Sneana Filipova

Examples of Icons with Western Influences

in Iconography in the Art of Macedonia
Case Study of the Icon Virgin with Child (inv. no. 81) from the Ohrid Gallery of Icons

UDK: 75.046.3:232.931(497.7)13 Sneana Filipova

Sts Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia
snezanaf@fzf.ukim.edu.mk

It was probably after King Duans promotion to emperor that he and his wife Helena gifted the Church of Peribleptos in Ohrid
with several icons, among which is an icon of the Virgin Mary with Child, inv. no. 81, now in the Ohrid Gallery of Icons, the sub-
ject of this paper. Behind the Virgin and Christ according to the stylistic and physical characteristics may be hidden the image
of Empress Helena and her son Uro. The portrait of the Virgin Mary and Empress Helena bear a striking resemblance if we refer
to her portrait from Lesnovo church (1345). It is possible that the same master who painted Uro in the fresco of Deani may
have painted the icon of the Virgin with Child. Deani paintings in the narthex with the Nemanji dynasty family tree date from
1347-1348 when Uro was eleven or twelve. The icon was painted approximately around 1343-1344. Deanis main architect
was a Franciscan monk Fra Vita from Kotor. An opinion has been expressed that the icon painter was a Byzantine artist work-
ing in the Adriatic region, from Dubrovnik, Kotor or Venice, but he could be a western artist, coming from Italy, more precisely
from the Siena region. As for the royal portraits on the icon, it is not uncommon subject. There are several portraits of members
of the Komnenian, Laskaridi and Palaeologan dynasties, who have been portrayed as saints and there are also many saints
dressed like royals in the fresco painting in the Republic of Macedonia and Greece. Thus, the icon of the Holy Virgin with Child
from the Ohrid Peribleptos church may be added to this series of royal portraits as a kind of Imitatio Christi.

Keywords: icon, medieval Macedonia, 14th century, Emperor Duan, Empress Helena, Ohrid Archbishopric, Holy Virgin
Peribleptos, Ohrid, Italian Gothic style, Duccio, royal portrait

For a long time it was believed that the Byzantine icons were strongly stereotyped by the Byzantine artistic
tradition. Yet, Svetozar Radoji concluded that Research has demonstrated in fact that the icon was often the
means of launching new ideas in art.1 The Macedonian collection of icons numbers over 20,000 works of art, the
largest number belonging to the 19th century with the others to the Middle Ages. This collection is among the
most valuable collections of icons in the world. The close relationship between icons and frescoes is evident in
the art of Ohrid starting from the 11th century, although not a single locally produced icon from that time has
been preserved, their appearance and style are known to us from the imitations preserved in the fresco tech-
nique, often named fresco icons, in the altar area of Saint Sophia in Ohrid (time of Archbishop Leon, after 1025-
1056). These imitations only include the iconic features easily reproducible in the fresco technique.2
The cult of the icon became widespread in Byzantium and lands within its cultural circle in the late 11th and
the whole of the 12th century, partly because iconostasis was introduced. The transitional form, between altar screen
and iconostasis, was in use in Serbian and Macedonian regions until the first years of the 14th century. Instead of
portraying full-length figures they now represent half-length figures; although below them hung textiles that gave
the impression that the figures were standing behind curtains. In the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, venerable
icon types continued to be copied, while new icon compositions also developed, such as the biographical icon and
the icon in a miniature mosaic. The addition of precious metal revetments to icons was very popular, and most of the
Macedonian medieval icons do preserve the revetment, often beautified with added precious stones.
According to the inscriptions and notes found on icons from this period, now not only the rulers and dig-
nitaries as it was in the past, but also wider social layers were donating icons to churches. Various stylistic charac-

