See the Book

THE ANNUNCIATION

23.5. x 18.2 x 1.4 cm

Nikolaos Kallergis (?) (1699-1747)

The angel advances impetuously from the left in wide stride, with torsion of the body and an animated gesture with his right hand raised heavenwards. In his left hand, brought in front of the chest, he holds the lily. On the right the Virgin is seated on a low throne with cushion and without back. Turned three-quarters towards a simply decorated Renaissance-type lectern, in side view, she reads an open book, her hand placed on the pages. The scene takes place on a terrace with low balustrade; in the background left is a landscape of rolling green hills; on the right, behind the Virgin, below the sloping roof supported by three columns, is a canopied bed with the curtain drawn aside. On the gold ground an inscription in red capitals: Ο ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΜΟC THC Θ(ΕΟΤΟ)Κ(Ο)Υ (The Annunciation to the Virgin). Next to the Virgin the initials MP ΘY and Γ above the archangel’s halo.
The drapery of the garments is schematically rendered, while the long, youthful faces are modelled with rounded planes. Elements of the iconography of the setting are encountered in Cretan icons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries painted following models in Western prints. For example, the canopied bed and the drawn curtain appear in one of the miniatures in the Marciana codex by Georgios Klontzas,¹ yet the poses of the Virgin and the archangel differ. A depiction of the Annunciation in a corresponding environment, in an engraving by Diirer, was perhaps the model of this composition.² In an icon by Theodoros Poulakis in the Museo Correr, Venice³ not only is the same type of bed encountered but also the same terrace with balusters; however, here too the poses of the figures are completely different. The model of Poulakis’s icon is represented in Sadeler’s engraving of Gabriel’s Mission to the Virgin.⁴ Emmanuel Tzanes used an analogous model for the setting in an icon in loannina,⁵ in which the poses of the angel and the Virgin differ, since they follow traditional Cretan models.⁶ A similar iconography also occurs in an eighteenth- century Western-style icon in the Benaki Museum.⁷
In all the works mentioned above, by Klontzas, Tzanes and Poulakis, the canopied bed and the terrace with low balustrade are features rendered in the same manner as in our icon. On the contrary, in these examples the rendering of the Virgin and the archangel is different, while the affinity of these figures in our icon with the representation encountered in another work, by the greatest of all the Cretan painters, the Modena triptych by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, is considerable. The painter of our icon reproduces the model of the Annunciation in the local — Zakynthian — Byzantinesque idiom (Figs 224, 225).⁸ Despite the difference in style, there is correspondence in the angel’s pose, with the torsion of the body, and even his attire, with the many-folded, long white chiton and the second, shorter, sleeved one, in rose picked out in pale mauve, tied tightly just above the waist, as in the angels in the icon of the Passion of Christ (Cat. no. 17) (Fig. 107). Also related is the manner of painting his face in profile and the position and shape of his wings. Our icon is further linked with the Modena triptych by the pose of the Virgin in front of a lectern, which is reproduced exactly except for the position of her head which inclines slightly towards the book in our icon. Lastly, the type, form, simple decoration and side view of the lectern with the open book are the same in both works. Similarities in the pose of the Virgin and the type of the lectern are observed with other known icons of the Annunciation by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, in the Prado (Fig. 230), in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and in its copy in Barcelona.⁹ There are, of course, minor divergences in the figure of the Virgin, which has neither the elegance nor the grace of the Virgin in the Modena triptych, as well as in the exact position of the lectern. Of the three examples cited, our icon is most closely related to the Modena triptych. When the triptych was first published in 1937, Pallucchini showed that the model for the figure of the archangel in this work, and in the Annunciation in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, was Caraglio’s engraving of 1537, which copies a drawing by Titian.¹⁰ However the pose, movement and gesture of the Virgin are completely different in Caraglio’s engraving; the model for the rendering of her figure in Theotokopoulos’s works was indicated by Alvarez-Lopera in 1995, in engravings by Bonasone and Ghisi.¹¹ Ghisi’s engraving was used, moreover, as a model for rendering the angel in the Annunciation by other Cretan painters, such as Georgios Klontzas in the Marciana codex and Ilias Moskos in an icon of 1675, in the Byzantine Museum, Athens.¹² A large number of later icons in a more popular Heptanesian art clearly follow Western models for rendering the scene of the Annunciation yet do not resemble our icon,¹³ while in some late eighteenth-century icons of mediocre art in Ravenna,¹⁴ the poses of the archangel and Virgin copy Caraglio’s engaraving.
