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DEESIS: CHRIST, THE VIRGIN AND SAINT GEORGE KEPHALOPHOROS

40.5 x 31 x 2 cm

Leos (Moskos?), 1649

‘In the middle, Christ stands in frontal pose, clad in a deep green toga and holding the globe in his left hand. Right, the Virgin turns towards Christ, with expression and pose of intercession, wearing a deep green dress with dark red maphorion. Left, Saint George, a comely knight, in corresponding pose to the Virgin, holds his severed head in his right hand and lance in the left; his mantle and cuirass are red with gold ornaments. The ground is gold. Above Christ, amidst blue-green clouds, God, the Ancient of Days, with arms outstretched in blessing, and below him, in a circle, the Holy Spirit as a dove. In the clouds, small heads of winged angels.
On the green foreground, left of Christ’s feet, the date ΑΧΜΘ (1649) and right the signature: [X]EI[P] ΛEOY (Hand of Leos), in elegant red capitals. The icon is of particular interest for its style and technique. The influence of Italian painting is abundantly clear in the colours, the facial expressions, the tall bodies and the soft folds of the garments; even in the Virgin’s headdress, not to mention the blue-green clouds and the little angels. However, Leos paid great attention to modelling the heads and hands in the so-called Cretan manner, with calligraphic white highlights on the dark foundation.
So he manages to create a highly personal style, for although in the combination of the two heterogeneous elements the Italian dominate, the manner in which this is achieved is different from that of E. Tzanes or Th. Poulakis, the two painters who had the greatest influence on their contemporaries. In Tzanes’s work the spirit was more attached to tradition and in Poulakis’s imagination played a bold role. From the three known works by Leos — who should not be confused with the later Leos Moschos (see Xyngopoulos, Catalogue, 39) — it seems that he tried to combine the different manners in a serene and noble style, executed with conscientious craftsmanship.’ Manolis Chatzidakis, 1945.

The icon follows an established Byzantine iconography of the Deesis that comprises three standing figures with Christ in the middle.¹ An analogous composition occurs in an early sixteenth-century icon in Princeton, with the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist interceding on either side of Christ, and in an earlier, fifteenth-century, Cretan icon in Sinai with Saint Phanourios in the position of Saint George, the similarity extending to the military uniform of the soldier-saint.² The three-quarter pose of Saint George kephalophoros in our icon is known in a series of Cretan icons in which, however, he is portrayed alone in an attitude of intercession.³ The Western-style rendering of Christ blessing and holding the translucent orb, characteristic attribute of the Lord in Italian painting, is encountered in the illustration used by Panayotis Doxaras in his book Τέχνη Ζωγραφίας (Art of Painting) (1720), now in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice.⁴ Noteworthy is the fact that Domenikos Theotokopoulos painted Christ in this type in his Apostle series, in Spain.⁵

In a manuscript by the painter Panayotis Plaisas (after 1912), in the Estavromenos church in the town of Zakynthos, an icon is accurately recorded as: ‘having the Everlasting Father above, Jesus Christ below and on either side the Virgin and George holding his severed head’. The description also notes that it bore the signature Α.Χ.Μ.Θ. ΧΕΙΡ ΛΕΟΥ (…).⁶ Zois describes the same icon in 1920: ‘in 1648, it is clearly seen from his signature (Ilias Moskos) on a Trimorphon. Above, God in clouds and the Holy Spirit and Saint John the Baptist holding his severed head, of pure Cretan art … as follows: ΑΧΜΘ ΧΕΙΡ ΛΕΟΥ’.⁷ The icon’s identification is confirmed by a third description, given by Sisilianos: ‘in the church of Estavromenos in Zakynthos a medium-size icon representing Christ standing, blessing and holding a globe. Right of Christ the Virgin, standing and interceding and left of him Saint George, without horse, holding his severed head. Above these three figures appears the Ancient of Days, blessing. It bears the date 1649 and is of refined and noble art’.⁸ There is thus no doubt that our icon should be identified as that described in the Estavromenos church in Zakynthos. This identification confirms the authenticity of the signature and the date, which laboratory examination showed had been repainted over an earlier signature. There is a signature of the same formula: χειρ λέου ,αχμη’  (1648) on an icon of the Dormition of the Virgin, in the Loverdos Collection.⁹
Information on the painter Leos Moskos is somewhat confused. The suggestion that Ilias and Leos Moskos are one and the same person seems improbable,¹⁰ for it is known from notarial documents (1649-1690) that Leos originated from Rethymnon and worked in Zakynthos and Venice. Signed works by him date from 1648 to 1675.¹¹
Unfortunately damage resulting from previous conservation of the icon has spoilt the painted surface and blackened the colours over a large area. Nevertheless it is possible to discern the elegant poses, the delicate modelling of the flesh on the facial features and the miniature-style rendering of the angels in the clouds, as well as the meticulous development of the landscape in the background, with low hills and trees. Visible in the infrared photographs (Figs 180, 182) is the skilfully incised preliminary design, particularly on the faces with their passive expression, large eyes and characteristic wrinkle on the forehead. The above traits, indicative of an accomplished painter and adroit miniaturist, are even more apparent in an icon of the Last Judgement, of exceptional mastery, signed by Leos Moskos in 1653.¹² Despite the damage and the altered colours on our icon, a comparable care in the rendering of details is observed, while the military uniform of Saint George is the same as that of Archangel Michael, especially the short tunic slit on the thighs and the high boots.

CONDITION Manolis Chatzidakis, 1945: ‘Icon on a thin panel that has warped, causing a slight split in the middle of the painted surface. Otherwise very well preserved. Dimensions 40.5 x 31.5΄.
Α previous cleaning of the icon using fire has destroyed the painted surface and spoilt the colours,
which have acquired a uniform blackish tone, See also Appendix IIΙ.

PROVENANCE Zakynthos, Estavromenos church.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Unpublished.

The icon is described but not identified by Zois 1920, Sisilianos 1935, 152, Konomos 1988, 71-72, and Rigopoulos 1990, 50-52.

Notes

1. See Mouriki 1968, 13-28. Holy Image, Holy Space 1988, no. 67, 152 and 223.
2. Sinai 1990, fig. 78 (N. Drandakis); the icon is attributed to the painter Angelos, see also op. cit., fig. 84, the same theme with Saint Nicholas in place of Saint George.
3. See Walter 1992 and icon of Saint Paraskevi, Cat. no. 16, 182 nn. 17-23.
4. Kyriakou 1982, pl. H’, 216-218.
5. Wethey 1962, I, cat. no. 113; II, 1962, fig, 203.
6. Flemotomos 1990, 203ff.
7. Pelekasis 1920, nos 654-655, p. 1. See also correct observations in Flemotomos 1990, 203-205.
8. Sisilianos 1935, 152. See also Konomos 1988, 71-72.
9. Papayannopoulos-Palaios 1946, 23, no. 97, Dormition of the Virgin (37 x 46 cm) (1648). As far
as I know the authenticity of the signature has not been confirmed.
10. Pentogalos 1974, 34-51. Konomos 1988, 69-78.
ll. Chatzidakis 1962, 125, nn. 2, 148. Chatzidakis (1977) 1875, 169. Chatzidakis 1997, with previous bibliography.
12. After Byzantium 1996, no. 40.