From Cyprus to Syria and Back Again: Artistic Interaction in the Medieval Levant
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ECA 9 (2012-2013), p. 79-106; doi: 10.2143 / ECA.9.0.3044824 From Cyprus to Syria and Back Again: Artistic Interaction in the Medieval Levant Bas SNELDERS and Mat IMMERZEEL* INTRODUCTION In outlining the stylistic characteristics of the wall paintings, previous scholarship has commonly Compared to other areas in the Eastern Mediter- divided those in Lebanon and Syria (henceforth ranean, the number of medieval wall paintings in Greater Syria or the Syrian mainland) into two Lebanon and Western Syria is remarkably high1. main groups. On the one hand, there is a group of Today, over thirty sites with murals are known in murals that were painted in a Byzantine style, either Lebanon: in the area between Tripoli and Jbeil, by Byzantine painters or local painters trained in and in the Qadisha Valley, which were situated the Byzantine artistic tradition. The murals of the within the borders of the Frankish County of Trip- second group, on the other hand, though also oli (1099-1289), and in Beirut, which formed the influenced by Byzantine art, betray formal charac- northernmost city of the Kingdom of Jerusalem teristics that have been described as a local ‘Syrian (1099-1291). In present-day Syria, paintings can style’. Typical features of this particular stylistic be found in the Crusader strongholds Crac des trend are its restrained palette and the simplified Chevaliers and Marqab Castle. Seven more deco- use of colours and shadows, together with a com- rated urban and monastic churches are present in mon preference for strongly marked folds and con- a territory that was never occupied by the Franks, tours. In contrast to paintings from the ‘Byzantine but was part of the Muslim-ruled Emirate of group’, works executed in the ‘Syrian style’ exhibit Damascus, namely the Qalamun region, north a comparatively flat, linear style which does not of Damascus, and in Homs. Nearly all these sanc- aim at portraying the human figure with mass and tuaries were used by local Christians, in particular volume. In its general tendency towards the flatten- Melkites and Maronites; only a limited number ing and simplification of forms and a heightened were in the hands of Latin Franks. Although the linearity, the ‘Syrian style’ reflects a broader provin- earliest examples date from the eleventh century, cial painting tradition attested throughout the thir- most of the murals were apparently painted in the teenth-century Eastern Mediterranean area, from period between around 1200 and the 1280s, before Greece to the Levant, including the Aegean islands the sweeping Mongol invasions and the subsequent and Cyprus, as well as Cappadocia2. establishment of Mamluk power finally brought an This summary categorization, however, does not end to the flourishing of Christian art in the area. do full justice to the complexity and richness of the artistic relationships that contributed to the making of these wall paintings. Even a cursory glance at the various murals that are stylistically defined as being * This research was funded by the Netherlands Organization essentially Byzantine, for example, shows that there for Scientific Research (NWO), Leiden University, and the are often marked differences between them, that Laboratoire d’excellence ‘Religions et sociétés dans le cannot be accounted for merely by different ‘hands’ monde méditerranéen’ (Labex RESMED), Université Sorbonne-Panthéon. The authors would like to thank or ‘workshops’. Late Comnenian forms are well Maria Sherwood-Smith for correcting the English in the represented in this group, but rather than a single article. Byzantine style, there were multiple Byzantine styles 1 For the most recent overviews, see Cruikshank Dodd in use in the Greater Syrian region, sometimes even 2004; Hélou 2007; eadem 2008; Immerzeel 2009; Zibawi 2009. simultaneously at one and the same site. Moreover, 2 Weyl Carr 2012, 68-70; Uyar 2011, esp. 521-524, 526- there is a considerable amount of overlap between 527. the categories ‘Byzantine’ and ‘Syrian’, which shows 79 97087_ECA.indb 79 14/01/15 10:29 that the borders between the different stylistic A SHARED COMMON SOURCE groups were permeable. At the same time, the sim- ilarities testify to the fertile contacts between paint- In discussing the artistic relationship between ers and ‘workshops’ active in the region. ‘Region’ Cyprus and the Syrian mainland, it is important to should here be taken to include Cyprus, for the art point out, first of all, that stylistic and iconographic of painting in Lebanon and Syria also testifies to parallels between the works of art in the two areas the rich artistic interaction between the island and do not necessarily indicate a direct connection the mainland throughout the medieval period3. between them. Sometimes such commonalities are Historically, the political, economic, and cul- better explained in terms of a shared common tural ties between Cyprus and the Syrian mainland source. Two