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An Unpublished Icon of St. John-Vladimir and a Typological Classification of the Saint’S Imagery

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An Unpublished Icon of St. John-Vladimir and a Typological Classification of the Saint’S Imagery Crkvene studije, Ni{ / Church Studies, Nis 11-2014, 35-42 УДК 27-36:929 Јован Владимир, свети 271.2-526.62 Konstantinos Giakoumis University of New York, Tirana – Albania International Center for Othodox Studies, Niš - Serbia e-mail: [email protected] AN UNPUBLISHED ICON OF ST. JOHN-VLADIMIR AND A TYPOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE SAINT’S IMAGERY Abstract: In this paper first part I present a hitherto unpublished icon of St. John Vladimir. On the basis of the analysis if its technique, iconography and style I suggested a late 17th-early 18th century dating and an Epirote workshop. In the paper’s second part, I am developing an iconographic typology of St. John Vladimir’s imagery on the grounds of four critical attributes of St. John Vladimir’s iconography. I discerned four principal iconographic types of the saint’s iconography based on the setting in which he is represented (Type A: On horse; Type B: On the ground; Type C: In reliquary; Type D: On throne), some of which are divided in two sub-types depending on the saint’s cephalophoria, i.e. on whether or not the saint bears his head. The portion of the body portrayed (full or in-torso) was used as a criterion for an iconographic variant, while the variety of objects borne (or not) by St. John Vladimir (various combination of the Cross, a palm branch and/or a sword, all of which are either mentioned in the saint’s life or of symbolical significance) became the criterion for distinguishing sub-variants. Key words: St. John Vladimir, relics and reliquary, Post-Byzantine Art, Ohrid Archdiocese, Slavic saints, post-Byzantine hagiography From October 8, 2013 and for a number of days thereafter, the head-titles of all media in Albania, also broadcasted in the region, were dominated by the sequestration of a big number of artworks (initially reported to be 1077) and the arrest of two persons on the suspicion of illicit artworks’ trafficking. This was a result of a coordinated effort to disrupt an international network of artworks’ stealing and illicit trafficking.1 Pursuant to the assembly of the artworks into their ensembles, their number was reduced to 477. The high percentage of artworks stolen most likely with the collaboration of locals from several churches and catholica in Southern Albania is sad evidence of how the objectification of a cultural heritage previously detached from the subject of the communities which created them, as happened in Albania from 1967 thereafter, results in their estrangement from their communities, members of which buy and sell them as every other “object.”2 The purpose of this paper is to present an unknown 1 Cf. Gera, Suela. “Trafiku, Rama: Një Thesar Ikonash në Duar të Trafikantëve. Ja 1077 Veprat për Trafikim.” Shqipraja.com, October 9, 2016. http://time.ikub.al/16f635bb88/daad0755b23d35418974 ddad414c0f8b/lajm_Rama-Nje-thesar-ne-duart-e-trafikanteve-ikona-te-vjedhura.aspx, accessed in July 18, 2016. 2 Giakoumis, Konstantinos. “Objektivizimi i Trashëgimisë: Përparësi, Mbarësi dhe Prapësi Kulturore.” 169 icon of saint John Vladimir and classify it in an analytical iconographic typological framework, which is developed for this purpose, after careful study of all artworks of the saint I managed to identify, for the purpose of setting a benchmark of research on the saint to date. The Icon One of the less prominent artworks found [Fig. 1] included a hitherto unpublished icon of Saint John Vladimir, to which I had, as an external expert,only partial access, since the court case is still under progress and the artwork under consideration was given the serial number 79. The large dimensions of the icon (ca. 55 X 37 cm.) and its frame [Fig. 2] indicate it was one of the despotic icons ofsome iconostasis. The icon was executed following the standard technique of writing icons, that of tempera on a single piece of oak-board (oak?) [Fig. 3], following preparation involving scoring and the application of a linen and gesso. It is preserved in a rather good condition, in spite of damages in its frame, probably caused by the force of removing it from its iconostasis, the top right part, the lower middle right part. Signs of candle and oil-lump smoke at the right and lower left part of the icon attest to no prior professional conservation and a rather recent date of its removal. Traces of wash-out fading of the top left inscription is evidence of an amateur and destructive cleaning attempt, possibly to remove smoke. Fig. 1: View from the Tirana Art Gallery’s impromptu “exhibition” of the artworks confiscated by the Albanian Police forces in October 8, 2013 as part of their efforts to dismantle an international network of illicit artworks’ trafficking. Gazeta Shqiptare 22.10.2013. http://www.forumishqiptar.com/threads/151951-Objektivizimi-i- Trash%C3%ABgimis%C3%AB-P%C3%ABrpar%C3%ABsi-Mbar%C3%ABsi-dhe-Prap%C3%ABsi- Kulturore, accessed in July 18, 2016. 