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Reassessing a Late Byzantine masterpiece: the Deesis mosaic in the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2021

Konstantinos M. Vapheiades
Konstantinos M. Vapheiades*
Affiliation:
Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens [email protected]
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Abstract

After the recapture of Constantinople (1261) artistic production in Byzantium experienced a recovery. In the capital of Byzantium itself this period is marked by the mosaic panel of the Deesis in the Hagia Sophia. This work constitutes a ‘one-off’ in Byzantine art. This fact poses a series of questions concerning the dating, the creator and the patron of the mosaic, as well as the reasons for its creation, given that no source makes any reference to these matters. The present study attempts to re-examine these issues.

Keywords

ConstantinopleDeesisByzantine mosaicsHagia Sophia
Type
Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , October 2021 , pp. 166 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham

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Footnotes

I am so grateful to the two reviewers for their valuable suggestions. I am also thankful to Dr. N. Vryzidis for his helpful remarks.

References

1 The literature on Late Byzantine painting is vast. See e.g. Κ. Μ. Vapheiades, Ύστερη βυζαντινή ζωγραφική. Χώρος και μορφή στην τέχνη της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, 1150–1450 (Athens 2015) with bibliography.

2 T. Whittemore, The Mosaics of Haghia Sophia at Istanbul. Fourth preliminary report work done in 1934–1938. The Deesis Panel of the South Gallery (Oxford 1952) 26–8. Cf. J. Polzer, ‘Dating the Hagia Sophia Deesis’, Arte Medievale IV serie - anno IX (2019) 113–32. The author connects the Deesis panel with the Italian monumental mosaics of the twelfth century.

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17 Boissonade, Anecdota Graeca, 349.

18 Talbot, ‘The Restoration’, 252, n. 63.

19 Whittemore, The Deesis Panel, 21–2.

20 The most recent edition of Mesarites’ Ekphrasis is to be found in Beatrice Daskas, Nicola Mesarite, Descrizione della Chiesa dei Santi Apostoli a Costantinopoli. Traduzione, introduzione, commento (Milan 2013) 124–62. On this issue, see for example B. Daskas, ‘Nikolaos Mesarites, Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople: new critical perspectives’, Παρεκβολαί 6 (2016) 79–102. See also the studies in M. Mullett and R. G. Ousterhout (eds), The Holy Apostles: a lost monument, a forgotten project, and the presentness of the past (Washington D.C. 2020).

21 Kitzinger, E., ‘Byzantine and Medieval mosaics after Justinian’, Encyclopedia of World Art 10 (1965) 344Google Scholar; Maguire, H., ‘Truth and convention in Byzantine description of works of art’, Dumbarton Oaks Paper 28 (1974) 121–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Wharton Epstein, ‘The rebuilding’, 85–9.

23 See Α. Orlandos, Η Παρηγορίτισσα της Άρτης (Athens 1963) 108–27; D. Nicol, ‘Thomas Despot of Epiros and the foundation date of the Paregoritissa at Arta’, Βυζαντινά 13 (1985) 748–58; N. K. Moutsopoulos, Οι βυζαντινές εκκλησίες της Άρτας (Thessaloniki 2002) 91–130; L. Fundić, ‘Η μνημειακή τέχνη του Δεσποτάτου της Ηπείρου την περίοδο της δυναστείας των Κομνηνών Αγγέλων (1204–1318)’ [PhD] (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 2013) 24, 72–3.

24 See Μ. Chatzidakis, ‘Aspects de la peinture murale du XIIIe s. en Grèce’, in V. J. Djurić (ed.), L'art byzantine du XIIIe siècle. Symposium de Sopoćani (Belgrade 1967) 59–75; V. J. Djurić, ‘La peinture murale byzantine: XIIe et XIIIe siècles’, Actes du XVe Congrès International d’Études Byzantines, Athènes, 5–11 septembre 1976, III, Art et Archéologie, Byzance de 1071 à 1261 (Athens 1976) 40–90; S. Kalopissi-Verti, ‘Tendenze stilistiche della pittura monumentale in Grecia durante il XIII secolo’, Corso di Cultura sull'Arte Ravennate e Bizantina 7 (1984) 221–53; Vapheiades, Ύστερη βυζαντινή ζωγραφική, 92–159.

