habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

D. CaragnanoGrottaglie (the Crypt of Riggio, also known as Crypt of theSaviour) 26 .All of the paintings have dedicatory inscriptions in Greek.The Apulian artistic renewal from the local Latin and Beneventantradition to a Byzantine horizon was due to the presenceof Byzantine functionaries. The higher echelons (fromkatepanos to commanders) moved to Apulia from every regionof the Empire soon after the conquest. It is possible tosuggest that they were the clients of churches for the Greekcult, so they allowed the immigration of “Greek” painters inthe region 27 .A Byzantine functionary, a spatharius in Carpignano Salentino,is reminded in the church of St. Marine and St. Christine;in a long dodecasyllabic inscription on two columns, he commendedhis son Stratigoulès to the Virgin, to St. Nichoals andto St. Christina.The tomb of Stratigoulès is an arcosolium, with St. Christinein the niche between the two columnes where tere is the inscription.The intrados contains A Virgin with the Child andSt. Nicholas. The inscription is dated between the first and thesecond half of the 11 th century 28 .The church has many paintings with inscriptions reportingclients and executors. The Christ between the Virgin and Gabrielthe Archangel in the right small apse was realized in 959by Theophilactus under request by the presbyter Leo and hiswife Chrisolea 29 .The collocation of Christ in the apse suggests that Theophilactusknew the contemporary Byzantine tendency after theiconoclast period, when Christ was represented in the iconographicalprogram of the church in the apse’s vault or in thedome 30 .Christ is sitting on a Lyre Backed Throne adorned with gems;He blesses with his right hand, while the left hand holds abook with a bejewelled cover. This iconography is commonin the rupestrian churches of Cappadocia, as in the HaçliKilise (Kizul Çukur – Christ in throne surrounded with thefour symbols of the Evangelists) or in the monastery of EschiGümüs (Déesis).In Carpignano Salentino, the scene was completed with Gabrielthe Archangel on the right, and the Virgin spinning witha spindle.This iconography can be compared with the mosaic on themain lunette in Saint Sophie (Constantinople), where Christis sitting on a Lyre Backed Throne with the Emperor Leo VIthe Wise (886 – 911) 31 ; two medallions on the sides contain theVirgin and Gabriel the Archangel, simplifying the Annunciation.The second apse of the church in Carpignano Salentino containsa blessing Christ on the Lyre Backed Throne holdingthe book with his left hand, and a votive inscription in Greek,dated 1020, which reminds the donor April, his wife and sons,and the painter Eustathius.The right wall contains a Virgin with the Child; the left wallcontains the fresco with Gabriel the Archangel, dressed as aByzantine Emperor with loros and divitession. This iconographypenetrated the rupestrian environment of the Ionian andAdriatic areas during the second Hellenization of southern Italy,between the end of the 10 th and the end of the 11 th century.The iconography of Michael the Archangel in the Campaniaarea is more bound to the Lombard culture in the Duchy ofFig. 13 Kizul Çukur, Haçl i Kilise a, Christ in throne among the symbols ofthe Evangelists.Fig. 14 Eschi Gümüs, Church of the Monastery, Déesis.69volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 69 16/11/2012 15:01:25