The Art Bulletin

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richard hamann-mac lean and horst hallensleben,

Die Monumentalmalerei in Serbien und
Makedonien vom 11. bis zum frühen 14.
Jahrhundert

Cyril Mango

To cite this article: Cyril Mango (1966) richard hamann-mac lean and horst hallensleben, Die
Monumentalmalerei in Serbien und Makedonien vom 11. bis zum frühen 14. Jahrhundert, The
Art Bulletin, 48:3-4, 439-440, DOI: 10.1080/00043079.1966.10790826

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00043079.1966.10790826

Published online: 10 Nov 2014.

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 Book Reviews
RICHARD HAMANN-MAC LEAN AND HORST HALLENS-
LEBEN, Die Monumentalmalerei in Serbien und
Makedonien vom 11. bis zum fruhen 14.
Jahrhundert. Bildband (Osteuropastudien der
Hochschulen des Landes Hessen, 2nd ser., III),
Giessen, Wilhelm Schmitz, 1963. Pp. 40; 354
figs.; 1 color pI.; 36 folding diagrams.
HORST HALLENSLEBEN, Die Malerschule des Konigs
Milutin (Osteuropastudien der Hochschulen
des Landes Hessen, 2nd ser., v), Giessen, Wil-
helm Schmitz, 1963. Pp. 184; 6 pIs. DM 27.
These two volumes form a welcome contribution
to the ever-growing literature on the Byzantine
frescoes of Yugoslavia. The volume of plates is in
two parts. The first is an album of photographs
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covering the period from Saint Sophia at Ohrid
(middle of the eleventh century) to Decani (1327-
1335). This is not, of course, as comprehensive a
collection as the Millet-Frolow corpus, but it does
include many reproductions that are not readily
available elsewhere, among them a good number
of overall interior views. The photographs, about
half of which were taken by the authors, are on
the whole quite satisfactory, only a dozen or so
being slightly out of focus.
Of much greater usefulness, however, is the
second part of the volume (due to Hallensleben)
which consists of thirty-six schematic drawings
providing the key to the distribution of subjects in
each church-decoration. This makes it possible to
tell at a glance exactly where each painting is, a
facility that will be greatly appreciated. Since
many of the frescoes are damaged and the accom-
panying inscriptions faint or illegible, it is hardly
surprising that the iconographic key should be,
here and there, incomplete or incorrect. At Nerezi,
for example--if my own notes are to be trusted-
the bishop in the apse whom Hallensleben iden-
tifies as St. Gregory Theologos is St. Cyril of
Alexandria. The figure on the face of the southeast
pier which on Plan 6 is marked "Maria (?)" is one
half of the Annunciation. In the diaconicon of the
same church the figures of Sts. Cyrus and Samp-
son have been omitted; so have those of Sts. Spy-
ridon and Polycarp in the prothesis. In the north
narthex chapel one misses the figures of Sts.
Blasius and Mamas, in the south narthex chapel
that of St. Vincent. Similar slips may be found in
several of the other diagrams. Even so, any seri-
ous student intending to visit the monuments in
question would be well advised to include this
book in his luggage: it will save him a great deal
of trouble and may give him occasionally the satis-
faction of improving on Hallensleben's identifica-
tions.
The volume of plates is intended to provide
illustrative material for two volumes of text, of
which only the second has so far been published.
This is a reworked doctoral dissertation devoted to
King Milutin's atelier of painters. The point of de-
parture is, in brief, the follOWing: Of the various
churches built and decorated by King Milutin
(1282-1321) six are still standing in the territory
of modern Yugoslavia, and four of these contain
inscriptions referring to the painters Michael
Astrapas and Eutychius. These are: Saint Clement
(originally Saint Mary Peribleptos) at Ohrid (ac-
cepted date 1294/5) where both painters have left
their names; Bogorodica Ljeviska at Prizren (1307-
1309) where the presence of only Astrapas (with-
out his Christian name) is attested; Saint Nikita
at Cucer (not dated exactly) and Saint George at
Staro Nagoricino (built in 1312/3, decorated in
131617) where both Michael and Eutychius are
known to have worked. The two remaining
churches of the same reign which do not contain
painters' "signatures" are the "King's Church" at
Studenica (1313/4) and Gracanica (shortly before
1321). The author attributes the decoration of all
six churches to the same "royal" workshop and
attempts to define its methods, style and develop-
ment. The investigation is carried out in a highly
methodical way: historical background, epigraphic
evidence on the six monuments under considera-
tion, arrangement of paintings in each church,
iconography of certain recurring subjects, style,
ornament and technique.
The problem of Michael and Eutychius has been
repeatedly discussed in the past, though not quite
so fully (ef. my remarks in AB, 45, 1963, 153). Hal-
lensleben also goes further than his predecessors
in that he takes into account not only stylistic
development, but also iconography and the dispo-
sition of the frescoes within each building on the
assumption that these factors, too, although
limited by tradition, symbolism, architectural con-
ditions and the wishes of patron and clergy, left
some leeway for the expression of the painter's
individuality. How this theory is applied may be
illustrated with regard to the iconography of the
Dormition (Koimesis) on which Hallensleben lays
great stress (pp. 68f£.). The traditional iconogra-
phy of this subject is a "static" one: the Virgin
