390 Kalopissi-Verti
Few other monuments of the first half of the 13th century include mural
decoration that cannot be attributed to the above mentioned workshops, such
as the two fresco layers—the first very linear and flat, almost naïve, the second
more painterly—in the church of the Hagioi Tessarakonta (Forty Martyrs) at
Sykamino/Attica.49 In addition, two 13th-century churches in the Argolid, in
the vicinity of Kranidi, present different stylistic traditions. The frescoes of the
church of the Taxiarches (or St Andrew) are characterised by a simplistic and
naïve style and can be dated to about the middle of the century; the painter of
the murals of St John the Theologian applies dense parallel lines to highlight
the faces and model the garments and can probably be dated fairly later.50
Several frescoed monuments that have been preserved up to the present
in the countryside go back to the second half of the 13th century. However,
contrary to the stylistic coherence that was noticed in the first half of the cen-
tury, mural decorations dated to its second half are characterised by a variety
of stylistic idioms making it difficult to group painted ensembles together or
assign them to the same master’s hand or to a common workshop. This diver-
sity of style, on the other hand, points to a great number of active painters and
to their potentiality. Mostly provincial in quality, many of the paintings of this
time still show stylistic echoes of Komnenian art and a tendency for simplifica-
tion and linearity. In certain cases, however, a plastic rendering of the figures
reflects the modern artistic developments in the major centres of Byzantium
after the recovery of Constantinople. Only few monuments testify to a high-
quality “imported” art opposed to the level of local craftsmanship.
The cross-in-square church of the Soteras (Saviour) in the plain of Megara
is the product of an unknown, ambitious, and wealthy patron. Its frescoes,
of an overall good quality, partly show a retrospective style adhering to
Komnenian models, compared to contemporaneous churches in Megaris and
in the other regions of the Lordship, a fact that initially led certain scholars to
date them in the late 12th century.51 However, the indication of volume and
49 Eleni Kounoupiotou-Manolessou, “Ναός Αγίων Τεσσαράκοντα στο Συκάμινο: Τα νεότερα
ευρήματα” [“The Church of the Hagioi Tessarakonta near Sykamino: New Evidence”] in
Θωράκιον: Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Παύλου Λαζαρίδη [Thorakion: A Dedication in Memory of
Pavlos Lazaridis] (Athens, 2004), pp. 313–23.
50 Nafsika Panselinou, “Τοιχογραφίες του 13ου αιώνα στην Αργολίδα: Ο ναός των Ταξιαρχών και
ο Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Θεολόγος” [“Thirteenth-Century Murals in Argolid: The Church of the
Taxiarches and St John the Theologian”], Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας
16 (1991–92), 155–66.
51 Hélène Grigoriadou, “Peintures murales du xiie siècle en Grèce,” (unpublished doctoral
thesis, Paris, 1968), pp. 69–141; Hélène Grigoriadou-Cabagnols, “Affinités iconographiques