Our icon’s typological difference from Caraglio’s and Ghisi’s engravings, that is from the models Theotokopoulos used for the representation of the subject of the Annunciation, as well as its difference from later icons known, confirms the hypothesis that its painter copied the representation directly from that of the Modena triptych. Albeit the copy of Theotokopoulos’s composition in our icon is executed in the simplistic manner of a provincial painter who endeavours to give the Western composition a more ‘Byzantine’ character. Nevertheless, it preserves the correspondence in the elongated proportions of the body and the relations between the figures, as well as the character and the general aspect of the model. The style of our icon has traits distinctive of the art of Nikolaos Kallergis, as known from the icons of Saint Spyridon (Cat. no. 46) and the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (Cat. no. 47), which are characterized by an analogous miniature rendering of the figures, rich colours and graphic details in the setting.¹⁵
The figure of the Virgin resembles the young faces of the maidens in the Virgin’s retinue in the icon of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (Cat. no. 47) and especially the girl at the far right who folds her arms in a similar manner on the chest (Figs 221, 223); the simplistic linear rendering of the drapery on the archangel’s garments is likewise similar to that on the dress of the girls. The type of bed with canopy and curtain is painted in the same way as in the scene of the king’s dream in the icon of Saint Spyridon (Cat. no. 46) (Fig. 212). The balusters are drawn in the same manner as the small colonnettes in front of the saint’s relic in that icon (Cat. no. 46) (Fig. 213). The colour tones correspond, since the same blue-grey is used in the landscape of the Annunciation and in the first and third scenes of the miracles of Saint Spyridon (Figs 207, 209), in which the little clouds are also painted in a similar manner. The above observations lead to the conclusion that the icon of the Annunciation was painted by Nikolaos Kallergis and belongs to the same cycle of his works as Saint Spyridon (Cat. no. 46) and the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (Cat. no. 47). Moreover, the subject seems to have been established in Zakynthian painting, since it is encountered in identical rendering in another contemporary icon in the Solomos Museum, Zakynthos (Fig. 222).¹⁶
It further emerges that Nikolaos Kallergis had copied not only Domenikos Theotokopoulos’s icon of the Passion (Cat. no. 17) but also the representation known to us from the Modena triptych. To Nikolaos Kallergis’s copies of earlier important icons that had been brought to Zakynthos by refugees from Crete, another two works by him in the Zakynthos Museum can be added: Saint Theodore (Fig. 233) and Saint George the Dragon-slayer from the church of the Panagia tou Tsouroufli. These are characterized by the same style¹⁷ and their respective models are Saint Theodore by Angelos, in the Loverdos Collection (Fig. 232), which was formerly in Zakynthos, and Saint George standing and slaying the dragon, in the Zakynthos Museum.¹⁸
It seems that Nikolaos Kallergis had inherited the practice of copying earlier Cretan icons from his father, the painter and priest Frantzeskos (or Frangiskos), who had painted an exact copy of the icon of the Virgin from the Anaphonetria Monastery, as attested in a decision of the Proveditore of Zakynthos, Jacobus Corner, on 8 June 1677: ‘… it has come to our notice that while the same icon is in the church of the Holy Apostles, the most reverend vicar Frangiskos Kallergis, who was also a painter, has dared to copy this in the same size most faithfully. Believing that this is unbecoming and harmful to the original, we order, with all due respect, that the copy of the icon be brought to the Anaphonetria Monastery and remain beside the original, without it ever being possible to take it away’.¹⁹ The icon of the Annunciation not only adds another work to the copies made by Nikolaos Kallergis, it also constitutes indirect evidence of the presence of another work by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, in all probability the Modena triptych itself, in Zakynthos, and indeed in the hands of the same painter.²⁰
