Download PDF | Working Drawings of Icon Painters After the Fall of Constantinople - The Andreas Xyngopoulos Portfolio at the Benaki Museum by Maria Vassilaki (ed.), A.G. Leventis Foundation & Benaki Museum, Athens, 2015.
457 Pages
FOREWORD
It is a particular pleasure to introduce this volume and its scholarly presentation of the Andreas Xyngopoulos portfolio of painters’ working drawings, which form part of the Collections of the Benaki Museum. In bringing together academic research, PostByzantine artistic heritage and an important, hitherto largely unpublished, museum collection, the volume underlines three areas that are central to the A. G. Leventis Foundation’s agenda.
Since its inception, the Foundation has actively supported academic research and the work of scholars and institutions in fields related to the art, history and culture of the ancient, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine world. It has also provided leading museums and cultural institutions in Greece, Cyprus and abroad with support on many levels, from the presentation of collections to the furthering of educational and other aims. Since 2014, through the establishment of the A. G. Leventis Gallery, in the heart of Nicosia, the Foundation’s lasting commitment to the advancement of the study but also the enjoyment of art is well demonstrated.
The drawings presented in this volume will allow readers to appreciate the ‘technology’ behind the production of Post-Byzantine icons. The book will also provide scholars with an invaluable research tool, furthering the study of Post-Byzantine imagery and its iconography. In doing so, it will shed new light ona little-known but singularly important collection of working drawings, which are rightfully considered among the many treasures of the Benaki Museum — a leading Greek museum with an international outlook, with which theA. G. Leventis Foundation has a long-standing and fruitful collaboration.
I would like to congratulate the author, Maria Vassilaki, on this important achievement and all those who collaborated in making this finely produced volume possible.
Anastasios P. Leventis Chairman, A. G. Leventis Foundation
FOREWORD
Our ties were forged in 1995. Since then, with the beneficial support of the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the Benaki Museum has been able to meet the cost of many important cultural activities; in other words, to pursue its exhibition and publishing agenda unhindered, and to expand its activity to include both organising a variety of other events and to enriching some of the collections that were weaker in terms of exhibits.
Amongst the publications made possible thanks exclusively to the support of the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the accompanying catalogues of a large number of exhibitions should be mentioned: Icons of the Velimezis Collection, 1998; Greek Embroidery, 17th-19th Century: Works of Art from the Collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, 2006; Byzantium, 330-1453, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, 2008; as well as The Hand of Angelos: An Icon-painter in Venetian Crete, in Athens in 2010. Other publications made possible through grants from the Foundation include, first of all, the publication in 2011 of 3 Kriezotou Street: Nikos HadjikyriakosGhika. His Home, Studio and Gallery, as well as the catalogues for the exhibition Heaven and Earth: The Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections, held successively from 2013 onwards at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Equally generous, however, were the contributions that supported other significant events — for instance, the Museum's participation in the exhibition Byzantium: Faith and Power (12611557), organised in 2004 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The same applies to other productions, such as the exhibitions Greek Embroidery, 17th-19th Centuries at the Hellenic Centre in London, in 2006, and Twice a Stranger and Athenian Houses of the Modern Movement, in 2012 and 2013 respectively in Athens. Also notable was the Foundation's support of the presentation of Jacqueline Karageorghis’ book Kypris: The Aphrodite of Cyprus - Ancient Sources and Archaeological Evidence, published in 2005; the day conference ‘Negotiations under Pressure’, in 2007; as well as the discussion on ‘Olympic Preparation’, in 2008. Not least, the funding for the acquisition of certain works that boosted the weakest periods of the Museum's permanent display should be extolled, including the red-figure amphora by the Painter of London E 342, a dazzling work of the 5th century BC acquired in 1997, a rare icon of the Lamenting Virgin of the 13th century, which in 1999 came to enrich the Late Byzantine period collection, and the immediate response to fund-raising for the acquisition of the 12thcentury Byzantine silver plates with gilt decoration.
