Framing the Holy: Revetments on Late Byzantine Icons by Elizabeth Yoder Moss A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Elizabeth Yoder Moss 2016 Framing the Holy: Revetments on Late Byzantine Icons Elizabeth Yoder Moss Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Art University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This study examines icon revetments produced during the late Byzantine period (1261–1453), situating them within the diversity of mixed-media, multisensory, and multivalent devotional images that combined personal piety with conspicuous consumption and the public spectacle of lavish patronage. These works are evidence of the “ornamental turn”—a paradigm shift marked by the increase of ornament on visual works that mediated wealth, spiritual devotion, and social power. Revetted icons do not make arguments about the faithful representation of prototypes; they make arguments about faithful veneration. Beginning with a historiographic study of ornament, the thesis examines how the ornamental vocabulary on revetments manifests relationships between specific decorated icons. Indices of ornament motifs and a catalogue of surviving icon revetments and frames from the eleventh through fifteenth centuries constitute the appendices. In chapter 2, I argue that the previously unstudied decorated strips added to the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria in Ohrid were part of a larger project aimed at legitimizing Serbian emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (r. 1331–55) and his archbishop Nicholas in Ohrid. They structured their leadership in the Balkans on their contemporaries in Constantinople. In chapter 3, I present a new reading of the dedicatory prayers inscribed on the icon of the Mother of God in Freising. These texts manifest the icon veneration of wealthy individuals whose gifts of enamel, silver, and gold mediated their desire for divine aid and broadcasted ii their piety to viewers. Inscriptions on other revetments complement the central holy figures whose gestures direct viewers to names and key sentiments of the inscribed prayer. In chapter 4, I argue that the hitherto unexamined facture of the revetted icon of the Virgin in Fermo was an invention born of the desire for Byzantine imagery in thirteenth- century Italy. It was designed to emulate the materiality and ornamental vocabulary of Byzantine revetted icons. By drawing conclusions about how elite individuals conceptualized the efficacy and materiality of revetments, this dissertation augments the burgeoning discourse on late Byzantine icons. Examining the ornamental turn reveals new insights into how these objects functioned in late Byzantine political, social, and devotional matrices. iii Mary, You’re covered in roses, You’re covered in ashes, You’re covered in rain, You’re covered in babies, covered in slashes, You’re covered in wilderness, You’re covered in stains. Joan Baez, “Mary” iv Table of Contents VOLUME 1 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................v List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... xviii Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Terminology and Metaphors ..........................................................................................4 Accounts of the Display of Decorated Icons ...............................................................14 Icons and Revetments in Late Byzantine Art ..............................................................20 Metalwork Techniques .................................................................................................30 Monetary Costs in Monastic and Household Inventories ............................................35 Dissertation Outline .....................................................................................................43 Ornament Indices and Revetment Catalogue ...............................................................47 Chapter 1: The Pan-Orthodox Ornamental Vocabulary on Icon Revetments and Frames ......51 Theories of Ornament ..................................................................................................57 Approaches to Byzantine Ornament ............................................................................84 Excursus: Interlace Roundels .......................................................................................97 Conclusion .................................................................................................................106 Chapter 2: Ornament and the Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, Ohrid ........................108 Motifs and Emblems on the Revetment .....................................................................112 The Ohrid Hodegetria in Context: Cathedral–City–Empire ......................................126 Dušan Creates the Serbian Empire ............................................................................139 Archbishop Nicholas in Ohrid ...................................................................................146 Icons in Constantinople ..............................................................................................149 Conclusion .................................................................................................................155 Chapter 3: Inscriptions and the Mother of God Hagiosoritissa, Freising ..............................157 Inscriptions on Three Icon Frames ............................................................................176 Inscriptions beneath Icons ..........................................................................................185 Inscriptions and the Decorative Program ...................................................................192 Conclusion .................................................................................................................195 Chapter 4: Materiality and the Virgin in Prayer, Fermo ........................................................197 The Virgin in Prayer in the Late Thirteenth–Early Fourteenth Century ....................202 The Byzantine Revetment ..............................................................................202 Inscriptions on the Revetment Frame ........................................................................211 The Panel Painting .....................................................................................................219 v Techniques .................................................................................................................229 Post-Medieval Additions ...........................................................................................240 Fifteenth-Century Display .............................................................................240 Sixteenth-Century Woodblock .......................................................................244 Eighteenth-Century Oil Painting ....................................................................245 Conclusion .................................................................................................................247 Conclusion: The Ornamental Turn and Material Splendor ....................................................251 Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................259 Primary Sources .........................................................................................................259 Secondary Sources .....................................................................................................263 VOLUME 2 Figures ...................................................................................................................................296 Appendix 1: Checklist of Icon Revetments and Frames ........................................................427 Primary Corpus, Catalogue Numbers 1–5 .................................................................427 Secondary Corpus, Catalogue Numbers 6–80 ...........................................................428 Appendix 2: Analytical Indices of Motifs on Icon Revetments and Frames ........................436 Checklist of Motifs ....................................................................................................437 Index of Nonfigural Motifs ........................................................................................439 Index of Figural Motifs and Emblemata ....................................................................481 Appendix 3: Catalogue of Icon Revetments and Frames .......................................................499 Primary Corpus, Catalogue Numbers 1–5 .................................................................500 Secondary Corpus, Catalgoue Numbers 6–80 ...........................................................515 Catalogue Analysis Table . ........................................................................................687 vi List of Figures Introduction Figure