IKONA SA PREDSTAVOM BOGORODICE SA DETETOM I SVETIM JOVANOM KRSTITELjEM IZ BOLONjE

Abstract

An icon with the depiction of the Mother of God with Child and St John the Baptist, kept as a deposit at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, has recently been returned to Ospedale Maggiore Carlo Alberto Pizzardi to which it belongs. Today it is placed at the depot of the newly founded Museo della Sanita’ e dell’Assistenza in Bologna. The restoration conducted in 2014 enabled a better understanding of the artistic values of the icon. By removing the frame it was established that the original icon was of a square shape, as well as that a section on the right-hand side was cut off. It is not known when and why this intervention was done and when the icon was put into a round frame in which it was until the said restoration. The central part constitutes a freer interpretation of the theme Madre della Consolazione, very popular among both the orthodox and the catholic believers, which has led to the creation of numerous intermediary types. In addition to certain specificities, its conographic possible origin is linked, due to the etymology of his surname, and that by coming to Venice he got further education at some local atelier. Still, it must be taken into account that he could have acquired systematic knowledge of the Byzantine icon painting primarily at some of the ateliers that flourished in Herakleion at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century. There he could have also gotten to know the Western tradition; the life in Venice contributed to making this influence dominant, but more by copying pieces he could see for himself, than by getting formal education at some Venetian atelier. He succeeded in building quite a reputation among his contemporaries and in fully fitting into the contemporary artistic life of Venice in the early decades of the 16th century like no other known Cretan painter before him. characteristics, as well as the artistic language, suggest that the author of the Bologna icon was Ioannis Permeniates. The style of Christ’s robes stands out in particular, with a tunic that has an oblong cut around the neck and wide shoulders, which has become one of the specific features of his style. The dimensions of the work and the theme suggest, like most of the pieces by Permeniates, that the icon was intended for private devotion and that it was most probably done for the market, although a placed order cannot be completely ruled out. Permeniates, on whom there is very little historical data, has created a recognisable artistic style, based on a mixture of the Byzantine and the Western traditions. Recently, a hypothesis has been given that he may have received his education on the island of Rhodes, to which his