The hypothesis that the Modena triptych was once in Zakynthos is reinforced by the testimony of other works by Zakynthian painters that copy another two of its scenes: the Baptism and the Adoration of the Shepherds. In two paintings of the Baptism ascribed to Nikolaos Kantounis (1767-1834) (Fig. 227),²¹ the pose of Saint John the Baptist and of Christ is the same, as well as the pose and the small number of angels; a further common element is the warm yellow light in the cloudy sky, in which the dove appears, all distinctive traits of the iconography of the triptych. In the Baptism in the Zakynthos Museum in particular (Figs 226, 227), the rendering of the first angel with the bare leg, a figure which, as has been noted, only Theotokopoulos introduces into the iconography of the scene, is identical.²²
In the Adoration of the Shepherds by Nikolaos Koutouzis (1741-1813), in the Zakynthos Museum (Figs 228, 229), the composition and the pose of the Virgin and Child, the kneeling shepherd and the shepherd leaning on his crook are analogous. In the Adoration of the Shepherds by Nikolaos Kantounis there are corresponding similarities in the poses and even an attempted imitation of the warm yellowish light.²⁴ The copying of three basic scenes from the Modena triptych in the above three works by Zakynthian painters in the same period provides evidence of the triptych’s probable presence on the island before it found its way to Italy. Most scholars have regarded this outstanding piece as the first known work by Theotokopoulos after his arrival in Venice in 1567-1568.²⁵ However, Chatzidakis in 1987 and Puppi in 1995 included it in the oeuvre of the painter’s Cretan period, while Vassilaki in 1990 and 1995 posed the question of the place of its creation.²⁶
I believe that on the evidence presented here there is no obstacle to assigning the triptych to the Cretan ‘period of the great artist’s life. Furthermore, the presence of the icon of the Passion of Christ (Cat. no. 17), by stimulating a reconsideration of previous views on the painter’s early oeuvre, may confirm this work’s inclusion in the same period on the basis of its style.²⁷
The influence of Theotokopoulos’s representations of the Annunciation extends to the later local painting of Zakynthos.²⁸ In the Annunciation by Nikolaos Koutouzis, from the church of Hagios Spyridon Flambouriaris,²⁹ the figure of the Virgin in front of the low lectern has exactly the same pose (Figs 230, 231). Other elements in common are her garments and the passionate expression on her face as she gazes upwards. However, he Virgin here has none of the gentleness, elegance and grace of the refined Virgin in the Modena triptych and in its copy by Nikolaos Kallergis; on the contrary, she has the features of a more mature woman with stout body and round face, as in the Annunciation in the Prado (Fig. 230), in the Thyssen- Bornemisza Collection and in Barcelona.³⁰ Lastly, the form of the lectern in the Prado icon of the Annunciation is encountered in another icon of the subject by Nikolaos Kantounis, in the Zakynthos Museum (see Introduction, 47, Fig. 10).³¹ Of these three icons the one in the Prado is the earliest and has been assigned to the Italian period of the Cretan painter’s life (1575), while its presence in Spain is attested already from the nineteenth century.³² However, given the similarities noted, the presence of this icon — or an exact copy of it³³ — in Zakynthos may be considered very probable.
In summary, the icon of the Annunciation here ascribed to Nikolaos Kallergis constitutes a further minor example of the appeal that the work of the then unknown great painter, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, had in the local art of Zakynthos. At the same time it also reveals the presence of its model, in all probability the Modena triptych, on the island, in the hands of the painter Nikolaos of the Cretan Kallergis family.

