Post-Byzantine Painting Art / The Kapesovite Painters’ Workshop and Saint George Church of Negades

The art of painting of “Byzantium after Byzantium” is a fascinating, multifaceted subject of research in the fields of Byzantinology and Art History. The 18th century was, in essence, the last period of the art of “Byzantium after Byzantium,” i.e., the post-Byzantine art of painting, while at the same time being a period of notable growth both for the regions under Venetian rule and those under Ottoman rule.

The artistic profile of the frescoes and icons of the 18th c. was characterized by the enrichment of the established iconography with Italian art and Western baroque elements, disseminated through contemporary engravings. These engravings, being widely diffused in the Balkans through the various trade routes, arrived in Epirus and the villages of Zagori, a region in which the painters examined in the present monograph were active. Of particular note is the painter Ioannis, the “most important painter from Kapesovo,” according to the late D. Konstantios. The pinnacle of his art has been captured in the church of Saint George in Negades. This work belongs to his mature phase, in which he worked together with his son Anastasios who had become an able artist, having worked for nine years in his father’s workshop, had become a capable artist. The large dimensions of the church of St. George offered the painters the opportunity to develop a notably diverse range of subjects, within which they included the uncommon iconographical cycle of the seven Ecumenical Synods.