Epigrams on Works of Art 167äll\ oJk ™pistr6óoysiº kaò s0son c1rin.
×xoysi l7tronº eJcarist0 soi, Löge^47.
“What do you want, mother?”. “The salvation of mankind”. “They have
angered me”. “Forgive them, my son”. “But they do not repent”. “Well, save
them anyway”. “They will have their redemption”. “I thank you, Christ”.
There is some interesting evidence indicating that these verses, and pre-
sumably also the iconographic type of the Virgin holding a text scroll, were
already known in the tenth century. Among the poems of the Anonymous
Italian (c. 900) we find two epigrams that form a dialogue in which the
Theotokos pleas on behalf of mankind (no. 5), and her Son responds saying that
He always listens to the entreaties of His mother (no. 6)^48. The first epigram
appears to describe a painting of the Virgin Paraklesis and the second one a
painting of Christ responding to her plea. The two pictures were probably
found at the two opposite piers of the bema, to the left and the right of the
altar. The epigrams tell us that the Virgin raised her hands in supplication and
pleaded for all men, and that Christ listened to her plea and showed his
willingness to forgive mankind. Each of the two epigrams consists of four
verses, just like the Paraklesis dialogue, and the words m‰ter, kal0ß ðÈthsaß
(no. 6, v. 1) definitely recall the beginning of the Paraklesis text: t5, m‰ter,
aœte¦ß. Although it cannot be proved with absolute certainty, it would appear
that the Anonymous Italian was familiar with the text of the Paraklesis
epigram.
The Anonymous Patrician (c. 940–970) is the author of six epigrams on a
picture, or set of pictures, showing the Holy Virgin, Jesus Christ and Constan-
tine VII^49. The fourth epigram is a dialogue between Christ and His mother,
which begins with the famous words of the Paraklesis epigram: T5, m‰ter, aœte¦ß
sympaq0ß kinoym6nh... (“What do you ask, mother, moved by compassion?”).
The picture that Constantine VII commissioned is, properly speaking, not an
authentic Paraklesis since the Virgin Paraklesis intercedes on behalf of the
whole of mankind and not of a specific individual. However, there are some
parallels in later Byzantine art for the intrusion of donors in pictorial scenes
(^47) For a somewhat different version of the epigram, see Dionys5oy to ̄ ™k Uoyrn@ ^Ermhne5a
t‰ß fzgraóik‰ß t6cnhß, ed. A. PAPADOPOULOS-KERAMEUS. St. Petersburg 1909, 280. The
Painters’ Manual omits the fourth verse and inserts an unprosodic verse at the begin-
ning: d6xai d6hsin t‰ß s‰ß mhtröß, oœkt¦rmon. This version is used by many painters of the
late Byzantine and post-Byzantine period.
(^48) Ed. BROWNING 1963: 296, cf. p. 307. See the comments by BALDWIN 1982: 10–11.
(^49) Ed. LAMBROS 1922: 47, 10 to 49, 10 (nos. 1–5) and MERCATI 1927: 415, 1–6 (no. 6).
Lambros’ no. g ́ actually consists of two epigrams: L. 48, 21–24 and 49, 1–4. For all the
epigrams edited by Lambros, see the excellent commentary by MERCATI 1927: 412–414.