyed in the summer of 1999, belonged to the group of small-sized churches in the form of a compact cross-in-square, with three bays and a dome. In terms of architectural features, the church at Rečani did not stand out among modest churches founded by Serbian aristocrats in the fourteenth century. The examined documentation, drawings made by conservation professionals and records of conservation works have provided valuable information related to the architectural features of the church, which was listed as a cultural monument on June 1961, becoming a state-protected asset. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst]

: The chronology and the historical context of the construction of the Studenica monastery; The paper deals with the chronology of the construction of the Studenica monastery and the historical context of Stefan Nemanja’s founding act. The study focuses on the data provided by early hagiographies of Stefan Nemanja, particularly on the information that the Serbian Grand Župan issued a chrysobull for the monastery, as well as the reference to his title of samodržac (autokrator). The emergence of Constantinopolitan influences during the construction of the monastery Studenica is associated with the political relations between the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos and Stefan Nemanja. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032]

Zograf : časopis za srednjovekovnu umetnost

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