Nikolaos Lampoudis () was a 15th-century Greek painter from

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

. 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 A Hodegetria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconography, iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind. The Virgin's head usually inclines t ...

eleusa The Eleusa (or ''Eleousa''; – ''tenderness'' or ''showing mercy'') is a type of depiction of the Virgin Mary in icons in which the Christ Child is nestled against her cheek. In the Western Church the type is often known as the Virgin of Tende ...

. Lampoudis was a member of the Greek Renaissance's early

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 ...

, a movement influenced by the art of Venice.

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 ...

also played a part in shaping his style.

Angelos Akotantos Angelos Akotantos (; 1390–1457) was a Greek painter, educator, and protopsaltis. He painted icons in the Italo-Byzantine, maniera greca, at a time when that style was moving away from the traditions of the Byzantine Empire and towards the more r ...

and

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 ...

were among the other Greek artists of Lampoudis's time who worked in a similar manner. The Cretan School's movement from the Byzantine tradition towards a more refined technique has a parallel in how

Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ), commonly known as just Duccio, was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religi ...

and

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

developed their work in Italy.

History

Lampoudis was born in Sparta. Not much is known about his life. The only existing record is an icon painted during the 15th century. His signature describes his place of origin. Sparta was part of the

Despotate of the Morea The Despotate of the Morea () or Despotate of Mystras () was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost a ...

and fell to the Ottomans in 1460. The last name was associated with the Greek-Byzantine family named Lampoudios. The name appears throughout Byzantine history from the 11th century until the 15th century. There was a famous scribe by the name Matthew Sebastos Lampoudes from the Péloponnèse region, possibly Spartan. The earliest known record of the Lampoudes name in Crete was 1562–1563. Records exist regarding Kyriakos Lampoudes. Lampoudis's technique is the Greek-Byzantine technique prevalent in Thessaloniki, Constantinople, and

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 ...

's and

's paintings served as the prototype of the maniera greca and the Greek Renaissance or

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 ...

. Lampoudis appears at the end of the Byzantine art movement and the beginning of the Greek Renaissance. The Lampoudis painting has been preserved for over six hundred years. The icon is in a private collection in Athens, it previously belonged to a collector in Rome. The icon's dimensions are 0.67 X 0.47 X 0.02 meter or 2.2 X 1.54 X 0.07 feet and is painted on wood that forms a relief frame. The painting was bought at an auction in London. It belonged to an Italian family for three generations. In 1981, it was preserved by Rodolfo Lujan. He fixed the wood and painting. He also cleaned it in a special laboratory. In 1984, the Byzantine Museum in Athens proved the authenticity of the signature. His signature was ΧΕΙΡ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΛΑΜΠΟΥΔΗ, ΣΠAPTIATOY Achimasto Patamianoy, 1997, pp. 269-270

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Cretan Renaissance 15th-century births 15th-century deaths People from Sparta, Peloponnese 15th-century Byzantine people Cretan Renaissance painters 15th-century Greek painters Greek Renaissance humanists Byzantine painters Greek icon painters

History

See also

References

Bibliography