The scene of the martyrdom of Saint Demetrios in post-Byzantine art Εuangelos Ν. Kyriakoudis UDK: 7.033.2.046.3”15/17“ : 271.2-36 Dimitrios This study is devoted to iconographic types of most forcefully projected in the texts of this period was presentations of the martyrdom of St. Demetrios in post- the courageous defender of the Christian faith against Byzantine art, but it also includes later examples from the the infidel.4 In the post-Byzantine period, the scene of 18th and the 19th centuries, when the scene was entirely his martyrdom retained the basic iconographic format simplified. It also discusses the inclusion of presentations that had developed in the Palaiologan era: St Demetrios of the death of St. Demetrios in other iconographic cycles, is depicted seated, right hand raised, on a stepped seat or as well as its significance for the iconographic formulae in upon some stone steps,5 in front of a building that repre- presentations of the death of some other saints. sents his prison, accepting death at the hands of a body of soldiers who are piercing his right side with their spears.6 Of all the scenes in the iconographic cycle of the An angel descending from on high places a crown on life and miracles of St Demetrios that developed in the his head, while his servant Lupus, standing behind him, Byzantine period,1 that of the martyrdom of the patron wears an expression of awe mixed with wonder.7 and protector of Thessaloniki was the most widely de- 4 D. Obolensky, The Cult of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki in the His- picted. It was closely associated with the effusion ofmyr - tory of Byzantine Slav Relations, Balkan Studies 15/1 (1974) 9; Α. Pa- rhon from the relic of the saint, which from the 10th cen- padopoulos, Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος εις την ελληνικήν και βουλγαρικήν tury onward played an important role in the further dis- παράδοσιν, Thessaloniki 1971, 135–136, 145–152; idem, Δημήτριος 2 ο Μυροβλήτης, μεγαλομάρτυς Πολιούχος Θεσσαλονίκης, προστάτης persion of his veneration. των Ελλήνων και υπέρμαχος της Ορθοδοξίας. Η τιμή μεταξύ των Σλά- Later, during the period of Ottoman rule, this scene βων, Ελληνικές επιδράσεις, in: Το Αγιολόγιον της Θεσσαλονίκης, Α’. was even more frequently used, in the context of a gener- Αββακούμ-Λούπος, Thessaloniki 1996, 222–223. al tendency to portray the martyrdoms of the saints; for 5 Xyngopoulos, Ο εικονογραφικός κύκλος, 42, pl. ΧΙ. Cf. the descrip- tion of an icon depicting the martyrdom of St Demetrios in the Ekph- these images were a source of strength and consolation th th 3 rasis written in the late 15 or early 16 century by Makarios Makris: to the enslaved and oppressed Christians. There is noth- “… the witness to Christ Demetrios … is seated on some stone steps” ing fortuitous in the fact that the aspect of St Demetrios (Α. Argyriou, Μακαρίου του Μακρή συγγράμματα, Thessaloniki 1996, 167). 1 Α. Xyngopoulos, Ο εικονογραφικός κύκλος της ζωής του Αγίου Δη- 6 This gesture of the saint, expressing his desire to receive the pike μητρίου, Thessaloniki 1977, 11–13. wounds in his right side, after the pattern of Christ on the Cross, is 2 Ibid., 11. For the phenomenon of the effusion of myrrhon, see the mentioned by many panegyrists of the saint; see in this respect Α. recent studies: D. Vakaros, Το μύρον του Αγίου Δημητρίου, Thes- Xyngopoulos, Βυζαντινόν κιβωτίδιον μετά παραστάσεων εκ του βίου saloniki 1984; Α. Mentzos, Το προσκύνημα του Αγίου Δημητρίου του Αγίου Δημητρίου, Archaeologike Ephemeris 1936, 122; idem, Θεσσαλονίκης στα βυζαντινά χρόνια, Athens 1994, 45–50, 120–156; Η τοιχογραφία του μαρτυρίου του Αγίου Δημητρίου εις τους Αγίους Ch. Bakirtzis, Η μυροβλησία του Αγίου Δημητρίου, addendum to the Αποστόλους Θεσσαλονίκης, ΔΧΑΕ 8 (1976) 4–5, n. 5. Cf. K. Deli- volume Αγίου Δημητρίου Θαύματα. Οι συλλογές αρχιεπισκόπου Ιω- jianis, Ikonografija sv. Dimitrija u vizantijskoj umetnosti (Doctor- άννου και Ανωνύμου. Ο βίος, τα θαύματα και η Θεσσαλονίκη του Αγί- al dissertation, typed), Belgrade 1973, 118; E. Smirnova, Remarques ου Δημητρίου, ed. Ch. Bakirtzis, Athens 1997, 511–525; S. Paschalidis, sur l’iconographie de Saint Demetrios, in: Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Άγιος Δημήτριος ο αθλοφόρος της Θεσσαλονίκης και της Οικουμένης, Σωτήρη Κίσσα, 540. The author notes that the iconography of the in: Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος στην τέχνη του Αγίου Όρους, Thessaloniki martyrdom of St Demetrios is the basis for the similar rendition of 2005, 22–24, which notes that the effusion of myrrhon from the relic the scene of the death of the Russian martyr St Βοris. of St Demetrios was attested in written sources as early as the 9th cen- 7 For the development of this iconographic episode in the