On the Attribution of Wall Paintings in the St. Nicholas Church in Elena  Cover Image
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За атрибуцията на стенописите от църквата „Св. Никола“ в Елена
On the Attribution of Wall Paintings in the St. Nicholas Church in Elena

Author(s): Alexander Kuymdzhiev
Subject(s): Cultural history
Published by: Институт за изследване на изкуствата, Българска академия на науките

Summary/Abstract: After nearly a century of research, the history of the St. Nicholas Church has been completely mythologized. While theories about the attribution of its wall paintings are entirely contradictory. From the donor inscription we have learned that the church was built in 1804 on the old foundations of a church with the same name that had been burned down during the kurdzhalii attacks on the city four years earlier. The scarcitv of surviving sources and the tendency among researche to rely on idealized legends make it impossible to offer “documented proof” of the name of the icon pa inters or the years in which the paintings were made. Despite these difficulties, on the basis of what we know now and with the help of indirect evidence and stylistic comparison we can establish a relatively reliable hypothesis about the monument. Judging by stylistic characteristics the icons in the church`s iconostasis were undoubtedly painted by the Mount Athos icon painter Nickiphor, who was born in the village of Karpenisi in Thessaly. From one letter from the Elena municipality to the Chilendar Monastery we know that icon painter s were commissioned from there at the end of 1804, while the date of the consecration of the St. Nicholas Church, 25 March 1805, indicates that the paintings were made in the beginning of 1805. The creators of the wall paintings were other masters connected with Mount Athos: Hierodeacon David and Yakov painted the church, most likely between 1810 and 1811. They remained in Elena for the next two years, working on icons and wall paintings (which no longer exist) in the other church there, the Church of the Assumption. There are many theories but few known facts about their origins and work. It now appears that David at least was an established Mount Athos icon painter, since we find his icons from 1806 to 1809 in the Panagia Ladougiani Church in Thessaloniki. The wall paintings in the catholicon in the Bigorski Monastely (ea. 1800) should also be attributed to him. An album of preparatory drawings by both icon painters survives and is currently housed in the National Art Ciallery. The history of the wall paintings in the St. Nicholas Church does not end with the work of the Mount Athos masters. Most probably as early as between the 1820s and 1840s relatively large po1tions of the wall paintings were repainted by the local icon painters loan Popovich and Yordan Mihov. The reason for their interference remains unclear. Yet signs of their presence in all areas of the church indicate that perhaps it was due to some fundamental damage to the original wall paintings that occurred relatively soon after their creation.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 3-13
  • Page Count: 9