25 The literature about the Crusader art is extensive. See for example H. Buchthal and F. Wormald, Miniature Painting in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Oxford 1957); J. Folda, Crusader Manuscript Illumination of Saint Jean D’ Acre, 1275–1291 (Princeton 1976); G. Kühnel, The Wall Paintings in Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Berlin 1988); J. Folda, Crusader Art: the art of the crusaders in the Holy Land, 1098–1187 (Cambridge 1995), and Crusader Art: the art of the crusaders in the Holy Land, 1199–1291 (Aldershot 2008); J. Wollesen, Acre or Cyprus? A new approach to the Crusader painting around 1300 (Berlin 2013).

26 See for example B. Penkova (ed.), The Bojana Church Between the East and the West and the Art of Christian Europe (Sofia 2011).

27 M. Panayotidi, ‘Some observations on thirteenth-century Sinai icons and Bojana frescoes (1259)’, in Penkova (ed.), op.cit. 216–20.

28 K. Kefala, Οι τοιχογραφίες του 13ου αιώνα στις εκκλησίες της Ρόδου (Athens 2015) 35–107.

29 For these issues see for example I. Giarenis, Η συγκρότηση και εδραίωση της αυτοκρατορίας της Νίκαιας. Ο αυτοκράτορας Θεόδωρος Α΄ Κομνηνός Λάσκαρης (Athens 2008).

30 Djurić, ‘La peinture byzantine’, 52–3; P. L. Vokotopoulos, ‘Παρατηρήσεις στο ναό του Σωτήρος κοντά στο Γαλαξείδι’, Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 17 (1993–94) 199–210; Μ. Borboudakis, ‘Ο ναός του Αγίου Νικολάου στα Κυριακοσέλια Αποκορώνου’, Πεπραγμένα του Ι΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Χανιά, 1–8 Οκτωβρίου 2006, vol. Β.2 (Chania 2011) 273–316.

31 See D. G. Giannoulis, Οι τοιχογραφίες των βυζαντινών μνημείων της Άρτας κατά την περίοδο του Δεσποτάτου της Ηπείρου (Ioannina 2010); P. Vokotopoulos, ‘La peinture dans le Despotat d’Épire’, in J-P. Caillet and F. Joubert (eds), Orient et Occident méditerranéens au XIIIe siècle: les programmes picturaux (Paris 2012); Fundić, Η μνημειακή τέχνη.

32 See e.g. V. J. Djurić (ed.), Mileševa dans l'histoire du peuple serbe (Belgrade 1987); B. Cvetković, ‘Vizantijski car I freske u priprati Mileševe’, Balcanica 32–33 (2003) 297–311; B. Todić, ‘Novo tumačnje programa I rasporeda fresaka u Mileševi’, in C. Grozdanov (ed.), Sur les pas de Vojislav J. Djurić (Belgrade 2011) 55–68; P. Vlahović (ed.), Mećunarobni naučni skui osam bekova manastira Mileševa (Mileševa 2013).

33 See Vapheiades, K. M., ‘The wall-paintings of the Protaton Church revisited’, Zograf. A Journal of Medieval Art 43 (2019) 113–28Google Scholar. For the wall-paintings of the Protaton Church see the bibliography in Vapheiades, loc. cit. For the stylistic relationship between the wall-paintings of the Protaton Church and the mosaic of Hagia Sophia see Vapheiades, Protaton, 181–2.

34 The bibliography on the mosaics of the Chora Monastery is extensive. See e.g. C. Mango and A. Ertuğ, Chora, The Scroll of Heaven (Istanbul 2000) 17–25; R. G. Ousterhout, The Art of the Kariye Camii (London 2002); H. A. Klein, R. G. Ousterhout and B. Pitarakis (eds), Kariye Camii Yeniden / The Kariye Camii Reconsidered (Istanbul 2011).

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37 Cf. C. Jolivet-Lévy, ‘Présence et figures du souverain à Sainte-Sophie de Constantinople et à l’église de la Sainte-Croix d'Aghtamar’, in H. Maguire (ed.) Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204 (Washington, D.C. 2004) 231–7.

