Angelos Akotantos (; 1390–1457) was a Greek painter, educator, and
protopsaltis
In Christianity, the cantor, female chantress, sometimes called the precentor or the protopsaltes (; from ), is the chief singer, and usually instructor, employed at a church, with responsibilities for the choir and the preparation of the Mass or ...
. He painted
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
s in the
maniera greca, at a time when that style was moving away from the traditions of the Byzantine Empire and towards the more refined aesthetic of the
Cretan school
Cretan school describes an important school of icon painting, under the umbrella of post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the fall of Constantinople, beco ...
. Akotantos taught painting to
Andreas Pavias
Andreas Pavias (; 1440 – 1504/1512) was a Greek painter and educator, one of the founding fathers of the Cretan school. His works could be found in churches and private collections throughout Italy and Greece, where they influenced countless art ...
,
Andreas Ritzos
Andreas Ritzos (; 1421—1492; also spelled ''Rico'', ''Ricio'' or ''Rizo'') was a Greek icon painter from Crete. Ritzos is considered one of the founding fathers of the Cretan school. He was affiliated with Angelos Akotantos. Most of his work s ...
, and
Antonios Papadopoulos, and his style influenced later artists such as
Georgios Klontzas
Georgios Klontzas (; 1535–1608), also known as George Klontzas or Zorzi Cloza dito Cristianopullo, was a Greek scholar and painter of the Cretan school, Cretan Renaissance. He is one of the most influential artists of the post-Byzantine period, ...
,
Theophanes the Cretan
Theophanis Strelitzas (; 1490–1559), also known as Theophanes the Cretan () or Theophanes Bathas (), was a Greek painter of icons and frescos in the style of the Cretan school. He passed much of his career as a member of the monastic community ...
,
Michael Damaskinos
Michael Damaskenos or Michail Damaskenos (also Damaskinos) (, 1530/35–1592/93) was a leading post-Byzantine Cretan painter. He is a major representative of the Cretan School of painting that flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries. Pain ...
and
El Greco
Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...
. Angelos's brother Ioannis was also a famous painter. There are 50 extant paintings reliably attributed to Akotantos, 30 of which bear his signature.
History
Angelos Akotantos was born in Crete. He had a sister and two brothers; one of the latter was the famous painter Ioannis Akotantos. Much
information about Angelos's life is drawn from the will he composed in 1436, in advance of a planned journey to Constantinople. The document is now housed in the State Archives of Venice. At the time of writing, Angelos was married to Eleni Marmara and they were expecting their first child. He was relatively wealthy with a significant number of possessions.
Angelos enjoyed a high level of education—as demonstrated by his ability to write his own will—and owned a big and valuable library. He specified that if his child died young the books in this library should be sold and the money raised should go to charities of his choice. Alongside his painting activities, he was a chanter and teacher of music; the Venetian authorities appointed him protopsaltis (first chanter), an honorable position carrying a government salary.
He was familiar with the monastic superior of Saint Phanourios at Versamonero, and the will grants the institution a sum of money to hold memorial services after his death. He also had a relationship with the monastery of Saint Catherine, leaving them an icon of
the eponymous saint.
Akotantos's paintings are extremely popular and his style has been copied by many icon painters. Copies of his paintings can be found in churches and private collections all over the world namely Greece. One church that exhibits a copy of an Akotantos painting is the
Church of St. Symeon, Mytilene
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
. They have Saint Anne with the Virgin.
Akotantos was one of the most important Greek painters of the first half of the 15th century. The center of
Byzantine art
Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome, decline of western Rome and ...
was transferred from the capital of the
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
to
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
because of the
fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...
in 1453. He supplied icons to Greek churches and monasteries on Crete, Patmos, Rhodes, and elsewhere. Akotantos painted icons of
Saint Phanourios killing the dragon, similar to
Saint George
Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...
, a local tradition found in the icons of the 15th century in
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
. Many scholars believe that the famous painter Angelos who is responsible for countless paintings is actually Akotantos.
He inspired countless painters and most of his work is emulated even today.
[M. Vassilaki, "The Painter Angelos and Icon-Painting in Venetian Crete", Farnham 2009]
Gallery
File:Pantocrator Angelos Akotantos.jpg, Jesus Pantocrator by Angelos Akotantos
File:Eleusa Akotantos Cleveland.jpg , The Virgin and Child by Akotantos. Cleveland Art Museum
File:Panagia Glykophilousa.Crete.15cent.Museum.of.the.Russian.icon.png, The Virgin and Child
File:Angelos Akotantos - The Virgin Cardiotissa - WGA00097.jpg, The Virgin Cardiotissa
File:Virgin Glykophilousa by Angelos Akotantos (Byzantine museum).jpg, The Virgin and Child
File:Chanter Angelos Akotandos - St Anne with the Virgin - Google Art Project.jpg, Saint Anne with the Virgin
File:Άγγελος Ακοτάντος - Άγιος Φανούριος 7660.jpg, Saint Fanourious
File:Chanter Angelos Akotandos - St George on Horseback, Slaying the Dragon - Google Art Project.jpg, St George on Horseback, Slaying the Dragon
File:St George riding Louvre MI351 n2.jpg, St George
File:Angelos Akotantos - The Congregation of the Archangels - WGA00098.jpg, Congregation of the Archangels
File:St John the Baptist by Angelos Akotantos (Byzantine museum).jpg, John the Baptist
File:Tree of Jesus Signed by Angelos.png, Tree of Jesus
File:Angelos Akotantos Jesus.png, Jesus, Mary, and Saint John
File:Christ Enthroned Cretan.png, Christ Enthroned
File:Christ Enthroned Orange.png, Christ Enthroned
Notable works
* ''
The Virgin Eleousa
''The Virgin Eleousa'' is a tempera painting attributed to Angelos Akotantos. Angelos Akotantos was a Greek painter active on the island of Crete during the first half of the 15th century. He is considered one of the founding members of the Creta ...
''
* ''
Saint Anne with the Virgin''
* ''
Christ the Vine (Angelo)''
See also
*
Hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
*
Iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
*
Michael Damaskenos
*
Nikolaos Lampoudis
Nikolaos Lampoudis () was a 15th-century Greek painter from Sparta. The only work of his of which historians are aware is an icon of the Virgin and Child of a kind known as a hodegetria or eleusa.
Lampoudis was a member of the Greek Renaissance' ...
References
External links
*
List of works of art shown in the exhibition "Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557)", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, March 23 – July 4, 2004.Article in the newspaper''
Kathimerini
( Greek: Η Καθημερινή, ; ) is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Piraeus, Athens. Its first edition was printed on 15 September 1919. is considered a newspaper of record and the leading right-wing newspape ...
''
Byzantium: faith and power (1261–1557) an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Akotantos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akotantos, Angelos
1450 deaths
Artists from Heraklion
Cretan Renaissance painters
Christian hagiographers
Greek icon painters
Year of birth unknown
15th-century Greek painters
15th-century Greek educators
15th-century Greek musicians
People from Crete