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teristics appear on the icons depending on their origin and the artistic education of their authors.3 The Archbish-
opric of Ohrid was an important artistic center, by the 11th century, where also icons were produced. The oldest
icons discovered in Macedonia (Ohrid) date from the 11th and early 12th centuries. Thirteen century icon creation
abounds in such a great wealth and variety of style that each icon virtually represents a unique style.4 In the
early 14th century, Palaeologan Renaissance in icon-painting was introduced. The brothers Metropolitan John
Zograph and Hieromonk Macarius icons represent the highest level of icon-painting in Macedonia of the 14th
century. The late 14th century, due to the Ottoman conquest of Macedonia, brings a sharp decline in the quality
of fresco-painting and icon-painting. Fresco-painters worked as icon-painters during the entire medieval period.
After the fall of Byzantium, icon production continued and developed into specific local schools in Greece, Serbia,
Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia.5 Whatever the extent of the influence by the Constantinople school on
these icons, it is useless to deny their original and high artistic accomplishments.
There is a very small group of icons in the Ohrid collection of icons in Macedonia, where the spirit of the
Western art pervades, represented with the following icons: the icon of the Virgin with Christ (figs. 1, 2, 3) from
the Church of Holy Virgin Peribleptos (inv. no. 81), St Nicholas (fig. 4), from St Nicholas Gerakomia in Ohrid, and
another processional icon of the Holy Virgin Psychosostria (fig. 5) in the Ohrid Gallery of Icons.6
Unfortunately, since the icon of St Nicholas has been repainted, such stylistic resemblance is not obvious and
I am not convinced they were made by the same painter/atelier. The silver revetments were probably made later
and they are not at all or by default an indication of the chronology of the icons. Neither does the way the hands
or eyes were painted indicates the same artist. The lower part of the nose partially shows similarities. As we know,
sometimes the same icon was reused or repainted later, as is the case here. Neither of the icons, inv. no. 81 or the St
Nicholas icon from St Nicholas Gerakomia, have been X-rayed so we do not know how many layers there are, but
it is obvious that the icon of the Virgin has been damaged and restored several times. The dossier of the icon Virgin
with Child in the Ohrid Institute for Protection and Conservation of Monuments contains only one old black and
white photo of the whole icon and several low quality photographs taken from an angle show the damaged parts.
The Republic Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments in Skopje has numerous photos of icon no. 81, but
there is none showing the whole icon without the revetment, only a part of the icon with the Virgins head (fig. 5).
This photo shows the revetment has covered at least the upper part of the himation of Christ, and the Virgins halo.7
The icon of Virgin Psychosostria (early 14th century) with the Annunciation on the reverse was part of the
iconostasis of the Holy Virgin Peribleptos in Ohrid. In the upper part of the icon there are two angels, obviously
made by another painter, that strongly resemble Gothic painting. All three (figs. 1, 4, 5) are painted with tempera,
plaster ground on canvas overlaid on board, a revetment with gilded silver. Some art historians have expressed
the opinion that the two icons (figs. 1 and 4), judging by their identical size, were pendants, and that the style of
painting and especially, the silver revetments, indicates they were created in the same atelier that was under the
strong influence of the West.8 Still, their dimensions differ by about 10 centimeters, the Holy Virgin with Christ is
92x53 cm, and St Nicholas is 91x63.5 cm.9
There are no historical sources that could answer the question of where the influence of Western stylistic
elements on these icons came from. In Serbia in the second quarter of the 14th century there appeared the so-
called pictores graeci (Greek painters) who were mostly Byzantine artists engaged along the Adriatic coast.
Viktor Lasareff thinks that from 1160-1190 Byzantine art underwent such radical changes at the hands of Sicilian
artists that we may confidently characterize these Sicilian modifications as the first step in the evolution of the
so-called maniera bizantina.10 Their stylistic concepts may have reached Macedonia after its fall under the rule of
the Serbian medieval state in the late 13th century.
Margherita Guarducci assumed that the image of the Mother of God, named Hodegetria, the oldest image of
the Holy Virgin claimed to be painted by the Apostle Luke, could be related to a large circular icon only of the Virgins
head. She explains that when the icon arrived in Constantinople, the head was fitted into a very large rectangular icon
of her holding the Christ child and it is this composite icon that became the one historically known as the Hodegetria.11

