This volume, edited by Jenny Albani and Ioanna Christoforaki, brings together fourteen scholars to consider the concept of change in Byzantine artistic production at various locales of the eastern Mediterranean during the eventful thirteenth century. Having the year 1204 and the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders as a reference point, many authors examine first-hand medieval monuments and artworks to understand the osmosis of the Greek and Latin cultural and artistic traditions in two of the three East Roman successor states (the empires of Nicaea and Epiros) and in the lands of the Christian east under Latin rule. The geographical focus is heavily on Greece (including the Aegean) and Cyprus, but Constantinople, Nicaea, Sinai, and, briefly, Sicily receive attention by specific papers. As the editors acknowledge in their thought-provoking introduction, the collection follows a recent wave of scholarship exploring thirteenth-century art and material culture in Byzantine territories and neighboring areas. While most essays constitute case-studies--some with broader and others with more localized implications for future research--the breadth of approaches and forms of art and material culture underline the importance of the thirteenth century in the long millennium of the East Roman empire and the complex artistic, political, and cultural phenomena it witnessed. The introduction and selected chapters also provide succinct historical overviews with useful bibliographies, which make the volume accessible to the student and, perhaps, the casual reader. The high quality of the in-chapter illustrations is commendable.
The editors’ goals of an easy read and cohesiveness is reflected in the volume’s thematic division into five parts, each consisting of a few chapters. The two papers in the first part tackle the junction of continuity-discontinuity by focusing on less-studied aspects of two well-known monuments, the church of Hagia Sophia in Nicaea and the church of St. John the Baptist (south church) in the monastery of Constantine Lips in Constantinople, respectively. Prefacing and ending her chapter with a call to rethink the place of the art and architecture produced by the Laskarid dynasty during the fifty-seven years of Constantinople’s Latin occupation within the long trajectory of Byzantine art, Naomi Ruth Pitamber examines the fragmentary frescoes preserved in the pastophoria of Hagia Sophia. After identifying four scenes and several holy figures, Pitamber advocates for continuity from the Komnenian period. While the historical conditions under which Hagia Sophia could have functioned as the patriarchal church are more speculative, Pitamber’s reconstruction of the fresco program is meticulous and offers a nod to her work on the “Laskarid corpus.” Jasmina Ćirić considers how the east façade and ornamental techniques or frames in the church of St. John the Baptist at Lips betray Byzantine theories of aesthetics. This paper also proposes continuity with the past, and especially antiquity through patterns such as the swastika or the meander.
The second section engages with cross-cultural exchanges, specifically between the Latin west and the Greek east. Nikolas Bakirtzis is holding onto the thread of continuity by asking how the Frankish rulers of Cyprus experienced and negotiated pre-existing (i.e., Byzantine) traditions, institutions, and networks on the island during the transitional thirteenth century. The focus is on castles and their relationship with nearby Byzantine monasteries. Bakirtzis convincingly demonstrates that the Lusignan kings’ strategy of maintaining and re-organizing an already established defensive system served well their overall goal of asserting their authority on the island. The chapter notably emphasizes that Latin rulers exhibited a tolerance towards the tradition of relics and pilgrimage prevalent among the rural populations of the island. Irene Leontakianakou moves us to Sinai to discuss five icons of the nursing Virgin (Galaktotrophousa). Bearing witness to a limited iconographic tradition of the thirteenth century, these icons are analyzed within the context of “Crusader art”; they might have served as models for icons of the Virgo Lactans found in Catholic churches in the West. The Sinai icons, Leontakianakou argues, were the sources of inspiration for the western Madonna of Humility. Michele Bacci remains on the issue of “Crusader art” and re-dates an icon of the Virgin and Christ Child formerly in Lucerne. Apart from style, he is concerned with attire and Christ’s body image to tentatively assign the icon to a Frankish artist working in the east. In this section’s final chapter, Marina Toumpouri admirably provides a re-assessment of Byzantine manuscript illumination in the thirteenth century. Toumpouri’s chapter highlights the smooth transition of book production from the twelfth into the thirteenth century, but--due to the ambitious scope--contributes less to the overarching theme of the section, that is east-west interactions. Toumpouri’s appendix and bibliography stand out as perhaps the most informative in the volume.