The A. G. Leventis Foundation’s concern forthe Benaki Museum, however, goes far beyond the generosity of its repeated sponsorship; all the more so as this is manifested spontaneously, united in common spiritual goals, which clearly highlights the friendliness and mutual respect, kinship even, of the relations between the two organisations.
Such thoughts are inspired by the publication of this volume, a further testament to how the imperative academic duty of publicising the Museum's treasures is gradually being fulfilled. This is one more step, the result of persistent, lengthy efforts, which, inthis case, would hardly have come to fruition but for the dedication of Maria Vassilaki.
Angelos Delivorrias Director, Benaki Museum
PREPAC
I am trying to remember when Laskarina Bouras first spoke to me about the working drawings of the Andreas Xyngopoulos portfolio in the Benaki Museum. | think it was when we were both in London for postgraduate studies. What | do remember, though, is when she first showed me the working drawings in the Benaki Museum. It was in autumn 1985. | will never forget the complete sense of the handmade that | felt as | held these loose sheets of paper in my hands: worn pages, full of pictorial representations and notes. The traces of their use were evident: a charcoal powder coating on the back side of the paper, scattered stains, damage and losses.
Many years later, | realised that not only the traces of use, but also the fingerprints of the painters who owned and used them must have originally been left on these sheets. These have been covered up by more recent fingerprints now, though, those of their conservators andresearchers.
| immediately caught Laskarina’s enthusiasm for this material when she talked about her plans: first, to provide systematic documentation, and then to begin research in order to identify their iconographic sources. | closely watched her working on this material for several years. It all came abruptly to an end, though, with her sudden death in March 1989. When you lose such a friend, you soon understand that it is very comforting to stoop over things that she had started, yet was unable to complete. You have the illusion that you are still chatting with her.
When Angelos Delivorrias and Charalambos Bouras asked me to take over the project of the Benaki Museum working drawings, | accepted with great pleasure, although | knew that | was undertaking a difficult and time-demanding task. As things turned out, | was not wrong. For it is true that a long time passed until | was able to bring this project to completion, and it is a great pleasure that | am finally writing the preface to the book ready to be published.
| would like to thank all those who stood by me and helped me to complete this book. First of all, the Benaki Museum and its Director, Professor Angelos Delivorrias, not only for entrusting me with the study of this material, but also for sharing my thoughts and concerns; Charalambos Bouras, for gladly agreeing for me to continue with the study of the material that his unforgettable wife had begun; Irini Yeroulanou, Deputy Director, Benaki Museum, and Aimilia Yeroulanou, Head of its Board of Trustees, for all the support they gave me.
| also wish to thank Fani-Maria Tsigakou, Curator of the Collection of Prints and Drawings, Benaki Museum; the Paper Conservation Department, particularly Julie Brown, Sotiris Bekiaris, Argiro Chiladaki and Myrto Delivoria; the Documentation Department, particularly Iphigeneia Dionyssiadou and Zoe Metaxiotou; the Department of Conservation of Icons and Paintings, particularly Stergios Stassinopoulos, Vassilis Paschalis, Kalli Milanou, Alexandra-Eleni Kalliga, Lena Vranopoulou and Chryssa Vourvopoulou; Leonidas Kourgiantakis of the Photographic Archive for the willingness with which he undertook to photograph the more delicate working drawings in the portfolio and for the excellent results of his work; and Panoraia Benatou, for dedicating countless hours to cataloguing and scanning the material, which she did with loyalty.