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Ohrid icon of the Holy Virgin and Christ child (inv. no. 81)

In the early 20th century the icon from the Ohrid Gallery of Icons (inv. no. 81) was placed on the top of the
iconostasis of the Holy Virgin Peribleptos Church in Ohrid. The oldest photo of the icon was taken in 1909 by
Kondakov. The technique used in the icon is tempera and gold on canvas painted over an extraordinary thin layer
of ground, typical for Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. On the silver gilded revetment, made to fit this
icon, the inscription mentions the donor (of the revetment?), Archbishop Nicholas.12 Nicholas ruled the Church of
Ohrid from 1342-1356 and his portrait is represented in several Ohrid churches. He was present during the coro-
nation of Emperor Duan in Skopje in 1346. Christ wears a pale yellow chiton without sleeves, girded around his
waist with a vermilion belt, while the Virgin has a dark green cap under the maphorion similar to the one on the
Ohrid double-sided icon of the 14th century Mother of God Psychosostria, from the Church of the Mother of God
Peribleptos (St Clement) in Ohrid, executed in tempera, plaster ground on board (158x122x4 cm), coated with a
gilded silver revetment (inv. no. 82).13 Yet, the way the himation is painted has nothing in common with the one
on icon inv. no. 81. The position of the Virgins hands is typical for Italian painters of the late 13th and 14th centuries.
The Virgins right hand is half bent holding Christs left foot. The drawing of the hand is very visible, either because
it was repainted sometime later by a not-so-skillful painter, or during 20th century conservations. There is also
green enamel, actually champlev used to fill in the lozenge forms of the frame.
Sometime after the first conservation (several have been performed - in the 1950s, 1980s, in 2007 and 2009)
the stone above the Virgins head disappeared (or was removed?). There is a black and white photograph showing
detail of the Virgins face without the metal revetment, made by the conservators who obviously took out the revet-
ment (fig. 3). I did not receive the photograph of the whole icon so the observations here were made solely from
this single photograph of the Virgins head from unknown date. Here we see how precise the transparent stripe of
the maphorion and the blue kerchief were painted, and the first drawing of the eyebrow with short lines. The Virgins
face and especially that of Christ were greatly damaged. There are traces of a much larger halo revetment with the
holes for the pins to attach it onto the Virgins maphorion, covering half of it. There is an original painted halo, so the
icon obviously received its revetment later. It can be seen in the photograph that the painter (during the process?)
had changed her lips and inclination towards Christ. There are small vertical accents between the eyes, under the
right eye and at the bottom of the nose, on the left part of the chin. Christs foot shows a longer fourth toe, or per-
haps it was repainted like that and become elongated during the conservation process in the 20th century?
The dossier of the icon, kept in the Republic Institute of Conservation and Protection of Macedonia, contains
a helpful drawing made in 1999 (the conservation and the drawing are signed by Kavkaleski, fig. 6). Here we see that
quite a lot of the Virgins face, upper part of the maphorion, Jesus hair and left shoulder were repaired by applying
color to the surfaces where the color and the ground were missing. Analogies in the form and position of the right
hand of the Virgin where she holds Christs foot are numerous but only a few come from Macedonia: the fresco icon
of the Holy Virgin with Child on the right side of the iconostasis in St Georges in Staro Nagoriino (1313), where the
himation is golden and it ends like the one on the Ohrid icon, the right leg of Christ has a similar position, and the
himation of the Virgin folds the same crescent-like way under the body of Christ. Another example is the fresco of
the Holy Virgin with Child in Zaum (1361, apse). The Holy Virgin is represented in full figure as in the above men-
tioned frescoes and the fresco icons of Virgin in the churches of the Holy Archangels in Lesnovo, St George in Staro
Nagoriino (fig. 7), the Holy Virgin in Mateje (fig. 8), St Sophia in Ohrid and the Holy Virgin in Zaum (fig. 9).
On the Ohrid icon Christ wears a western type of shirt and there are no stars on the Virgins head, shoulders
and sleeves, there are 90 straight folds in the cloak, unlike the rest of the maphorion, and a rather geometrized
himation. The most unusual detail is Christs sideways look while blessing.
The iconographic type of the icon has not been defined; the Holy Virgin is a tender mother and looks rather
sad although calm and introspective. The Christ child is represented distant from her face; he is blessing and not
really connected to his mother, however he looks to the side. She is not of the Hodegetria iconographic type since