The third section situates us firmly in Greece to explore artistic phenomena in territories under Byzantine control. Catherine Vanderheyde tracks down innovations in architectural sculpture in Peloponnesos and Epiros; specific features are interpreted as Western influences on Byzantine sculpture. Similar to Bakirtzis, Vanderheyde brings in the social perspective by pointing to the involvement of aristocratic patrons in sculptural ensembles. Leonela Fundić examines artistic links between monumental fresco decorations in Prilep, Beroia, and Epiros. Through a careful analysis of style and iconography on specific scenes, Fundić traces the movement of painters between Macedonia and Epiros and even alludes to the commissioners’ awareness of the theological discourse within the higher ecclesiastical circles in the aftermath of the Union in Lyon in 1274. In the next chapter, Nikolaos Siomkos considers gesso relief haloes mainly in representations of Christ and the Theotokos to suggest the emergence of this technique at the end of the twelfth century, even though it was originally conceptualized and presented as a Western innovation. Pointing to the raw materials needed for the gesso haloes, Siomkos observes a significant economic prosperity in Kastoria and Ohrid in the twelfth century.
The fourth section introduces us to pottery, textiles, and enamel. Anastasia Yangaki provides a thorough overview of main developments in Byzantine pottery production during the thirteenth century, including glazed and plain wares, cooking wares, and amphorae in mainland and insular Greece. With a robust list of archaeological sites at the end of the text and hefty footnotes, Yangaki’s essay also serves as an informative bibliographic essay. Changes in ceramic form did not necessarily coincide with historical and political changes in the early decades of the thirteenth century. Rather, local markets witnessed the arrival of “foreign” (i.e., imported) wares only after 1250; such interesting observations could be the subject of further research. Regrettably, unlike the rest of the volume the illustrations here are in black-and-white and the maps lack labels, making it impossible to situate the sites discussed.
In chapter 11, Pari Kalamara is looking for “authentic Byzantine dress” during the thirteenth century; structured geographically, the first half of the essay is more of a presentation of the extant donor portraits and icons than a narrative. In the second half, Kalamara showcases her deep knowledge of the visual material (and documentary sources) at hand and identifies the components of male and female costume while pointing to details which speak of texture, practicalities, and change. Kalamara traces western and oriental influences but also views dress as a marker of social stratification. Regarding the social world, this chapter goes a step further than Bakirtzis and Vanderheyde by identifying a diverse middle class between the imperial court and the common people, which in a sense foreshadows the social mobility of the late Byzantine period. The images are particularly illuminating, as several of the donor portraits have rarely (if ever) been discussed dialectically. In her essay, Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie examines enamel medallions on the frames of icons to interrogate the shifting scholarly views of the medium’s production. She explains the challenges with re-dating: indeed, the very objects of study present ambiguities when it comes to making date and provenance. The author traces back to fourteenth-century Sicily an enamel ensemble in Stockholm and points to the need for more research in the field.
The volume’s fifth section deals with the topic of death and its visualization. Konstantia Kefala studies the visual program of the refectory in the monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos. Attributing the frescoes to a mid-thirteenth-century workshop from Nicaea, Kefala returns us to the Laskarid artistic milieu, pointing to its expanded cultural sphere of influence beyond Asia Minor. Kefala traces the experimentations and selected enigmatic scenes in the refectory’s fresco cycle as signifiers of the move of the artistic center from Constantinople to Nicaea. Methodologically, the vitae of monks and other textual sources are in a productive conversation with the images. For Kefala, the selection of the episodes set a model for a post-Byzantine development seen in Athonite refectories. In the final chapter, Dimitra Kotoula studies eschatology and its relationship with mural paintings of the thirteenth century. Kotoula concludes that images of the Last Judgement required serious engagement of the viewer and mirrored the period’s unique spirituality amidst intense theological discourses in the medieval west and, by extension, the East Roman empire.
I noticed only minor issues: the introduction mentions five essays in section two, whereas it has four; Fundić’s important monograph is listed under Sharon E. J. Gerstel in that chapter’s bibliography. Angeliki Lymberopoulou’s edited collection, Hell in the Byzantine World, is missing from Kotoula’s bibliography. The editors’ conclusions blend eloquently the major points of the papers, and remind the reader of the rich array of perspectives and evidence the collected essays bring to the study of the thirteenth century. The volume successfully advocates for the complexity and richness of the period, particularly of the decades of Latin rule, and ignites new avenues of research in these and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean, such as Anatolia, including the empire of Trebizond. The book also underlines the need for the methodical documentation of the region’s cultural heritage; it is through the on-site study or handling of portable objects that the authors produced their rich texts, which primarily examine monuments and artworks off the beaten path. This well-curated and engaging volume can be recommended for students and scholars interested in the thirteenth-century East Mediterranean, the state of the East Roman empire during the Latin occupation, as well as east-west exchanges prior to and after the Fourth Crusade.