170 Fig. 2:Anonymous, St. John Vladimir, ca. 55 X 37 cm., late 17th-early 18th century, tempera on wood, Unknown provenance. 171 Fig. 3: Reverse side of icon identified as Fig. 1. 172 St. John Vladimir’s biography (ca. 990 – 22 May 1016) is a mixture of legend and reality. John Skylitzes [2010; cf. Pirivatrić 2013], his earliest source,mentions the dynastic intermarriage of Samuel’s daughter Kosara / Theodora with John Vladimir. At the end of the 13th century the Cistercian monk Rüdiger, commissioned by one of the most powerful men of his time, Pavle Subić, compiled the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (Dioclea),whose Chapter 36 is taken up by another vita of St. John-Vladimir [Papageorgiou 12-23]. The similarities of these two vitae, as Srdan Pirivatrić [2013] has demonstrated that similarities go beyond intertextuality. The saint’s later biographies, vaguely quoting earlier Serbian or Bulgarian synaxaria,3 are even more problematic to historical research. They present quite a different version of the saint’s identity (father’s name Petroslav vs. Nemanja), marriave story (Kossara pleaded her father to get married to him, although he was a prisoner vs. his parents having him married with Samuel’s daughter) and reason for being put to death (John Vladislav being afraid that his brother-in-law and husband of his sister, Vladimir, would side himself with Byzantines in reaction to Radomir’s assassination vs. John Vladislav putting Vladimir to death to spread the heresy of Bogomilism, himself being a heretic.) Expectedly, the iconography of the saint developed in the form of illustration of his vita and the 1690 akolouthia became a textual source of drawing iconographic models. The relation between these texts and our icon being one of subjugation of our icon to the saint’s vita, it is impossible for us to interpret the meaning of such details as the royal insignia and the cross without references to his vita. Hence, the royal insignia relate to his status as prince of Dioclea, while the cross he bears relates to his martyrdom, but also refers to the sign which convinced him to go and meet his brother-in-law, although he knew John Vladislav’s intentions [Akolouthia 1690]. The subject identification of the icon presented in this paper, however,is also facilitated by traces of an inscription. The inscription is placed, as usual, at the left and at the right of the head of the head of the saint and reads: ὉἍγιοςἸΩ(ΑΝΝΗΣ) ΒΛ[ΑΔΙΜΗΡΟΣ] (Saint John Vladimir) [Fig. 2]. There iscurrently (i.e. before conservation) no evidence of another inscription at the icon. The identification of the subject, however, would have been possible even without the inscription, on the basis of its iconographic analysis [Fig. 2]. In a green (lower part) and red (upper part) background the in-torso figure of a young standing man occupies the entire pictorial space. The saint is shown in large, central representation, wearing a royal red divitision hemmed with pearls at its lower edges and a dark blue dalmatica decorated with flowers and outlined with gold and pearls. The saint also wears a golden loros whose tresses are also decorated with pearls hanging vertically from the shoulders to the knees in front and at the back brought round across the waist in the front.4 The saint is holding a cross studded with pearls with his right hand laying it onto his right shoulder. His left hand is holding the loros at his waist in front. His face is executed with dark brown preparation of the flesh and rapid bright brushstrokes with limited transitions from the darker to the more lit surfaces. His oblong, bearded face, giving the saint a Christ-like look, is characterized by soft modelling with refine, thin contour lines. The saint’s eyes are turned slightly to the right. The saint bears a golden crown on his head; it is ornate and quite detailed, rounded in the middle; its creases are decorated with pearls at their ends. The saint’s golden halo is punctate along its exterior contour [Fig. 2]. 3 Ακολουθία, Venice 1690, p. 39: “Εἰς δὲ τὰ βιβλία τὰ σέρβικα σώζεται καλλίτερα ὁ βίος, καὶ τὰ θαύματα τοῦ ἁγίου” (The Life and Miracles of the saint are better preserved in the Serbian books.) 4 For the Byzantine imperial dress, cf. Hendy 150-76. 173 The description above, with slight variants, has been the standard iconography of the saint for a considerable period of time. In term of the absence of cephalophoria and the bearing of a cross (i.e. the bearing of his head, as is rather usual in his iconography; Appendix 3) our icon resembles the 1625 fresco of St.
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