Michele Bacci: Βενετο-Βυζαντινες Αλληλεπιδρασεις στη ζωγραφικη εικονων (1280-1450)
[Venetian-Byzantine Interactions in Icon Painting (1280-1450)]

A memorial lecture in honour of the distinguished Greek scholar Manolis Chatzidakis is organized each year by the Academy of Athens. On February 28th, 2017, the invited speaker was Prof. Michele Bacci. The topic dealt with in this public event was further investigated and expanded in this book, published by the Academy itself.

The text provides the first general introduction to Veneto-Byzantine interactions in 14th and early 15th century icon painting. Contrary to long-lasting scholarly misconceptions, religious imagery came to be strongly renovated in this period by painters who selectively and skillfully combined elements from both Italian and Byzantine pictorial traditions. Emphasis is laid on a relatively large number of panels displaying original Marian types, combining the authoritativeness of Greek religious icons with the elegant draperies and garments worked out in contemporary images from the lagoon. New evidence is provided as to the large circulation of such objects, their widespread and transconfessional appreciation, and their most likely production on Crete, where several Venetian and Byzantine artists established their workshops and frequently collaborated with each other. Furthermore, the text investigates the dynamics by which some specifically Italianate features were appropriated and exploited by icon painters to invest their images with a more immediately acknowledgeable narrative and dramatic character.

The book is in Greek with a long English summary.