Mary lies on a bed, Christ stands behind the bed
and receives his mother's soul, apostles and bish-
ops are disposed on either side. At Saint Clement's
(a church originally dedicated to the Virgin) the
Koimesis is of this "static" kind, though consid-
erably amplified, and it is immediately followed on
the same wall surface by another scene, the trans-
lation of the Virgin's body from her house to her
439
tomb. In considering the amplification of the
Koimesis, says Hallensleben, two factors must be
borne in mind: availability of space and the dedi-
cation of the church (since in a Marian church
added emphasis would have been placed on this
subject). Now at Prizren, where the church is, once
more, dedicated to the Virgin, the Koimesis is of
the normal, "static" type and does not appear to
have been followed by the translatio, although
space could have been made for it. This, in the
author's mind, constitutes an anomaly. At Cucer
the Koimesis is once again "static," but here we
are dealing with a church that was not dedicated
to the Virgin. Finally, at the "King's Church" of
Studenica, at Staro Nagoricino and at Gracanica,
the Koimesis and translatio have been fused into a
single, "kinetic" and highly complex composition.
Instead of reclining on an immobile bed, the Vir-
gin is being carried in procession to her tomb and
Christ receives her soul while she is being so
carried. From these observations the author draws
two conclusions: 1. that the combined type is an
original creation of the Milutin workshop already
foreshadowed at Saint Clement's; 2. that Prizren
must be placed at the beginning of the series and
cannot come later than Saint Clement's. In other
words, Saint Clement's ought to be redated to ca.
1310/11 (p. 180), a suggestion that the author
further fortifies with stylistic arguments.
It is at this point that one's faith in evolutionism
begins to waver. The dating of Saint Clement's is
based on an inscription which, it is true, states
only that the church was "erected" in 1294/5.
From this Hallensleben argues that the inscription
does no more than provide a terminus post quem
for the paintings. But then the inscription itself is
a painted one, and is, if I am not mistaken, inte-
gral with the painted decoration of the narthex. If
the unusually long period of fifteen years had
elapsed between the construction of the building
and its decoration, I find it hard to believe that an
inscription contemporary with the latter would not
have recorded this fact. A further difficulty is that
at the time Ohrid was not in Serbian territory. Are
we then to suppose that King Milutin's atelier mi-
grated over the border to carry out a commission
for a Byzantine official and then returned to Ser-
bia? For my part, I prefer to retain the date of
1294/5 for the decoration of Saint Clement's and
to think that Michael and Eutychius were active in
Byzantine Ohrid before they went over to Serbia,
perhaps as a consequence of Milutin's marriage to
the Byzantine princess Simonis in 1299.
Be that as it may, the problem of Michael and
Eutychius remains, to my mind, rather elusive. The
reason for this is that in spite of the family like-
 440 The Art Bulletin
ness exhibited by the decoration of Milutin's
churches, it is difficult to see in them the logical
development of a personal style (or rather of two
personal styles), just as it is difficult to draw a
clear distinction between these and several other
contemporary monuments. Hallensleben himself
admits that the frescoes of the Protaton (Mount
Athos), which are attributed on very dubious
authority to the painter Panselinos, offer in some
cases a stronger resemblance to the Serbian deco-
rations than the latter do to one another. A par-
ticularly striking instance of this is provided by
the Agony in the Garden at Saint Clement's and
the Protaton respectively. If such resemblance
(sometimes line for line) is explainable simply in
terms of contemporaneity or identity of school, are
we to conclude that Michael and Eutychius did not
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possess a particularly marked personality? The
answer to such questions can come only from a
broader study that takes in the painted decora-
tions of northern Greece-in particular those of
Veria, Salonica and Mount Athos-which, unlike
those of Yugoslav Macedonia, are still far from
being adequately known. In the meantime, spe-
cialists in late Byzantine painting will find a great
deal to think about in Hallensleben's conscientious
investigation.
CYRIL MANGO
University of London
CHU-TSING LI, The Autumn Colors on the Ch'iao
and Hua Mountains: A Landscape by Chao
Meng-fu (Artibus Asiae Supplementum, XXI),
Ascona, Switzerland, Artibus Asiae, 1965. Pp.
109; 15 figs. $10.50; sfr. 45.-
Dr. Li's volume is an ambitious work attempting
to fmd meaning in the wen-jen hua (literati paint-
ing) movement of the Yiian dynasty, by taking
the landscape scroll by Chao Meng-fu as his focal
point. The Yiian dynasty was a period when China
was in political, social and cultural turmoil under
the Mongol conquerers. The greatest difficulty in
studying a leading artist of this period, such as
Chao Meng-fu, lies in placing the artist in a
proper perspective against the violently changing
and intricate cultural patterns of the period. The
later copies and forgeries of the works by the
artist impose another difficulty. They are so many
and so diverse in style that scholars have seldom
agreed upon which style among them is authentic.
The particular method which Dr. Li adopts in the
present study is to limit his discussion to literary