CONDITION Very good.

PROVENANCE Zakynthos.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Unpublished.

ΝΟΤΕS

1. Panselinou 1992, 475, pl. 247c-f. Paliouras 1977, 167-168, fig. 52. See an analogous model in icons of the Annunciation in the Athens School of Fine Arts, dated 1636, and the Greek Institute Venice, cf. N. Chatzidakis 1993, no. 48, 188-189.
2. The Illustrated Bartsch 10, 1, 1980, 114; 10, 2, 1981, no. B19, 262-263. Marcantonio Raimondi follows a similar type (The Illustrated Bartsch 27, 1978, no. 587, I, 273).
3. Mariacher 1957, 196-197, inv. no. 533. Rigopoulos 1979, fig. 3.
4, Rigopoulos 1979, fig. 4.
5. Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art 1986, no. 169, 167; see also the Annunciation in the triptych by Emmanuel Tzanes, in the Canellopoulos Collection, Drandakis 1962, 115, pl. 46p.
6. For the poses of the archangel and the Virgin see above (Cat. no. 14, 151, 164, n. 5, Fig. 72).
7. Xyngopoulos 1936, no. 60, 81ff., pl. 42y. There is correspondence in Gabriel’s attire, with the two chitons girdled around the waist. The landscape in the background is encountered in an earlier Western model of the scene, by Girolamo da Santa Croce (1497-1544), see Berenson 1968, I, fig. 578.
8. Pallucchini 1937, pl. II. EY Greco of Crete 1990, no. 4, 172-175, 344-346 (M. Vassilaki), with earlier bibliography. See also Vassilaki 1995, 119ff.
9. For the icon in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (former Contini-Bonacossi) see Wethey 1962, II, 32, no. 37, I, fig. 17. For the icon in the Prado see Wethey 1962, II, 32, no. 38, I, fig. 13, and recently El Greco in Italy 1995, no. 40, 315-321, 510-517, figs on pp. 313-315 (J. Alvarez-
Lopera), with previous bibliography. See also the identical icon in Barcelona, Wethey 1962, II, 32-33, no. 39, I, fig. 14.
10. Palluchini 1937, 6, fig. 3. El Greco of Crete 1990, 174, fig. 3 (M. Vassilaki). El Greco in Italy 1995, 318, fig. 3 (J. Alvarez-Lopera).
11. Ghisi’s engraving is a copy of a work by an earlier artist, see El Greco in Italy 1995, 320, figs 4 and 5 (J. Alvarez-Lopera). The Virgin’s pose is also encountered an engraving by Goltzius, after a work by Martin de Vos (The Illustrated Bartsch 3, 1, 1980, no. 294 (89), 261; 3, 2, Commentary, 326). This engraving, which has not been noted so far, does not constitute a secure chronological criterion for the introduction of the theme into the pai nting of these icons, but it does constitute confirmation of the dissemination of the theme and of this typology in 17th-century European art. A copy of the central theme of Theotokopoulos’s icon of the Passion of Christ is also observed in another engraving by Goltzius, see above Cat. no. 17, 207 and Fig. 128.
12. Arte y Culto, Despues de Bizancio 1995, no. 2, 20 (M. Acheimastou-Potamianou). In the same icon Moskos follows the model of Caraglio’s engraving for rendering the figure of the Virgin.
13. Karakatsani 1980, figs 365-367. Icone di Ravenna 1979, no. 115, 73.
14. Icone di Ravenna 1979, nos 113-114, pp. 71-72, nos 116, 116. 1, pp. 73-74.
15. For the painter see above Cat. no. 46.
16. The icon is unpublished, I am grateful to Katerina Demeti for providing me with a photograph.
17. Personal observations. They come from the same church as the bema door with Christ upheld by
an angel, which copies the central theme of the icon of the Passion of Christ (see above Cat. no. 17, 217ff., Fig. 135)
18. The transfer of Angelos’s icon of Saint Theodore from Zakynthos to Athens is attested by Konomos 1988, 54. On the icon see N. Chatzidakis 1983, no. 8, 24. The icon of Saint George is from the church of Hagios Demetrios tou Kolla, Konomos 1988, fig. 51.
