iconography as a research source on religious affairs in greek lands under venetian rule

257 Pages·2012·22.85 MB·English

THANASIS DIALEKTOPOULOS

ICONOGRAPHY AS A RESEARCH SOURCE
ON RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS IN GREEK LANDS
UNDER VENETIAN RULE

Thessaloniki 2012
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Dr. Thanasis Dialektopoulos

ICONOGRAPHY AS A RESEARCH SOURCE ON
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS IN GREEK LANDS
UNDER VENETIAN RULE

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Thessaloniki 2012
ISBN: 978-960-93-4080-9

© Copyright by Thanasis Dialektopoulos, 2012
All rights reserved

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CONTENTS

Preface............................................................................................................... 7
Acknowledgements........................................................................................... 9
Introduction....................................................................................................... 11
1. Politico-Religious tensions in Greek lands under Venetian rule.................. 17
1.1 The religious policy of Venice over her territorial possessions.............. 28
1.2 Disputes in doctrinal level....................................................................... 39
2. The impact of theological disputes in iconographic works of art................. 49
2.1 The Cretan School of iconographic art – ideological and theological
Background............................................................................................. 57
2.2 Anti-unionist dimension in art................................................................ 62
2.2.1 Defenders of Hesychasm and anti-Latinism................................... 65
2.2.2 Dispute over the procession of the Holy Spirit (Filioque).............. 72
2.2.3 Themes of Eucharistic iconography................................................ 87
2.2.4 Local Hagiology.............................................................................. 99
2.3 Unionist dimension in art....................................................................... 105
2.3.1 Iconography of the Apostles Peter and Paul................................... 112
2.3.2 Iconographic coexistence of saints of the Orthodox and
Latin Church................................................................................... 117
2.3.3 Western themes in Byzantine style................................................. 124
2.4 Unconscious interactions....................................................................... 129
2.4.1 Orthodox representations with Western elements.......................... 134
2.4.2 Iconographic variations of the Crucifixion..................................... 138
2.4.3 Devotional icons............................................................................. 143
3. Outlining religious and national identities in the Greek regions dominated
by the Venetians........................................................................................ 159
3.1 Conscience and Identity....................................................................... 163
3.2 Religion and Nationalism...................................................................... 173
Bibliography.................................................................................................... 177
Appendix......................................................................................................... 191

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To my Father

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PREFACE
When in April of 1204 the Crusaders conquered the Byzantine capital
Constantinople and destroy Byzantium for 57 years, hardly anyone could imagine
the complex political, religious, cultural and all kinds of other processes that
would take place in the former Byzantine area. Venice, the powerful republic of
trade would acquire tens of ports and islands in the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea;
it would build a true colonial empire, a predecessor of what Spain and Portugal
would create as a result of the Age of Discovery. Some of the researchers
reasonably call the complex of Venetian properties to the East, "Venetian
Romania". The conquerors of Byzantium could not presume that the so called
Frankokratia in the once Byzantine territories would provoke a series of reactions,
whose main result would be the creation of the modern Greek consciousness and
the end of the Byzantine stereotype which held the concept of "Greek" as a
synonym for 'pagan'.
In the context of the appearance and development of this self-consciousness,
the situation in the Greek islands under Venetian rule was of special importance.
They were inhabited by an economically active Greek population whose
attachment to Byzantine political tradition, the Greek language and Orthodox
Christianity, needed to coexist with the official authority of a Catholic republic of
trade. The clash between these two realities stirred various conflicts that
additionally strengthened the Greek self-consciousness and caused interesting
phenomena in the field of church painting, and in the social and political life of
insular Greece. The extent of these phenomena varies according to the conditions:
the situation on the Ionian Islands is different from that on Crete and the different
island groups.
The simplest reaction in this case would be to accuse the politics of the
Venetian Metropole which is conducting pro-catholic proselytism and mercilessly
crushes all forms of resistance. Yet, it should be noted that Venice is often
implementing modern governing methods. They vary from economic stimuli for
planting olive trees (Kerkyra), to acknowledging a relative political autonomy on
many of the Aegean island groups. But it is a fact: the Greeks on the islands under
Venetian rule felt quite sharply the contradiction between "us" – the Greeks, and
"them" – the Venetians. As a result, special motives appeared in post-Byzantine
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paintings, on one hand adopting European techniques and motives, while on the
other hand some of the elements were a reflection of religious confrontation and
resistance against the Latin Catholics. The author of this book, Dr. Thanasis
Dialektopoulos, dedicated his research efforts mainly to one aspect of the many-
sided reality in "Venetian Romania" – the new elements in the field of
iconography as a source of expressing Greek self-consciousness and attachment
to the Byzantine political and genealogical tradition.
For the Greek population under Venetian rule it was painful to realize the
dependency from the Venetian Catholics, so they were opposing this domination
in different ways. However, in a global context, many populations in Southeastern
Europe could be envious of the island Greeks in the post-Byzantine and Ottoman
period. They could only wish for such form of domination. The Venetian
authority in the Aegean Sea or on the Ionian Islands related the Greek population
with the development of the modern European world. It obtained from it new
forms of education, cultural models, the ability to trade within the Mediterranean
area relatively freely. At the same time, Bulgarians, Serbians, Albanians, among
others, had to live under the rule of a despotic Islamic Empire that disconnected
them from their natural European environment and slowed down their cultural
and economic development with centuries. Thus, in the beginning of the Modern
era the Greek community, especially on the islands, turned out highly developed
and became the foundation of the Greek political and cultural revival.

Easter Eve, year 7520 since the Creation

Prof. Dr. Christo Matanov
Department of History
Chair Byzantium and the Balkans
Saint Kliment Ohridski University
of Sofia, Bulgaria

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My involvement with Byzantine art and specifically the iconography goes
back to the early 1990s, when I finished my Bachelor studies as Byzantinologist
at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and continued Master studies in
the same field at the University of Amsterdam. Then I made some relative
researches, which are published in books titled "St. Daniel of Thassos", "The
Icons of the Dodecaorton" and "Post-Byzantine icons of Thassos".
When in 2006 I visited as a tourist some Byzantine monasteries in Crete, the
foundation of which is sued in the era of Venetian rule, I was impressed by the
"unusual" themes depicted in their iconographic programs and icons. This fact has
prompted me to explore the factual and doctrinal elements the iconographic
representations contained and the reasons which led the artists to depict these
issues. Slowly I began to realize, that the reasons were both religious and
political.
In this study are researched the messages hidden in the iconographic
representations of the period of Venetian rule in Greek countries because they are
valuable sources for the religious relations between Orthodox and Catholics. As
there was an ongoing effort by Catholics for proselytizing the local populations,
strong resistance was put forward by the latter. The iconographic field becomes
witness of this religious conflict whose causes have political character as well.
Collecting the data of this book took me to 18 cities in two countries (Greece
and Cyprus).
There are many people I wish to thank for supporting me in various ways to
complete this work. First of all I am grateful to Professor Christo Matanov, who
supported me in this research with proficiency and valuable encouragement. My
special thanks to Professor George Leontsinis (National & Kapodistrian
University of Athens) who has shared with me ideas about Greece's medieval
history. I am thankful to all professors, whose classes I have taken throughout the
years in the Universities of Groningen and Amsterdam, for forming and
broadening my understanding of the research area of Byzantine art. People who
have worked and collaborated with me have enriched me with their knowledge
and skills.
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