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2. Icon of Holy
Virgin with Child,
Ohrid Gallery
of Icons, inv. no.
81 (from: Bihajli
Merin, Freske i
Ikone, 1960)

3. Detail of the face

of Virgin with Child,
Ohrid without the
metal revetment
(courtesy of
Republic Institute
for Protection and
1. Icon of Holy Virgin with Child, around 1343, previously on the Conservation)
iconostasis of Holy Virgin Perivleptos church, Ohrid Gallery of
Icons, inv. no. 81 (photo: S. Filipova)

4. Icon of St Nicholas, church of St.
Nicholas Gerakomia in Ohrid, mid
14th c., repainted in the 19th c. by
Dio Zograf (from: K. ,
1995, fig. 37)
5. Processional icon of Holy Virgin 6. Icon of Holy Virgin with Child,
Psychosostria, Ohrid Gallery of Icons, drawing by I. Kovkaleski, Ohrid
early 14th c. (photo: S. Filipova)

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 Filipova, Examples of Icons with Western Influences

7. Icon of Holy Virgin with Child, St George, Staro Nagoriino, pillar 8. Holy Virgin, pillar fresco icon, church of Holy Virgin, Mateje,
fresco icon, 1313 (photo: M. Mani) Kumanovo (photo: E. Dimitrova)