Palaiologan tury and that he was venerated as a healing saint throughout Chris- period, v. Α. Xyngopoulos, Σχεδίασμα της ιστορίας της θρησκευτικής tendom by the 10th. The author further notes that the veneration of ζωγραφικής μετά την Άλωσιν, Athens 1957, 186; idem, Ο εικονογρα- the saint had become universal by the 7th century. See also: I. Tarn- φικός κύκλος, 28–29; idem, Η τοιχογραφία του μαρτυρίου, 1–4. Cf. A. anidis, Το σλαβικό είδωλο της πόλης του Αγ. Δημητρίου Θεσσαλονί- Stavropoulou-Makri, Les peintures murales de l’église de la Transfig- κης, in: Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Σωτήρη Κίσσα, Thessaloniki 2001, uration à Veltsista (1568) en Epire et l’atelier des peintres Kondaris, 605, n. 28. Ioannina 1989, 145, in which the author cites as the earliest example 3 For the consolatory role of scenes of the martyrdom of saints in an illumination with the same subject in Codex 761 of the Monastery the period of Turkish rule, v. Ν. Κ. Moutsopoulos, Οι εκκλησίες του of Vatopedi, dating from 1088. This illumination, however, like cer- Νομού Πέλλης, Thessaloniki 1973, 92. Cf. A. Karakatsani, Κάποιες tain others belonging to the folio part of this parchment codex, was παρατηρήσεις για τις σκηνές μαρτυρίων στις βυζαντινές εκκλησίες, added in the 16th century; see in this regard A. Cutler, The Aristo- Δελτίον Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας (henceforth: ΔΧΑΕ) cratic Psalters in Byzantium, Paris 1984, 26, 29; P. Christou, Ch. Ma- 1 (1980–1981) 161–164; D. Triantaphyllopoulos, Εικόνες Παραμυθίας vropoulou-Tsioumi, S. Kadas, A. Kalamartzi-Katsarou, Οι θησαυροί υπόδουλου γένους, in: 23ο Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινής και Μεταβυζαντινής του Αγίου Όρους IV, Athens 1991, 292–293. Cf. P. Christou, Το Άγι- Αρχαιολογίας και Τέχνης. Summaries, Athens 2003, 105–106. ον Όρος. Αθωνική Πολιτεία- Ιστορία, Τέχνη, Ζωή, Athens 1987, 460, 203 head and staying his hand from the spear-thrust. This de- tail is recorded in the Ekphrasis, written (as we have not- ed) about an icon depicting the martyrdom of St Deme- trios by Makarios Makris,9 although earlier thought to have been composed by Marcus Eugenicus.10 This complete type of the martyrdom of St Deme- trios is found in a number of post-Byzantine works, start- ing in the 16th century. Among the earliest of these is an icon of the 15th or 16th century in the church of St George of the Greeks in Venice (Fig. 2).11 Here, the scene of the martyrdom takes place in front of a complex of fortified buildings with two towers, representing the saint’s pris- on; this architectural framework developed in the 16th century, and is based on Palaiologan models.12 On the right, the figure of the saint is seated on a sort of backless marble throne, framed by the arch of a broadly horizon- tal gateway. An angel descending from on high prepares to place the crown of martyrdom on the saint’s head, Fig. 1. Mount Athos, Monastery of Great Lavra, icon, 15th c. while Lupus stands behind him, looking on with arms outstretched in an attitude of awe and wonder. On the left a party of six soldiers are plunging their spears into his right side – all but one, who, bareheaded, is obviously unwilling to smite the saint. The spearmen are grouped in front of the tower on the left, whose doorway has two projecting ledges. The Venice icon follows the Palaiologan icon of the Great Lavra in the basic iconographic presentation of the scene, but differs from it in the upward thrust of the architectural background, for the prison complex in the Athos icon has no towers. There are also differences in the figure of Lupus, whose emotional response is por- trayed in the Lavra icon by a gesture of bringing his right hand to his face. The iconographic rendition of the scene of the martyrdom as it appears in the icon from St George’s in Venice recurs in a number of icons from the 16th century on. One such example is that of the late 16th-century icon from the Sinaite Monastery of St Catherine’s (Fig. 3).13 The scene is depicted as described above, but without the bare-headed soldier who refuses to smite the saint. For the rest, the soldiers wear similar uniforms and helmets, the most characteristic figure being that of the execu- Fig. 2. Venice, St George of the Greeks, icon 15th/16th c. 9 “Ένα δε δη μόνον είλε και κατεγοήτευσεν η χάρις του αθλητού, και τις αυτόν εσιήει φειδώς παρό μοι δοκοί και ανέχειν το δόρυ και ουκ A typical Late Byzantine example of this depiction εμβάπτειν εθέλειν τη μακαρία πλευρά”, cf. H. Hunger, Byzantine Lit- erature I (Greek translation: L. G. Benaki, Ι. V. Anastasiou, G. Ch. is an icon from the Monastery of Great Lavra on Mount Makris), Athens 1991, 280, n. 59; F. Halkin, Bibliotheca Hagiograph- th th Athos, dating from the late 14 or early 15 century (Fig.