Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Part 38

36. In the south-western pendentive.--The Annunciation to Mary.

37. In the eastern lunette below the dome.--The Annunciation to S.

Anna, the mother of Mary.

38. On the soffit of the transverse arch between the first and second bays.--To the east, the meeting of S. Anna and S. Joachim; to the west, Joseph taking leave of Mary before his home, and proceeding to his work in another part of the country, accompanied by a servant.

_Second Bay_

39. In the eastern lunette.--The birth of Mary.

40. In the western lunette.--Joseph receiving the rod which marks him the successful suitor for Mary's hand, and taking her as his bride-elect.

41. In the vault.--To the east, Mary held in the arms of S. Joachim, receiving the blessing of three priests seated at a banquet; to the west, the child Mary caressed by her parents. This scene shows much feeling.

42. On the soffit of the transverse arch.--To the east, Mary taking her first seven steps [Greek: he heptabematizousa]; to the west, the high priest praying before the rods, one of which, by blossoming, will designate the future husband of Mary.

43. On the eastern wall, to the north of the main entrance into the church.--The Apostle Peter with the keys in his hand.

_The Third Bay_

44. In the lunette over the main entrance to the church.--Theodore Metochites on his knees offering the church to Christ seated on a throne. The legend [Greek: ho ktetor logothetes tou gennikou Theodoros ho Metochites].[544]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XCI.

_Sebah and Joaillier._ (1) S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. MOSAIC REPRESENTING THE REGISTRATION OF JOSEPH AND MARY AT BETHLEHEM.

_Sebah and Joaillier._ (2) S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. MOSAIC REPRESENTING THEODORE METOCHITES OFFERING THE CHURCH TO CHRIST.

_To face page 326._]

45. In the western lunette.--Mary receiving purple and scarlet wool to weave in the veil of the temple.

46. In the vault.--On the east, Mary admitted to the Holy of Holies when three years of age, lest she should go back to the world; on the west, the procession of maidens escorting Mary to the temple.

47. The third transverse arch.--To the east, Mary in the temple receiving bread from the archangel Gabriel; to the west, Mary in the temple receiving instruction.

48. On the eastern wall, to the south side of the main entrance to the church.--The Apostle Paul.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 115.--MODEL OF THE CHURCH OF S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA.]

The scenes represented on these mosaics are not peculiar to this church, but are a selection from cycles of subjects which from the eleventh century became favourite themes for pictorial treatment on the walls of important churches in the Byzantine world. Several of these scenes are found portrayed also at Daphni, Mistra, S. Sophia at Kiev, in the churches of Mt. Athos, on diptychs and ma.n.u.scripts,[545] as well as in the chapel of the arena at Padua. The cycle of subjects taken from the life of Mary was developed mainly in Syria, and Schmitt[546] goes so far as to maintain that the mosaics of the Chora are copies of Syrian mosaics executed by a Syrian artist, when the church was restored in the ninth century by Michael Syncellus, who, it will be remembered, came from Syria.

Kondakoff a.s.signs most of the mosaics to the Comnenian restoration of the church by Maria Ducaena in the eleventh or twelfth century. One of them at least, the Deesis, has survived; and there may be others of that period, for, as that mosaic proves, the narthex of the church was decorated when the church was restored by that benefactress of the Chora. But the testimony of Nicephorus Gregoras,[547] of Theodore Metochites,[548] and the date marked on the scene representing the miracle of the wine at Cana, on the right of the figure of Christ over the door leading from the outer to the inner narthex, prove these mosaics to be as a whole the production of the fourteenth century. And this conclusion is confirmed by their unlikeness to mosaic work in the twelfth century, and by their affinity to other work of the same character done in the fourteenth century.[549]

In fact, the mosaics in the Chora represent a remarkable revival in the history of Byzantine art. They are characterised by a comparative freedom from tradition, by closer approximation to reality and nature, by a charm and a sympathetic quality, and by a scheme of colour that indicate the coming of a new age and spirit. Curiously enough, they are contemporary with the frescoes of Giotto at Padua (1303-1306). But whatever points of similarity may be detected between them and the work of the Italian artist, or between them and the Italian school before Giotto, should be explained as due to a common stock of traditions and to the simultaneous awakening of a new intellectual and artistic life in the East and the West, rather than to any direct influence of one school of art upon another. The mosaics of the Chora are thoroughly Byzantine.[550]

The Frescoes in the Parecclesion:--

1. Round the apse: Six Fathers of the Church (only one figure remains, and that badly damaged. No names are inscribed).

2. In the vault of the apse: a full-length figure of Christ in a vesica dotted with stars. On either side are groups of figures.

3. In the crown of the apse-arch: an angel in a medallion.

4. In the northern wall, next the apse: Christ with two attendants; in the background a walled city.

The Eastern Bay.

On the northern wall:

5. Above the arched recess: two medallion heads of SS.

Sergius and Bacchus.

6. Portions of the figure of a warrior.

7. In the arch above Nos. 5 and 6: the Gate of Paradise.

8. In the centre, one of the cherubims on a pillar. On the left hand, a mult.i.tude, painted on black background outside Paradise; on the right, Paradise, a garden full of trees on a white background. Here also are John the Baptist and a figure, probably the Virgin and Child, on a throne, attended by two angels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 116.--PLAN OF THE PARECCLESION, INDICATING POSITIONS OF ITS FRESCOES.]

On the southern wall:

8. A portion of the figure of an armed angel.

Above No. 8 and at the side of the window:

9. Two men carrying a bier or platform. In front of them a third person giving directions.

10. In the arched recess: full-length figures of Andronicus II. and his family. In the soffit of the arch, the head of Christ in a medallion, with rays issuing from behind the aureola.

11. and 12. In the spandrils above the recess: two heads in medallions.

13. In the dome vault: the Last Judgment. Christ in judgment fills the centre; behind Him are the twenty-four elders seated on a long throne; farther back is gathered the heavenly host.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XCII.

S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. ARCHIVOLT ON THE SOUTH WALL OF THE PARECCLESION, WITH THE EPITAPH IN HONOUR OF TORNIKES.

_To face page 330._]

14. On the north-eastern pendentive: the Virgin and Child in a Paradise, with trees on a white background.

15. On the south-eastern pendentive: the Mouth of h.e.l.l.

16. On the south pilaster of the dome: an armed angel.

17. Above that angel, on the arch: a man bearing the Seven-Branched Candlestick, and beside him another man bearing with both hands some object above his head, perhaps the Table of Shew Bread.

18. On the northern pilaster: a warrior.