Supervisors info:
Μαρία Κωνσταντουδάκη-Κιτρομηλίδου, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια Βυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Αθανάσιος Σέμογλου, Καθηγητής Βυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Ιωάννα Στουφή-Πουλημένου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογίας και Επιγραφικής, Τμήμα Θεολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
This paper deals with issues of Byzantine and Western art in Venetian Crete in the 15th century on the occasion of the work of the important painter of the Post-Byzantine Art Cretan School, Andreas Ritzos who lived and worked in Chandakas (today’s Heraklion) of Crete. The historical background of the Introduction analyzes the historical, economic and social conditions in Venetian Crete of the 15th century, with information about craftsmen, professionals and the mixed society of the time.
Below is an overview of the iconographic and stylistic elements of the Post-Byzantine Cretan School, which are presented in signed and unsigned paintings, an overview of the names of preceding and contemporary artists who worked in Crete, as well as frescoes in the churches of the island throughout the 15th century. A general view of the work of Andreas Ritzos is made in Chapter 1. This chapter includes a brief history of the painter’s research biography and his works of art, which consists of the signed and some paintings attributed by the researchers to Andreas Ritzos.
A detailed study of the painter’s signed and unsigned works is carried out in Chapter 2 in relation to the Palaiologan art and the previous Cretan painting. In particular through comparison with other works (icons, paintings, manuscripts, frescoes and other works of art) of the Palaiologan period and the previous Cretan art, an attempt is made to seek the standards (iconographic, stylistic) and the sources of Andreas Ritzos. Similarly in Chapter 3, the western iconographic and stylistic features are identified and pointed out in the works of the painter, and his potential sources and his knowledge of Western art are sought through comparisons with western paintings.
In Chapter 4 a general reference is made to the patrons of the Cretan icons, the ways in which the painters sold their paintings and the terms of the contracts of the orders. Particularly, information is then sought for the commissioners of the works of Andreas Ritzos, with evidence of the painter’s works, due to the lack of the written sources. The following is Chapter 5, in which, it is attempted to determine whether the pictorial types created by the painter were successful in order to acquire continuity in time based on the paintings of Cretan artists of the 16th and 17th century. The following are the Conclusions of the survey, the Catalog of the origin of the images, bibliography and images (fig. 1-146).
Keywords:
Andreas Ritzos, Cretan School, Palaiologan Art, Western Art, icons, painting, 15th century
