Zograf : časopis za srednjovekovnu umetnost

: Sopoćani and Gradac; King Uroš (1243-1276) erected the Church of the Holy Trinity in the Sopoćani monastery in about 1270 and, in it, he prepared tombs for the first hegoumenos of Sopoćani, his mother Queen Ana, for himself and the then archbishop, Joanikije (Fig. 1). Over each tomb there is a marble sarcophagus surrounded by appropriate wall paintings. The tombs of Uroš and Joanikije were located in the western bay of the naos. Thus, the recently announced hypothesis, that the endowed did not intend to be buried in Sopoćani, is unfounded. The intention of King Uroš was only brought into question in 1276 when he was driven from the throne by his older son, Dragutin. The overthrow caused a major drama in the family, the state and the Church. King Uroš retired to the southern part of the state (Hum), where he became a monk and subsequently died (perhaps in 1277). His wife Jelena received vast territories from her son, the new king, which she practically ruled independently, while Archbishop Joanikije, after having denied Dragutin his blessing, retired with the former king and died in the region of Pilot in 1279. King Dragutin (1276-1282) made a great effort to mitigate the negative effects of the overthrow: he continued his father's foreign policy established good relations with neighboring Dubrovnik, took pains to appease his mother, Queen Jelena, by granting her vast territories, and to win the support of the Church by erecting, repairing or presenting gifts to several churches and monasteries. He certainly obtained the Sopoćani monastery through hereditary ktetorial rights.

: Specific authorial features and history of art; The paper deals with the members of the groups of painters engaged in painting the upper bays of the narthex (second half of the fourth decade of the fourteenth century) and the porch (before 1346) of St. Sophia in Ohrid, as well as the work of the members of those groups of painters in later monuments in Ohrid, in Ljuboten and the Monastery of King Marko.

: Specific research of Serbian Byzantine influence in Poland. Frescoes in the Monastery in Supraśl; The paper is dedicated to the origin of the fresco paintings in the Annunciation Church of the Theotokos Monastery in Supraśl (Poland). The results of previous studies were presented. A description of the original layout of the frescoes was necessary to determine iconographic solutions that suggest the painters’ place of origin. In this context, the paper proposes the Balkan or Serbian origin of the style of the frescoes in Supraśl and some of their iconographic motifs and scenes.

: Spolia from the Church of St. Nicholas in Nikoljac; Two, so far unknown, spolia with carved interlace ornaments, built into the wall of the Church of St. Nicholas in Nikoljac are analyzed. These spolia are a part of the collection of fragments discovered earlier in the Church of St. Peter in Bijelo Polje. A comparative analysis was performed on a multitude of pre-Romanic material, in order to determine the time when they were made and whether they originated from any specific circle of stonemasons, and also to identify the initial position of the fragments in the liturgical church furniture for which they had been carved. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177036]

: St. Sofia in Ohrid, Space, Structure, Forms. Sources; This work comments in particular on studies dealing with the church of St. Sofia in Ohrid. Among them are the monographs of two authors, Barbara Maria Schellewald (Die Arhitektur der Sophien Kirchen in Ohrid, Bon 1986) and Boris Čipan (Sveta Sofija, katedralen hram na ohridskata arhiepiskopija, Skopje 1995). Special attention is devoted to the typological interpretation of St. Sofia, to its initial design as a triple-nave basilica with a dome at the centre. Insightful descriptions are given about the older monuments in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. Special attention is paid to the external architectonic workmanship. The western façade of St. Sofia demonstrates the features of Late Byzantine architecture, while the eastern façade directly reveals the triple-nave spatial design. That is why this article on St. Sofia contains sketches of the western and the eastern façades, illustrating the features of its architectonic specificities. On the whole, the author presents St. Sofia in Ohrid as a unique work of architecture of the Byzantine region. .

: Steatite Icon with the Deposition at the Monastery of Iveron on Mount Athos; This paper deals with a steatite icon of the Deposition, which is enshrined in the sacristy of Iveron monastery. The icon consists of two parts, one rectangular of light grey-greenish colour, with a smooth surface, and one arched of a darker colouring, porous texture and a rougher surface. The rectangular, older part of the icon is a fragment of a twelfth century icon from which the lower left angle and fragments of the right and upper side are lost. The fracture of this twelfth century icon led to its restitution which took place in the fourteenth century (the arched part), as it appears by the stylistic data and the inscriptions. At the same time the icon was embedded in the wooden panel.

: Stratigraphy of the wall paintings in the main church of the Praskvica Monastery; In the katholikon of the monastery of Praskvica there are remains of two layers of post-Byzantine wall-painting: the earlier, from the third quarter of the sixteenth century, and later, from the first half of the seventeenth century, which is the conclusion based on stylistic analysis and technical features. The portions of frescoes belonging to one or the other layer can be clearly distinguished from one another and the content of the surviving representations read more thoroughly than before. It seems that the remains of wall-painting on what originally was the west facade of the church also belong to the earlier layer. It is possible that the church was not frescoed in the lifetime of its ktetor, Balša III Balšić. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst i br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]

: Studenica. An identity in marble; This paper discusses the nature and inherent symbolics of the material of choice of which the body of the church of the Virgin Euergetis at Studenica was fashioned. In view of Byzantine theological concepts deeply ingrained in this material, concepts which were present and well understood also among the learned theologians of medieval Serbia, this paper presents the implied messages behind such a choice of material as well as the possible theological, ideological and political interpretations and applications of this medium at the time of Nemanja’s founding of Studenica and raising of the church of the Virgin therein. It thus questions the theory of its marble facades as simply a case of a Byzantine structure clad in Romanesque garb.