10. Cimabue, Maest, Lower Church of San Francesco, Assisi, transept vault
(1278-1280)

9. Holy Virgin with Christ, fresco of the apse, Zaum, 1361

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she does not point to Christ with her hand, and is also not of the Eleusa iconographic type since the child is not
nestled against her cheek. Nikolay Kondakov names it Strasnaja (Virgin of Tenderness) and compares the Ohrid
icon no. 81 to a famous Moscow monastery icon.14 Yet, there are no angels with the symbols of Christ suffering so
it cannot be that iconographic type. Was this iconography actually due to a western painter who did not know
the Hodegetria type or was there a purpose in painting it this way?
The Ohrid icon inv. no. 81 resembles many Gothic Italian altar paintings and has nothing in common with
the Cretan school (recognized as folds with golden lines, stars on the head, sleeves etc.). Some fresco paintings
made by the Gothic Italian painters show details that are present in this Ohrid icon. For instance, the detail in which
the Virgin holds Christs foot seems to be in the manner of the late 13th-early 14th century Italian Gothic paintings
of Madonna and Child, such as the Cimabues Maest (1278-1280) in the south arm of the western transept of the
Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi (fig. 10), Simone Martinis Madonna and Child from The Cambridge Altar-
piece (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne (1320-25) or fresco in Sala del
Mappamondo in Palazzo Publico in Siena and Giottos altarpiece Ognissanti Madonna at the Uffizi Gallery in Flor-
ence. When comparing some of Duccios Madonnas with Ohrid icon inv. no. 81, there are obvious similarities in
the way of treating the eyes and the space between the eyebrows, as well as the cheek. The arch of the eyebrows
is the same. The chiton of Christ shows the closest resemblance with Crevole Madonna (Madonna with Child and
two Angels) made in 1283-1284, today in the Museo dell Opera del Duomo in Siena (fig. 11). There are examples of
icons and frescoes of the Virgin with Child showing an aside look, yet the childs neck is not so twisted and usually
it is the Virgin of Sorrow iconographic type when Christ turns to the angels - Our Mother of Perpetual Help, 13th or
14th century, today in Rome,15 Virgin Theotokos, end of the 13th century, National Gallery of Art in Washington (fig.
12) or the icon attributed to Andreas Ritzos, late 15th century, Reclinghausen, Ikonen Museum (fig. 13).16
The description of the Ohrid icon made by Milo Georgievski is very detailed: The unusual iconography and
the style distinguish it from the other icons of the collection, in the first place by the realism and freshness of the col-
ors. The Mother of God is presented as a young woman, half-length with the infant Christ on her left arm. She has a red
maphorion, hemmed with a yellow stripe, and underneath, on her head, she has a blue kerchief instead of the usual
Greek cap. Georgievski did not notice the himation is represented fallen around the child waist, which is very typical
for the playing child Christ on Italian Gothic icons. Part of the himation on the left is hidden by the silver revetment.
Christ is dressed in a grayish-white chiton, girded around the waist with a red belt and in an orange cloak. He holds
a scroll in his left hand and gives a blessing with his right one. His hair is reddish-brown. The incarnates are modeled
in ochre with greenish and yellowish shades and red on the cheeks while the prominent parts are pronounced with
white. The shadings of the faces are gradual so that it seems that the painter has tried to imitate the natural color of
the skin. He has even drawn eyelashes on the Mother of God and colored her lips in vermilion. The background of
the icon and the aureoles of the Mother of God and Christ are covered with coating of ornamented silver plates.17
This silver revetment with floral scrolls is similar to that of on older icon with the Virgin from the Annunciation Diptych
dated to the 12th century.18 Kosta Balabanov thinks the floral scrolls of the revetment belong to medieval Italian style.19
The decoration of the Virgins aureole contains the symbols of the evangelists: Matthew (angel), John (ea-
gle), and combined symbols of Luke (calf ) and Mark (lion), as a two-headed eagle with their names. On both sides
of the Mother of God there is the inscription: M() (), placed in two medallions while Christs inscription:
() () is in his aureole. There are also five standing figures of prophets, turned to the Mother of God
represented on the revetment.

Hidden imperial portraits or articulation of power, symbiosis of the divine and secular

Imperial portraits of Duan and his family are numerous.20 The construction of Visoki Deani, began during
the reign of Stefan Uro III Deanski in 1327 and was continued by Stefan Duan until 1335. The monasterys main
architect was Fra Vita, a Franciscan monk from Kotor. Groups of masters performing different styles accomplished the

