Artistic Transfer and Hybridization in the Skyltizes Matritensis

The Skylitzes Matritensis (Madrid, BNE, VITR/26/2) is an illuminated codex that offers a privileged field for the analysis of cross-cultural phenomena and exchanges beyond Byzantium. Firstly, it is a Greek chronicle, which was produced in the mid-12th-century Norman Sicily, in the context of the multicultural curia of Palermo, following a Constantinopolitan manuscript as a model. Secondly, seven artists of diverse artistic training, ethnicity and origin participated in its extensive decorative apparatus: the first two illuminators (A1 and A2) are clearly Byzantine—and probably from Constantinople—while the remaining five (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5) belong to the local Sicilian culture, with a strong presence of Muslim and Latin elements. Thirdly, the miniatures become a rich and unique repertoire that allows us to understand not only how the Byzantines viewed themselves and their neighbours, but also how the “local” painters (Arabic?, Coptic?, and Latin?) “translated” the Constantinopolitan model into their own language. The codex should be understood as an example of both intercultural mediation and transcultural convergence, just other artworks with a marked cross-cultural bias on the island, such as the Cappella Palatina, San Cataldo at Palermo or the Zisa.