: Studies in Late Dugento and Early Trecento Painting. Who is Duccio?; This study focuses on the meaning of Duccio's certain early masterpiece begun in 1285, his Rucellai Madonna: its iconography, style, spatial structure and ornament, to serve as the basis of a more extended examination of his artistic career and sphere of influence, to be examined in a later publication. It also comments on its relationship to two works of art not far removed in time, the tiny Madonna of the Three Franciscans in the Siena Pinacoteca, and especially the round stained glass window from Siena Cathedral that has been attributed to both Duccio and Cimabue.

: Sveti Đorđe u Gornjem Kozjaku - opažanja o arhitekturi; (francuski) Le travail est consacre aux observations sur l'architecture de l'église Saint-Georges ä Gornji Kozjak d'après les notes et les dessins faits par l'auteur lors de sa visite du monument. Le texte comporte également des écrits précédents sur le monument, notamment ceux de la monographic de St. Mihailov. Le texte présente une intepretation nouvelle de l'idée du constructeur de Saint-Georges. Prenant pour base le texte de G. Babić et M. Šuput sur l'Eglise du Roi a Studenica, l'auteur conclut que celle de Saint Georges est construite selon l'idée idéale du temple ä une coupole, connue du texte authentique de l'hymne Syrien sur l'architecture de l'église cathédrale ä Edessa. L'auteur est d'avis qu'il faut en principe considérer ä part les temples de conception similaire, savoir ceux ä coupole surplombant un espace cubique régulier. .

: The Busts of the Church Hierarchs in the Altar of the Virgin Peribleptos in Ohrid; The author writes about the seventeen busts of the church hierarchs painted in the central part of the altar area above the figures of officiating Church Fathers. Starting from the north side, there are depictions of St. Dionysios, St. Hierotheos, St. Michael the Confessor, St. Eutychios, St. Paul the Confessor, St. Germanos, St. Tarasios, St. Methodios, St. James the Brother of God, St. Silvester, St. Clement of Rome, St. Metrophanes, St. John the Almsgiver, St. Meletios, St. Epiphanios, St. Andrew of Crete and St. Amphilochios. The fact that the central position in the frieze of busts is occupied by St. James Adelphotheos points to the significance of Jerusalem, James' devotion to Christ and the aposties' decision to elect him as the first bishop of Jerusalem. Other monuments of Byzantine painting are mentioned in which an important role was attached to this bishop. The grouping of the Constantinopolitane patriarchs around St. James Adelphotheos (St. Germanos, St. Tarasios, St. Methodios) is considered in the context of the victory over the iconoclasts, after 843. Among them is the patriarch of Constantinople, St. Paul the Confessor, while on the other side St. Metrophanes is painted. This article also contains an excursus about St. Germanos of Constantinople, with a description of his cult in the region of Prespa. Author mentions that among the popes, St. Clement of Rome was widely revered in the Ohrid diocese, by virtue of the fact that St. Clement of Ohrid received the same monastic name as that Roman pontiff, and also because of the transfer of his relics from Cherson in the Crimea to Rome, by the brothers from Thessalonica, SS. Cyril and Methodios. The author refers to the figures of St. Michael the Confessor and St. Eutyhios, expressing the assumption that St. Michael, bishop of Synada, was painted alongside of St. Eutyhios, patriarch of Constantinople, in the effort to preserve the memory of the painters of the Ohrid church, Michael Astrapas and Eutychios. In medieval art, the image of St. Michael of Synada is painted only in the illustrated calendars (May 23r ), while St. Eutyhios of Constantinople appears in the compositions of the 5 Ecumenical Council. The Athenian hierarchs, St. Dionysios and St. Hierotheos have their place because they took part in the burial of the Blessed Virgin, and they are also depicted in the Assumption of the Virgin, in the same church. The other painted hierarchs - patriarch of Alexandria John the Almsgiver, patriarch Meletios of Antioch, as well as the aforementioned hierarchs were at the head of the old and renowned Christian centres - Cyprus, Crete and Iconium. This principle of the arrangement was almost always applied in the churches after the victory of the iconophiles, and can be seen in full in the altar of St. Sofia in Ohrid. Of the hierarchs outside the altar space, next to the altar chancel on the northern wall of the church, there are presentations only of St. Clement of Ohrid and St. Constantine Kabasilas, as the representatives of the Ohrid church. The endeavour of the painters to illustrate the unity and ecumenical nature of the church in the Christian world is evident. In that respect, analogies are highlighted with the choice and presentations of the leaders of the Christian cathedrals in the altar of St. Sofia of Ohrid, about which A. Grabar and S. Radojčić have given thorough accounts. .

: The Byzantine Opus Sectile Floor in the Katholikon of Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos; The Byzantine opus sectile floor in the katholikon of Iveron monastery is one of the best preserved and most remarkable opus sectile floors in Athos, made as a piètre dure like most Athonite floors. Was constructed around the mid-1 11th century, probably by craftsmen from the Constantinople, as part of the 'renovations' commissioned by George the Athonite during his highly creative office as abbot of the monastery (1045-1056). .

Zograf : časopis za srednjovekovnu umetnost

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