evidence and to a few reliable works of art, thus
attempting to avoid involvement in the compli-
cated problems of forgeries.
The scroll of the Autumn Colors, now in the
Palace Museum in Taichung, was shown in the
United States in the Chinese Palace Art Exhibition
held in 1961-1962. In the exhibition, the hand-
scroll attracted the attention of many spectators not
only because of its high aesthetic value, but also
because of its peculiar combination of refined
realistic devices in compositional principle and an
archaistic overtone. Dr. Li in this book makes it
clear, through his careful analysis of the work and
researches into literary evidence, that while the
realistic aspect of the painting is a reflection of the
general spiritual atmosphere of the period, the
archaistic aspect of the work is caused by the
artist's deliberate intention of "classicism." The
former point, the realistic tendency of the Yiian
period, was discussed extensively in Dr. Li's arti-
cle, "Rocks and Trees and the Art of Ts'ao
Chih-po," Artibus Asiae, 1960, pp. 153-192. Thus,
the second point, the classicism of the Yiian, is
what most concerns Dr. Li throughout this book.
It is a difficult task to find the precise meaning
of Chao Meng-fu's artistic ideals because, as the
author states, "in Chao Meng-fu's writings, there
is nowhere to be found a coherent body of theory"
(p. 71). In order to find an answer to this basic
question, Dr. Li sorts out literary evidence from
various sources and the result of his analysis of
the Autumn Colors and related works of art.
He shows how Chao Meng-fu emphasized the im-
portance of ku-i (the spirit of antiquity) in paint-
ing and exercised a great influence on his fellow
artists in promoting the study of ancient paintings
in order to grasp ku-i. Here we note Dr. Li's main
point that Chao Meng-fu's classicism is based
more upon a strong spiritual overtone than upon
mere conservatism. Chao's artistic concept, the em-
phasis on spiritual expression being versed with
learning of the past, was in harmony with the gen-
eral intellectual current of thought at the time and
was related to the desire of learned Chinese under
the foreign rulers to restore the glory of the grand
Chinese cultural tradition of the past. The author's
masterly handling of his material reveals also
that about the time of Chao Meng-fu and among
his circle there can be observed a rising tide of
higher appreciation of the two ancient artists,
Wang Wei of the eighth century, and Tung Yiian
of the tenth century. This is a noticeable phenome-
non which marks the beginning of the fervor for
the two artists by later literati painters. The
author points out that Chao Meng-fu really stands
out as the turning point which set the direction of
development of the later wen-jen hua movement.
The scroll of the Autumn Colors is, thus, under-
stood as a key monument in the crucial period of
the new movement led by Chao Meng-fu.
Among the many contributions to current schol-
arship which Dr. Li offers in his book, his tracing
of the history of the scroll of the Autumn Colors
is especially interesting. Through careful examina-
tion of the colophons and seals attached to the
scroll and of the literary records of the scroll re-
corded elsewhere, this study reveals the circum-
stance in which this painting was painted, the ro-
mantic history of the painting from the time of the
artist down to the present and, as the author puts it,
"a very comprehensive view of the attitude and
ideas of artists and connoisseurs of various periods
towards the painting and its artist" (p. 35). In fact,
the names which appear in this connection with
the scroll represent almost a whole lineage of
those scholar-painters involved in the later tradi-
tion; it begins with Chou Mi (1232-1298), for
whom this painting was painted and other Yiian
literary figures, such as Yang Tsai (1271-1323);
and continues through the middle Ming literati,
such as Wen Pi (1470-1559), or the Ming collector-
connoisseurs, such as Hsiang Yiian-pien (1525-
1590); down to the towering figure of the late
Ming literary society, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-
1636). The opinions of these people may be sum-
marized by a colophon by Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, with
whom Dr. Li heartily agrees. Tung in the colophon
says that "the painting of Chao Meng-fu com-
bines the style of Wang Wei and Tung Yiian,
capturing the refinement of T'ang without its
minutiae and grasping the vigor of Northern Sung
without its harshness; this is what is known as
following the methods of the great masters but
avoiding their limitations ..." (quoted twice, p. 29
and p. 84).
In contrast to his careful treatment of the well
sorted material on Yiian art, Dr. Li's treatment of
the art of the preceding period is less restrained
and invites debate. This short review discusses a
few important issues which may be related to
future studies.
The first problem here is Dr. Li's proposition
that the tradition of wen-jen hua (literati painting)
which began towards the end of the Northern
Sung was largely ignored in the Southern Sung,
while it continued as a living tradition in the north
under the Chin Tartar's rule. This issue is rather
lightly introduced with the evidence being dis-
cussed in a footnote (p. 38 n. 99). But it is actually
treated as a key issue and is referred to when-
ever a related problem comes in throughout the
book. In fact, based upon this postulation Dr. Li
insists that it was the importance of the south-
erners' "contact with north China during the early
Yiian period that seems to have eiven Chao