My good colleague loannis Varalis, Assistant Professor of Byzantine Archaeology, University of Thessaly, helped, with his familiar thoroughness, to organise the material in iconographic themes and conducted much of the research. Vassiliki Anemodouri and Florentia Pikoula volunteered with me and became eagerly involved with the working drawings of the Benaki Museum. Throughout the process of preparing the final draft of this publication, my postgraduate students, Iro Dermitzaki and Sophia Zoitou, were constantly beside me during the endless hours of work required and turned what would have been a laborious task into fun. They, and Nikos Livanos, researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, are credited with compiling the book's indices.
| would also like to thank Vaios Ganitis and his late wife, Katerina Talarou-Ganiti, Conservators, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki, for their information regarding technical aspects of the working drawings. Varvara Ziampaka, of Honest Partners S.A., Scanned the most challenging cartoons inthe portfolio. Thelate Kostas Manolis, photographer of the Benaki Museum, photographed the cartoons in the portfolio before technology facilitated scanning them. The cost of photographing the working drawings was sponsored by the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation, and|wouldlike to take this opportunity to extendagain my sincerethanks tothem. The ETBA Cultural Foundation, on the recommendation of its Director, Dr Aspasia Louvi, provided sponsorship for the study of the watermarks on the paper of the working drawings in the portfolio.
Through all these years of studying the material in the Andreas Xyngopoulos portfolio, | enjoyed opportunities to speak with many colleagues and good friends. | would like to thank them for supporting and helping me to Clarify many issues: Robin Cormack, Michele Bacci, Valentino Pace, Nancy P. Sevéenko, Annemarie Wey! Carr, Bissera Pentcheva, Rob Nelson, Tony Cutler, Judith Herrin, Liz James, Chris Entwistle, Lilia Evseeva, Alexei Lidov, Masako Kido, loli Kalavrezou, Nano Chatzidakis, Efthymis Tsigaridas, Myrtali AcheimastouPotamianou, Chryssa Maltezou, Costas Carra, Mary Constantoudaki-Kitromilides, Maria Kazanaki-Lappa, Anastasia Drandaki, Yannis Rigopoulos, Stelios Perdikis, Christos Margaritis and Dimitra Kotoula.
Peak Publishing produced the book impeccably. The successful design is credited to Thymios Presvytis and his exceptional experience. The colour image processingoweseverythingtotheskilland sensitivity of Thodoris Anagnostopoulos. | would like to thank them both for all their time and patience in dealing with any difficulties. Credit for typesetting goes to their worthy colleagues, Angeliki Houndi and Dimitra Triantafyllou, who entered text corrections with extraordinary skill. Georgia M. Panselina edited the Greek text, working tirelessly and with enviable consistency throughout all stages of production. | would like to thank her for everything she offered to this book, as well as for our excellent collaboration. Dimitris Saltabassis translated the texts into English, and! would like to thank him very much for his work. Alexandra Pel edited the English text with outstanding thoroughness and expertise.
The A. G. Leventis Foundation fully covered the cost of such a challenging publication with its generous sponsorship. | express my deepest gratitude to the Chairman, Anastasios P. Leventis, to the Chairman of the Greek Committee, George A. David, and to the Board of Trustees of the A. G. Leventis Foundation. It is to them that | owe the fulfilment of a dream of my scholarly life. It is worth noting that it was as early as 1998 that the A. G. Leventis Foundation showed genuine interest in the research | had started on the working drawings in the Benaki Museum. The Chairman of the Foundation, the late Dino Leventis, had approved the first sponsorship. And now this
project is completed thanks once again to funding of the A. G. Leventis Foundation. | owe special thanks to Evita Arapoglou, Curator, Greek Collection, A. G. Leventis Foundation, and to Myrto Hatzaki, Greek Project and Public Relations Manager, A. G. Leventis Foundation, for always being there when | needed them.
| would also like to express publicly my thanks to my partner, Kostis Mavrakakis, for the fruitful discussions we had, as well as for the courage that he always gives me.
This book would not haveexisted ifthe unforgettable Laskarina Bouras had not introduced me to the world of painters’ working drawings. | am sure, however, that this publication would have been much better had she lived on. She passed away so young, while she still had so much to offer. This book is dedicated to her memory.
Maria Vassilaki 21 November 2014
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