Original scientific paper
A Study of Icons form the Confraternity of All Saints in Korčula
Tatjana Mićević-Đurić
; Džemal Bijedić Uviversity of Mostar, Faculty of Education, Fine Arts
Abstract
There are 14 icons in the collection of the Confraternity of All Saints in Korčula. So far the public has been aware of the Virgin Eleusa with a female donor, and the »Large« and Small« Crucifix. The other icons have been just briefly mentioned in one review on the occasion of the presentation of the collection.
Here we publish for the first time two icons from the collection, the Virgin Passionate and Deisis. The first one is interesting for its iconography. One of the most typical iconographic
models of the Cretan painting is here presented in a rather unique way. By combining elements of a Hodigitria and an Eleusa the artist has achieved an effect of pain and suffering, typical for the Virgin Passionate, in particular by placing a crown of thorns upon the child’s head. Dating of this icon to the 17th ct. is helped by a sense of beauty and the soft painterly technique, as well as presence of certain Baroque details. The Deisis reveals anachronistic iconography with subtle western influences. For these reasons, and for a relatively low level of quality, this icon is dated to the middle of the 17th ct. We also deal with a 17th ct. crucifix, which so far has been only casually mentioned. It represents a late repetition of an old iconographic theme typical of early Cretan painting clearly showing strong Gothic influences. The work is mediocre, but its rarity makes it interesting.
Next we correct some earlier datings of the icon of St. George on horseback killing a dragon. It used to be dated to the 17th ct. but we move it an entire century forward as it displays classical
Cretan iconography from the early phase of Cretan painting, incompatible with the 17th ct., when elements of the Baroque start to be clearly felt. The icons with Holy Warriors were also dated to the second half of the 16th ct. but on the basis of their stylistic characteristics we propose to date them to the beginning of the century.
The same is the case with the icon showing a male and a female saint which we identify as St. Nicholas and St. Paraskeva, and thus also explain their meaning. Theological learning and iconographic complexity is also revealed by the icon with three saints – St. Dyonisios, St. Eleutherios and St. Onophrios. We have explained it as a symbolic representation of three saintly categories – holy monks, holy bishops, and holy ascetics. In the end, by a correct identification of so far incorrectly identified figure on the icon showing St. Anne with the Virgin and Christ along with two saints we have succeeded in explaining its meaning. Instead of
St. Joachim next to the central group flanked on the other side by St. John the Baptist, there is St. Athanasios of Alexandria. By such identification supported also by a partly preserved inscription we have explained the icon as a complex and indirect representation of the Holy Trinity.
We have concluded that the collection is very valuable and representative, and that its coming into being should, correctly, be linked with the participation of forces from Korčula
in the Candian war, and their withdrawal. Thus the hypothesis of the Cretan origin of the Virgin Eleusa with a female donor appears very probable and justifiable. Finally, it would seem that the choice of paintings in terms of their artistic quality and iconographic program was deliberate and made by a well informed person, and not accidental.
Keywords
Icon; icon painting; Crete late post-Byzantine painting; iconography; Confraternity of All Saints in Korčula; Eastern Mediterranean
Hrčak ID:
105258
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2008.
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