Byzantine Painting in the 13th Century: Constantinople, Asia Minor and the Balkans

October 18, 2018

On Thursday October 18 took place a lecture of Chiara Bordino, MSCA fellow of the Centre, entitled Byzantine Painting in the 13th Century: Constantinople, Asia Minor and the Balkans.

The lecture was devoted to the main pictorial cycles produced in the Byzantine world during the 13th century, at the time of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204–1261) and after the reconquest of the capital by the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. Some pictorial decorations made in the Balkans by the will of the Nemanjić Serbian dynasty were examined, such as those ones of Studenica, Žiča, Mileševa, Morača, Peć, and Sopoćani. Concerning Asia Minor, special attention was devoted to the paintings of the church of Hagia Sophia in Trabzon, realized thanks to the patronage of the Grand Komnenoi. Although they were realized in areas far from the Byzantine capital, all these pictorial decorations were closely connected to the artistic culture of Constantinople and Nicaea and allow us to follow the process of deep renovation that transformed the Byzantine painting in the 13th century reaching a peak in the Paleologan Age.