408 Kalopissi-Verti
Andronikos iii.96 The murals, which include an impressive representation of
the Synaxis of the Archangels, follow a provincial trend (Figure 11.17), although
in certain figures the painter seems to have a good knowledge of contemporary
artistic developments.
The paintings of the second phase in the church of St Nicholas Mavrika near
Paliachora on the island of Aegina are accompanied by two inscriptions record-
ing the donors—a priest and three laymen with their families—, the year of
donation 1330, and the painter Georgios Aras.97 Of special interest is the men-
tion of Don Alfonso Fadrique d’Aragon, the Catalan ruler of Aegina from 1317,
when he married Marulla da Verona and received the island as dowry, to his
death in 1338. He was an illegitimate son of the king of Sicily Frederick ii and
bailli of the Catalan Duchy of Athens from 1317 to 1330. Stylistically the fresco
96 Maria Sotiriou, “Αι τοιχογραφίαι του βυζαντινού ναϋδρίου των Ταξιαρχών Δεσφίνης” [“The
Murals of the Byzantine Church of the Taxiarches in Desphina”], Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής
Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 3 (1962–63), 175–202.
97 Mitsani, “Οι τοιχογραφίες του Αγίου Νικολάου Μαύρικα,” pp. 371–78; Pennas, Βυζαντινή
Αίγινα, p. 76.
figure 11.16 Kopais, Boeotia. Cave church of the Zoodochos Pege. The Virgin, Christ and John
the Baptist on the masonry screen.
PHOTO: AUTHOR, BY PERMISSION OF THE 23RD EPHORATE OF BYZANTINE
ANTIQUITIES.