eleventh-century wall paintings that were close, which is not surprising, since the short have survived in the Qalamun in Syria are a good sailing distance of approximately 150 km made it example of this. The second layer of murals in the easy to travel between the two. During the period monastic church at Syrian Orthodox Deir Mar under consideration, Cyprus – the proverbial Musa al-Habashi (St Moses the Abyssinian) near ‘crossroads of the Mediterranean’ – functioned as a Nebk serve as our starting point (Fig. 1). The main bridge between the East and the West. It con- murals were executed by a ‘master’ called Hunayn tinued to be one of the most important centres on (John) in 1095, and their style corresponds more the international trade routes, so it had close links or less with the contemporary mainstream in Byz- with Greater Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, as well as antine art. This is evident, for instance, in the sim- the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and Italy. These ilarities between the facial features of St Simeon in economic contacts served as fertile ground for the Presentation in the Temple and those of Abra- cross-cultural exchange across the Mediterranean4. ham in the Sacrifice of Isaac in the Church of St While most of these areas appear to have impacted Anthonius near Kellia on Cyprus, dated to the elev- on the artistic development of Cyprus, a topic enth century (Pls 1-2)5. In both cases, the emphasis which merits further research, the present article lies on a linear rendering of the figures, whose provides an overview of the artistic exchange round faces show expressiveness in the clear draw- between the island and the Syrian mainland. Focus- ing of the features with darkish brushstrokes. ing our attention on wall and icon painting, and Stephan Westphalen considers Deir Mar Musa’s taking the historical context into account, we will second layer of paintings to represent an early phase present the evidence more or less chronologically. of the fully developed ‘Syrian style’ used some hun- This will allow us to elucidate how developments dred years later at the same monastery by another took place over time, as well as to reveal any pos- artist, Sarkis (Sergius) son of the priest Gali Ibn sible distinctions both in the degree of interaction Barran (1208/09; Layer 3). He suggests that the and in the precise direction of the flow of tech- ‘Syrian style’ essentially results from a local Syrian niques, forms, and novel themes. adaptation of Byzantine models6. Although there are currently no contemporary parallels available for Hunayn’s work in Greater Syria that would allow for a proper assessment of the origin and development of the ‘Syrian style’, it is clear that there were Byzantine models available in the Qalamun at the time. Indications for this are found c 3 For overviews of the medieval art of Cyprus, see Stylianou/ at Melkite Deir Mar Ya qub (Monastery of Stylianou 1985; Wharton 1988, 53-89; Weyl Carr 2005; St James the Persian) near Qara (Fig. 1), situated a eadem 2012; and the various contributions in Catalogue mere 15 kilometres to the northwest of Deir Mar Paris 2012. 4 On the importance of economics and trade in Mediterra- Musa. The eleventh-century wall paintings (Layer nean cross-cultural exchange and artistic cross-pollination, 1) in the nave of the monastery’s lower church were see Georgopoulou 2009. most probably executed by artists who originated 5 Immerzeel 2009, 64, Pl. 30; idem 2010, 233, Pls 39-40; from Byzantium. Iconographically speaking, the Hélou 2010b, 138. For the Church of St Anthonius near Kellia, see Stylianou/Stylianou 1985, 433-437, Fig. 260; decoration programme of the nave is unique in the Hein/Jacovljevic/Kleidt 1996, 133-134, Pl. 137. Greater Syrian region, as it is the only known cycle 6 Westphalen 2007, 105-107, 111, 114-115. of paintings of the life of Christ in this area, where 80 97087_ECA.indb 80 14/01/15 10:29 Fig. 1. Map of Lebanon and Syria (drawing: Mat Immerzeel) churches usually feature at most a few narrative were set in motion to re-establish the monastery8. representations from the New Testament. In terms Especially in light of the fact that the Byzantines of style, they are somewhat similar to contemporary are known to have adopted a strong policy aimed murals in Cyprus, such as the first layer of paint- at culturally and religiously realigning the region ings in the Church of St Nikolaos tis Stegis towards the Empire, it seems likely that the general (St Nicholas of the Roof) near Kakopetria7. Instead of reflecting any direct links with Cyprus, however, the Byzantine style and iconog- 7 Schmidt/Westphalen 2005, 93, with further references. raphy of the paintings at Deir Mar Yacqub should Besides Deir Mar Yacqub (first half 11th c.) and Layer 2 rather be considered within the context of the re- (1095) at Deir Mar Musa, the only other eleventh-century establishment of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate murals known in the area are the first layers of murals at Deir Mar Musa (ca.