The Ottoman capture of Candia in 1669 represents a pivotal moment in Post-Byzantine art, marking the definitive end of Crete’s artistic hegemony and fragmenting production into a decentralized network of regional workshops. This reorganization of artistic centers inside the Orthodox communities in the Balkans, a phenomenon which persisted until the late 19th century, facilitated new patterns of interaction and set the stage for profound aesthetic transformation. A decisive shift crystallized around the 1730s as a distinctly westernizing current emerged within Balkan ecclesiastical art—a development that had appeared earlier, though with different characteristics, in the Ionian Islands. This artistic reorientation was fundamentally propelled by the increasingly systematic infiltration of Western European visual models, disseminated primarily through German, Flemish, Italian, and French prints, which progressively catalyzed the partial yet consequential adoption of naturalist aesthetics within Orthodox tradition. This Thematic Session proposes a nuanced examination of this artistic evolution that moves beyond conventional formalist approaches. We will critically interrogate the identity of Post-Byzantine art in its later phases, questioning the degree to which major workshop productions maintained “Byzantine” characteristics. A central objective is to integrate intellectual history into art historical analysis, particularly investigating whether the influence of theological texts like Bishop Elias Miniatis’s Didaches (“Teachings”) —itself shaped by Western homiletic traditions—constituted a phenomenon parallel to the visual appropriation of prints. Additional inquiries will address the indirect impact of Enlightenment thought on iconographic programs and examine the multifaceted role of printed ecclesiastical books in shaping Orthodox imagery through both textual content and visual models. Through this comprehensive approach, the session aims to foster a more contextual understanding of this complex era of artistic cross-fertilization and cultural negotiation in the Post-Byzantine world.
The paper explores the church painting of eighteenth-century Mani, a peninsula in southern Peloponnese, focusing on issues of continuity and transformation within the broader Post-Byzantine artistic tradition. Drawing on research from our doctoral dissertation on Panagiotis Klirodetis’ workshop, whose members were active in Mani during this period, the study identifies an eclectic visual language that…
Byzantine (and Post-Byzantine) art represents a centuries-long artistic tradition which, while maintaining its stable characteristics, demonstrates a remarkable flexibility that allows it to assimilate artistic currents and absorb external influences. During the eighteenth century, this adaptive process becomes particularly evident: contact with Western art, the creative vitality of local workshops, the transformation of socio-economic conditions,…
Within the complex amalgam of eighteenth-century Post-Byzantine painting, the monk and painter David, from the village of Selenica, near Vlora (Valona), in southern Albania, stands out as a singular figure. Well-travelled, erudite, and endowed with both experience and talent, he directs his energy towards what moves him most deeply: the revival of the most striking…
The study of artistic inspiration and influence in Balkan ecclesiastical art has hitherto attracted asymmetrical scholarly attention. While an increasing body of literature on the influence of Western trends in monumental painting since the sixteenth century has enhanced our understanding of Post-Byzantine art, the interfaces between Christian, Islamic, and profane art have received disproportionately little…
Several churches in western Bulgaria preserve frescoes of St. Sebastian dating from the late 16th to the mid-18th century. These images are few in number but representative of the iconographic processes concerning the saint in Post-Byzantine art. The frescoes can be divided into three groups. The first, the “conservative” one, strives to preserve the original…