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mural paintings by 1347-1348, coming from various parts of the world. Only one has put his signature on the frescoes
in the chapel of St Demetrius (Sergio the sinner).21 This is the time after Duans promotion to emperor and the period
when he had gifted the Church of Peribleptos with several icons. The same atelier of painters from Visoki Deani may
have been employed to paint icons for the Virgin Peribleptos Church, among which is the Ohrid icon no. 81, accord-
ing to the stylistic analogies between the Uro portrait from Visoki Deani and the Christ child from the Ohrid icon.
Geordje Mazali thinks the painter of the Ohrid icon inv. no. 81 comes from Crete,22 yet it has nothing in
common with the Cretan style. Darko Nikolov, on the contrary, thinks it comes from Dubrovnik and Dalmatia in
general.23 Kondakov believed it was similar to a Russian Byzantine style icon.24 It could be that all these differences
in the styles attribution may be united and explained by Viktor Lazarevs opinion that the Byzantine inspiration in
Duccios art comes from the early Palaeologan style.25
There are several portraits of members of the Komnenian, Laskaris and Paleologan dynasties, who have
been portrayed in the fresco painting and icons in the Republic of Macedonia and Greece as St Constantine and
Helena (St George Kurbinovo), or holy warriors (the Holy Virgin Cosmosotera, Phere, St Panteleimon, Nerezi,
the Holy Virgin Phorbiotissa, Asinou, Cyprus, portraits of members of Komnenian dynasty), St Theodor icon, 1204
(portrait of Theodor I Laskaris as a holy warrior), Virgin Peribleptos, Ohrid (portraits of members of Palaeologan
dynasty represented as royals at the Heavenly Court).26
The Virgin Marys face on the Ohrid icon no. 81 shows great similarities to the portrait of Queen Helena (fig.
14), painted in the Church of Lesnovo, 1345. Both women are of a similar age. Christ is depicted as a 7-8 year-old
on the icon, and so is the age of Uro (fig. 15) at the time when Lesnovo was finished. The original Lesnovo ico-
nostasis has been lost for good (only a damaged icon of the Virgin with Child remains that shows no analogies), so
we are only able compare icon no. 81 with the style of the fresco painters in Lesnovo. Painters in the naos share
the same way the face and the neck were treated. Only the color of the flesh is different. The original church was
painted in 1346-1347, the outer narthex in 1349.27
Christ and the young King Uro (born 1336 or 1337) look very much alike if we compare the Christ child
from the Ohrid icon inv. no. 81 and the Uro portrait from Visoki Deani. It is possible the same master who painted
Uro in the fresco of High Deani may have painted the Ohrid icon. We see the same painting of shadows under
the eyes, same lips, same eyebrows; same angle of view, only the top of the nose differs. The colors also differ the
color of the flesh on the Ohrid icon painting is yellowish. The Deani paintings in the narthex with the Nemanji
dynasty family tree were finished in 1347-1348 when Uro was aged 11 or 12. The icon was probably painted ap-
proximately 2-3 years earlier, around 1343-1344. His hair is reddish, as in the Psaa royal portraits (1380).
The Icon of the Holy Virgin with Child from the Ohrid Peribleptos Church may be added to this series of royal
portraits. As Aleksandra Temerinski noted, the position of the composition of the Tree of the Nemanji dynasty in Visoki
Deani is on the opposite side of the tree of Isaiah who leads to the Holy Virgin via King David. This is, she implies, direct
proof of the Imitatio Christi, their comparison with deity.28 The frescoes in the narthex and the western part of the naos
of Lesnovo Church were painted in the period when Duan decided to be crowned the emperor. According to the
actual conception of the medieval political theology, he emphasized his new and much stronger link with the Church
Patron - the Emperor of the World, Pantocrator by painting a three meter tall painting of himself and his wife Helena.29
If the same atelier of Visoki Deani made Ohrid icon inv. no. 81, it is actually the first step of this process of
Imitatio Cristi that continued in Deani since the icon pre-dates the church. Thus hidden imperial portraits along
with the oversized ones became another articulation of power, symbiosis of the divine and secular.
The Virgin with Child is so far a unique example of an icon. Originally the icon may have been planned and
used for some time as a private icon in the private chapel in the court of Duan. And when the owner decided to gift
it to Archbishop Nicholas I of Ohrid, he/she placed it within this church. According to the technique used and the
stylistic analogies, the icons painter was not of Byzantine origin or educated in Byzantium, but a western artist, from
Dubrovnik or Kotor or Venice, as has been suggested by several art historians, or he may have come from Siena, as I
suggest due to the similarities between Duccios way of painting the Virgins face and the late 13th century Virgin with
Child details in clothing and the holding of the childs foot, represented in Duccio and Cimabue paintings.
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11. Duccio, Madonnawith Child and Two 12. Anonymous, Virgin Theotokos, 13th c., 13. Andreas Ritsczos, Passion Madonna, late
Angels (CrevoleMadonna), 1283- National Gallery of Art, Washington 15th c., Ikonen Museum, Reclinghausen
1284, Museo dellOpera del Duomo, (from: E. Haustein Bartsch, 2008)
Siena