19. De Viazis 1899, 236-238; see also Konomos 1988, 82. The document is cited by all those who have studied these painters. See relevant bibliography Cat. no. 46, 347ff.
20. See Introduction, 49, 54, and Cat. no. 17, 217ff.
21. For the Baptism in the Modena triptych see recently El Greco of Crete 1990, 168-171, 343-344, fig. on p. 169 (M. Vassilaki). For the Zakynthian representations see Charalambidis 1978, figs 35 and 44. Konomos 1988, figs 106, 86.
22. Konomos 1988, fig. 106. The angel from the Baptism in the Modena triptych does not exist in Battista del Moro’s engraving, which Theotokopoulos used as a model, see Dillon 1985, figs 4, 5. For Theotokopoulos’s models and his inventiveness see recently El Greco of Crete 1990, 168-171,
343-344 (M. Vassilaki).
23. From Hagios Spyridon Flambouriaris, 1790-1800. Konomos 1988, fig. §8. Charalambidis 1978, fig. 19. Whereas all Domenikos Theotokopoulos’s representations of the Adoration are linked iconographically (see Pallucchini 1937, 7ff. and El Greco of Crete 1990, 160-163, fig. on p. 161, see
also figs 1-8 (M. Vassilaki); see also El Greco in Italy 1995, 302ff. (J. Alvarez-Lopera) the model most closely related to the Zakynthian works is to be found in the Modena triptych. There is another icon of the Adoration of the Magi, of 18th-century date, in the Solomos Museum (Fig. 13). Of analogous art to that of Nikolaos Kallergis’s icons, this icon is remarkably similar to another work by Theotokopoulos in a private collection in Lausanne (see El Greco in Italy 1995, no. 39, fig. 1(J. Alvarez-Lopera). Cf. Introduction, 49, Fig. 14.
24. Konomos 1”. 123, fig. 102. Charalambidis 1978, fig. 43, see also fig. 85. The kneeling shepherd in these works even more like the shepherd in the Adoration in the Buccleuch Collection, Wethey 1962, I, nu. 24, 26-27, IL, fig. 10.
25. See above n. 8.
26 Chatzidakis 1987, 312. Puppi 1995, 32-33. El Greco of Crete 1990, 172-175, 344-345 (M. Vassilaki). Vassilaki 1995, 11 9ff.
27. The subject is too wide to examine in the context of the present Catalogue.
28. Charalambidis 1978, figs 18, 42. Konomos 1988, figs 104, 110. The figure of the archangel in these works is copied from another icon by Domenikos Theotokopoulos at that time in Zakynthos, the icon of Saint Luke the Evangelist, as noted in the Introduction, 47, n. 53, Figs 9- ll.
29. Zakynthos Museum, no. 259. Charalambidis 1978, fig. 18. On the painter see bibliography below, Cat. nos 69-70, 420ff., n. 1.
30. See bibliography in n, 9.
31. Charalambidis 1978, fig. 42. Konomos 1988, 124, fig. 104. See Introduction 47, n. 53.
32. It was purchased by the Prado Museum in 1868 from Dona Conception Parody. For the dating of the icon see recently El Greco in Italy 1995, no. 40, 315-321 (J. Alvarez-Lopera). For other datings and the provenance see Wethey 1962, I, no. 38, 32. See also above n. 9 and Intreduction
53, n. 67.
33. For Theotokopoulos’s habit of copying his own works, such as the Annunciation, see passim Wethey 1962, I, 31ff.