38 Nicephori Gregorae, Byzantina Historia, VII, 274–5.

39 The literature on the iconographic theme of the Deesis is extensive. See e..g. Ν. Ghioles, ‘Eschatological representations of Christ’, in Ch. A. Maltezou and G. Galavaris (eds.), Christo nell’ Arte Bizantina e Postbizantina, Atti del convegno, Organizzato nell’ ambito delle celebrazioni promosse dal Patriarcato di Venezia in occasione del Bimillenario della Nascita di Gesù Cristo, Venezia, 22–23 Settembre 2000 (Venice 2002) 48–50, with bibliography.

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41 See Laurent, V., ‘Les grandes crises religieuses à Byzance: la fin du schisme arsénite’, Académie Roumaine, Bulletin de la Section Historique, 26 (1945) 225–313Google Scholar, and ‘Les crises religieuses à Byzance: le schism antiarsénite du métropolite de Philadelphie Théolepte († ca. 1324)’, Revue des Études Byzantines 18 (1960) 45–54. For the Arsenite see also Laurent, V., ‘Les grandes crises religieuses à Byzance: la fin du schisme Arsenite’, Bulletin de la Section Historique 26/2 (1945) 225–313Google Scholar; I. E. Troitskij, Arsenij i Arsenity (London 1973); A. Kontogianopoulou, ‘Το σχίσμα των Αρσενιατών (1265–1310). Συμβολή στη μελέτη της πορείας και της φύσης του κινήματος’, Βυζαντιακά 18 (1998) 177–235; I.-Tudorie, A., ‘Le schisme Arsénite (1265–1310): entre Akribeia et Oikonomia’, Zbornik Radova Bizantološkog Instituta 48 (2011) 133–74Google Scholar.

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43 See for example S. Ćurčić, ‘Đakonikon kao isposnica: pitanje posebnih prostornih namena u monaškoj crkvenoj arhitekturi Srbije i Vizantije’, in Συμμεικτα. Collection of Papers Dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of the Institute for Art History, Faculty of Philosophy,University of Belgrade, ed. I. Stevović (Belgrade 2012) 196–200.

44 N. Toutos and G. Fousteris, Ευρετήριον της μνημειακής ζωγραφικής του Αγίου Όρους, 10ος – 17ος αιώνας (Αthens 2010) no. 4.2.

45 See e.g. E. Bakalova Bačkovskata Kostnica (Sofia 1977). E. Bakalova, V. Kolarova, P. Popov, V. Todorov (eds.), The Ossuary of the Bachkovo Monastery (Plovdiv 2003).

46 Kostovska, P., ‘Programata na žibopisot na crkvata sv. Nikola vo Varoš kaj Prilep i nejzinata finkcija kako grobna kapela’, Zbornik za Srednovekovna Ymetnost 3 (2001) 50–75Google Scholar.

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48 See Ρ. Etzeoglou, Ο ναός της Οδηγήτριας του Βροντοχίου στον Μυστρά. Οι τοιχογραφίες του νάρθηκα και η λειτουργική χρήση του χώρου (Athens 2013) 27–8.

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50 E. M. Antoniades, Έκφρασις της Αγίας Σοφίας, vol. II (Athens 1908) 316–17. Cf. Th. E. A. Dale, ‘Sacred space from Constantinople to Venise’, in P. Stephenson (ed.), The Byzantine World (London 2009) 406–27.

51 See Melvani, N., ‘The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors’, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 42/2 (2018) 237–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 See A. Tantsis, Το υπερώο στη Βυζαντινή ναοδομία (Thessaloniki 2008).

53 For this issue see e.g. A. Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem: the imperial Pharos Chapel as the Holy Sepulchre’, in A. Hoffman and G. Wolf (eds), Jerusalem as Narrative space – Erzählraum Jerusalem (Leiden 2012) 63–103.

54 For these mosaics, see e.g. Ch. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, ‘Άγιοι Απόστολοι’, in Ε. Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, Ch. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi and Ch. Bakirtzis, Ψηφιδωτά της Θεσσαλονίκης, 4ος–14ος αιώνας (Athens 2012) 299–302, 309–53, for the Patriarch Nephon, 300, 301–2.