„RENAISSANCE“ BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE: HUMANLY ASPECTS OF LATE BYZANTINE PAINTING. CASE: “THE ANASTASIS: AN IMAGE OF LIBERATION AND RESURRECTION”, STUDENICA MONASTERY

Свети краљ Милутин и његово доба: историја, књижевност, уметност (2023) (стр. 629-648)

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Sercan Yandim Aydin

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DOI: 10.46793/6008-065-5.629YA

САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:

Present paper aims to readdress the idealized Renaissance conception of painting starting with the writings of Giorgio Vasari, which paved the way to a widely stereotyped and prejudiced evaluation of the Byzantine art within the general art historical framework. Consequently, placing the latter one inferior to the Renaissance. Further the paper attempts to revise the conventional assumptions about Byzantine painting. Visual interpretation of a dodecaorton subject, Anastasis Christi, is taken to provide evidence in understanding the humanly aspects in terms of iconography and reception of the scene. Material evidence is obtained from the monumental panting of the Studenica monastery, (ca. 1313-ca. 1320).

General outline of its iconography, communal versus individual resurrection, and specific depiction of one of the basic elements of iconography, Hades, reveal the fact that there is difference in the mind sets of Eastern and Western Christianity. Libri Carolini in the eighth century signifies the different visual understanding and reception. Also, the text-image relation is greatly influenced by the involvement of either theologians of a collective monasticism or individual aristocratic prayer. Thanks to the recent scholarly studies on cultural history and art history, a wider perspective is possible in order to comprehend the content of their cultural memories that comes into play in interpreting and reflecting religious subjects/imageries. As a result, artists and patrons of medieval Serbia were able to not just to inherit but also improve the inherited Byzantine artistic language in a com- plex positive way. Altogether referring to a renaissance in their rethinking and execution of the Byzantine models and beyond.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:

Renaissance, Late Byzantine, Studenica, King Milutin, Byzantine Painting, Humanism

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