14. Empress Helena, Church of Holy Archangel Michael, 15. Young king Uro, Visoki Deani, Kosovo, 1347-1348
Lesnovo, 1346-1347 (photo: S. Filipova) (photo: D. Vojvodi)

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Sources for images

Fig. 9. S. KORUNOVSKI-E. DIMITROVA, Painting and Architecture in Medieval Macedonia, Skopje 2011, figure 189, pp. 119.
Fig. 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimabue#/media/File:San_Francesco_Cimabue.jpg
Fig. 11. http://www.wikiart.org/en/duccio/crevole-madonna
Fig. 12. http://www.pallasweb.com/ikons/ikon-gallery/ikon-of-the-theotokos.html

1 S. RADOJI, Icons from the South Eastern Europe and Sinai: Yugoslavia. Icon Painting from the 13th to the 17th Century,
a selection of essays that can be accessed online on the following link: http://www.monumentaserbica.com/mush-
ushu/story.php?id=44 (accessed 8. January 2015)
2 Ibid.
3 M. GEORGIEVSKI, Icon Gallery - Ohrid, catalogue, Ohrid, 1999, p. 8.
4 Art historians stress, for example, that Mother of God Hodegetria and St. Barbara, both dating from the first half of the
13th century, are characterized by their refined sculpture, while Jesus Christ Almighty on the Throne unites the elements
of the archaic and the contemporary, opening a new direction for artistic expression. Deacon John the painter, in his St.
George expresses an entirely original conception of the painted sculpture. Experts point to the procession icon Mother
of God Hodegetria with the Crucifixion, dating from the second half of the 13th century as belonging to the emerging 13th
century school of sculpture.; J. PAVLOVSKI-M. PAVLOVSKI, Macedonia Yesterday and Today, Skopje, MI-AN, 1998, p. 396.
5 S. BROOKS, Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium, in: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York, The Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art, 2000.
6 M. GEORGIEVSKI, op. cit., 1999, p. 66, Virgin with Child, catalogue no. 25, inv. no. 81; pp. 49-50, The Mother of God Psy-
chosostria, beginning of 14th century, catalogue no. 17, inv. no.10-representations of archangels; catalog no. 22., St
Nicholas with scenes of his life, middle of 14th c., pp. 59-60, inv. no. 352, scenes with the life of St Nicholas - the episode
with the fisherman.
7 I thank Ms. Angelina Popovska from Skopje Institute for Conservation and Protection of Monuments for her informa-
tion and help regarding this icon.
8 M. GEORGIEVSKI, Medieval Tradition of the Icon Painting in Macedonia, 2011, p. 7.
9 K. , , , 1995, pp. 205-206, 208, figures n. 37. and 41.
10 V. LASAREFF, Early Italo-Byzantine painting in Sicily, in: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 63, no. 369,
1933, pp. 279-287, 279.
11 She further states another tradition that when the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, fled Constanti-
nople in 1261 he took this original circular portion of the icon with him. This remained in the possession of the An-
gevine dynasty that had it likewise inserted into a much larger image of Mary and the Christ child, which is presently
enshrined above the high altar of the Benedictine Abbey church of Monte Vergine. See the following link: http://www.
interfaithmary.net/pages/Montevergine.htm (accessed 2 May 2015).
12 . . , , 1961,(catalogue), p. 87.
13 M. GEORGIEVSKI, op. cit. 1999, pp. 63-64.
14 .. , , , 1909, p. 260 .
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Our_Mother_of_Perpetual_Help.jpg (accessed 1 May 2015).
16 E. HAUSTEIN BARTSCH, Icons, London, Taschen, 2008, pp. 46-47.
17 M. GEORGIEVSKI, op. cit., 1999, p. 65.
18 M. GEORGIEVSKI, op. cit., 1999, pp. 23-24.
19 . , op. cit., 1995, pp. 205-206, cat. 37.
20 I mention here the portraits from Dobruna, Visoki Deani (1340), Holy Archangels, Lesnovo, 1347, St George, Poloko
(1343-1345), Gregorian Gallery, St Sophia, Ohrid, (1350-1355), St Nicholas Bolniki (1335-1345), St Nicholas, Psaa
(1366-1371).

