habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

PICTORIAL DECORATION OF RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES DURING THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE:CAPPADOCIA AND SOUTHERN ITALYD. CaragnanoMuseo del Territorio di Palagianello, Taranto, ItaliaThe Jesuit Guillaume de Jerphanion was an expert of Turkishart and culture, especially as it regarded Cappadocia: histhree volumes Une nouvelle province de l’art byzantine. Leséglises rupestres de Cappadoce and his articles, published inParis between 1925 and 1942 1 , contributed to the popularizationof this subject.In 1936, in Rome, during the 5th International Meeting ofByzantine Studies, he exposed the confrontation between theByzantine art of Calabria and Apulia and the Byzantine art ofCappadocia 2 .De Jerphanion compared the architectural model of the churchin Stilo (Calabria) and the “chapelles à colonnes” in Göreme,suggesting the 11th century as a dating. As it regarded pictorialart, he compared the wings of Gabriel the Archangel in ascene of the Annunciation (church of Saint Blaise, San Vito deiNormanni) with the similar scene in the Elmali Kilise (Churchof the Apple Tree) in Göreme and with the scene from the Pentecostin the Toquale Kilissé in Taghar. The Nativity from thesame church in San Vito dei Normanni was compared with thesimilar scenes in the Cappadocian churches from the secondperiod (11th – 12th century) that had been directly influencedby Byzantium 3 .The works by de Jerphanion have been fundamental for theexperts of Oriental art, and particularly for the experts of Byzantineart and archaeology. He influenced the writing up ofGli affreschi delle chiese eremitiche pugliesi, by Alba Medea(1939), where the paintings in the Apulian rupestrian churchesare compared with those in Basilicata, Calabria, Campaniaand the contemporaneous frescos of Cappadocia and Russia 4 .De Jerphanion reviewed the book by Alba Medea, and hepointed out the artistic differences between the paintings inCappadocia and those in Southern Italy 5 .Many Cappadocian rupestrian churches have monumental facadesand interiors: they are perfect copies of built churches,and pictorial decorations on ceilings, walls, apses and columnsare very impressive. The Italian rupestrian churches aresmaller, and they have preserved few decorative panels; thereare very few exceptions, as the church of St. Nicholas (Mottola).Some rupestrian churches in Southern Italy preserve examplesof Byzantine monumental paintings that can be comparedto paintings in other Byzantine provinces, and in particular tothose painted in Cappadocia.The Oratory of St. Lucy in Syracuse (Sicily) preserves theFig. 1 Carpignano Salentino (Le), St. Marine and St.Christine, Christ between the Virgin and Gabriel the Archangel.65volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 65 16/11/2012 15:01:16