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21 in the Serbian text. See GROUP OF AUTHORS, Manastir Visoki Deani, Mitropolija crnogorsko primorska,
Cetinje, 2011, p. 36.
22 Dj. MAZALIC, . , in: , . XIV, Beograd, 1939, pp. 126-
127.
23 D. NIKOLOV, The icon painting in Macedonia, Skopje, Kalamus, 2011, p. 46.
24 .. , op. cit.,1909, p. 260.
25 V. LASAREFF, op. cit., 1933, p. 279.
26 S. FILIPOVA, Churches and icons as important data of religious practice of the rulers and commemoration of their historical
practice, Case study of Macedonia, Collection of works from a Conference in Lipeck (24-26 September 2015), edition of
e e , , 2015, pp. 286-298.
27 The frescoes of Lesnovo demonstrate the stylistic diversity of the current styles of painting: classicist examples from the
beginning of the 14th century, with their calm composition and mild color contrast, and new tendency towards dramatic
movements and bright colors. Many of the paintings show rare or even unique depictions or iconographic solutions.
28 A. DAVIDOV TEMERINSKI, Imperijalni smisao Deanskog slikarstva, in: Ni i Vizantija II, 2004, pp. 241-252, 249.
29 Ibid., p. 252.

Sneana Filipova

Primjeri ikona nastali pod zapadnim ikonografskim utjecajima u makedonskoj umjetnosti

Ikona Bogorodice s Djetetom (inv. br. 81) iz Galerije ikona u Ohridu

Makedonska zbirka ikona broji vie od 20 000 primjeraka i slovi za jednu od najvrjednijih zbirki na svijetu. Tri ikone iz
14. st. pokazuju djelomian ili potpuni utjecaj zapadnoga gotikog stila: ikona Bogorodice s Djetetom iz crkve Bogorodice
Perivleptos (Sv. Klement) na Ohridu, procesionalna ikona Bogorodice iz ohridske zbirke i ikona sv Nikole s ikonostasa crkve
sv. Nikole Gerakomia na Ohridu. Sve tri naslikane su temperom na platnom presvuenoj dasci s okovima od pozlaenoga
srebra. Nema povijesnih izvora na temelju kojih moemo saznati odakle dolaze ovi utjecaji. U drugoj polovici 14. st. u Srbiji
se javljaju tzv. pictores graeci, bizantski umjetnici koji rade na prostoru Jadrana. Vjerojatno njihov utjecaj dolazi u Makedoniju
nakon to ona potpada pod srpsku vlast u 13. stoljeu. Ili se, u primjeru ikone iz crkve Bogorodice Perivleptos, s obzirom na to
da predstavlja jedinstveni primjerak, radi o poklonu crkvi. Moe se pretpostaviti da je ikona bila u privatnoj upotrebi na dvoru
cara Duana. Na temelju usporedbe nekih detalja, poput obrade lice, prepoznaju se utjecaji sienskoga slikarskog kruga. Lice
je Bogorodice slikano ukastim tonovima sa zelenkastim sjenama i crvenilom za obraze, dok su istaknuti dijelovi slikani
bijelom bojom. Njezino lice nalii licu carice Jelene s freske u Lesnovu (1345). Slinost pokazuju i lica Krista i princa Uroa s
freske u Visokim Deanima. Deanski slikar koristi jednak nain slikanja sjena ispod oiju, usana, obrva te koristi jednak kut
gledanja. Postoji dakle mogunost da je isti majstor naslikao spomenute freske i ohridsku ikonu.

Prijevod s engleskoga: Monika titi

Primljeno/Received: 16.11.2015.
Pregledni rad

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