The church of All Saints, Părhăuți, naos, northern wall: Sts Demetrius, Jacob, and Nestorius (cca 1530)

The project proposes a case study of a delimited corpus: the iconic portrait of saints in Moldavian monuments, cca. 1490-cca. 1530, with a view at elaborating a methodology for the study of South-Eastern European cultural transfers. Its aim is to investigate the peculiar selection of saints, contextualizing it within the Moldavian monastic culture and spirituality during the late 15th and early 16th c. and within the already inventoried Late and Post-Byzantine pictorial tradition. The devotional peculiarities, the interplay between written evidence and artistic practice, the theological culture, and its relevance for the study of cultural heritage, are still rarely addressed topics in local scholarship. For the study of these issues, we will make use of recent approaches in the history of art: the geography of art, cultural transfers, and hybridization. We intend to assess the peculiar Moldavian sanctoral, either as a result of specific devotions of the monastic milieu, or as a consequence of integrating workshop traditions from the Post-Byzantine Balkans.

We intend to generate an open-access database harboured by the website of the project, where we will upload the inventoried iconographic programs, all the collected epigraphic data (the inscriptions on the scrolls of the saintly bishops and monks), the references to relevant manuscripts, and translations of selected content from these Late Medieval unedited texts. The dissemination of the research output will involve organizing a thematic workshop and publishing a volume of collected essays.

Results:
Site (http://networks-of-devotion.eu/)
Canal Youtube: Networks of Devotion
(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3RsFpMYA4wv9pfUiBLP9HA)

International workshops
Devotional Practices in Texts and Images. Late Antique and Medieval Networks across Eastern and Western Christendom
17 November 2022, 9.45 (Bucharest time), Zoom

Manuscript Tradition and Visual Culture. Circulating Models and their Reception in South-Eastern Europe, 14th-18th c.
26 November 2021, 10.00 (Bucharest time), Zoom

Seminar
Visual Rhetorics of Power in Moldavia (ca 1480 – ca 1535): Eclectic or Hybrid?
12 May 2021, 11.00 (Bucharest time), Zoom

Conference
Retorica imperială în Moldova: surse liturgice inedite și contexte iconografice (cca. 1480-1530)
20 April 2021, 11.00 (Bucharest time), Zoom

Publications

Forthcoming

Vlad Bedros, “The Devotion to the Five Companions in Moldavian Texts and Images, ca. 1480 – ca. 1530: Between Trapezund and Mount Athos”, Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Européennes, t. 61, 2023

Vlad Bedros, “The Visual Culture of Moldavia Before and After 1453”, Routledge Handbook of Byzantium and the Danube Regions (13th–16th c.), ed. Maria Alessia Rossi and Alice Isabella Sullivan, 2023

Vlad Bedros, “The Prophet Elijah in Moldavian Iconography, ca. 1480–1530: Liturgical and Devotional Contexts”, Anastasis. Research in Medieval Culture and Art, t. 8, nr. 1, 2022

Vlad Bedros, „Despre circumscribilitate: giulgiul în iconografia moldovenească a Punerii în Mormânt” [On Circumscribability: The Shroud in the Moldavian Iconography of the Threnos], Analele Putnei, t. 18, 2022, nr. 1

Vlad Bedros, „Cel Vechi de Zile în iconografia moldovenească (sec. XV–XVI): implicații triadologice” [The Ancient of Days in Moldavian Iconography (15th-16th c.): Trinitarian Implications], Analele Putnei, t. 18, 2022, nr. 2

Andrei Dumitrescu, “The Bowing Prince: Representations of Christian Rulership in Moldavian Iconography during the Reign of Stephen III (r. 1457–1504)”, Routledge Handbook of Byzantium and the Danube Regions, ed. Maria Alessia Rossi and Alice Isabella Sullivan, 2023

Oana Iacubovschi, “The imitation of panel icons representing individual saints in the wall decoration of Byzantine churches: Funerary and votive contexts”, Etudes Byzantines et post-Byzantines n.s. t. 4(9): Byzantine heritage in South-Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 2022

Andrei Dumitrescu, “Visions of the Incarnation: King David, the Royal Deesis, and Associated Iconographic Contexts in Late 15th-century Moldavia”, Etudes Byzantines et post-Byzantines n.s. t. 4(9): Byzantine heritage in South-Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 2022

Mihail-George Hâncu, “For whom the saint fights: military saints as allies in battle”, Etudes Byzantines et post-Byzantines n.s. t. 4(9): Byzantine heritage in South-Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 2022

Published

Vlad Bedros, „Cei Cinci martiri în pictura murală din Moldova: notă despre contexte iconografice și subtexte devoționale” [“The Five Martyrs” in Moldavian Mural Painting: Note on Iconographic Contexts and Devotional Subtexts], Analele Putnei, t. 17, 2021, nr. 2, p. 169–188 (published in 2022) https://www.ceeol.com/search/viewpdf?id=1097309

Andrei Dumitrescu, „Între o retorică a puterii și intercesiune: câteva observații cu privire la selecția figurilor iconice din naosul bisericii Sf. Nicolae din Rădăuți (c. 1480–1500)” [Between the Rhetoric of Power and Intercession: Some Remarks on the Selection of Iconic Figures in the Naos of “St. Nicholas” Church in Rădăuți (around 1480–1500)], Analele Putnei, t. 17, 2021, nr. 1, p. 67–96 (published in 2022) https://www.ceeol.com/search/viewpdf?id=1097201

Vlad Bedros, “The Marble Fragments from Bistrița Monastery (ca. 1407): a Note on Their Function and Artistic Context”, L’arredo liturgico fra Oriente e Occidente (V–XV secolo). Frammenti, opere e contesti / Liturgical Furnishings between East and West (5th–15th Centuries). Fragments, Objects, and Contexts, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana editoriale, 2021 (Minima medievalia), pp. 156–171 https://www.silvanaeditoriale.it/libro/9788836649211

Oana Iacubovschi, “The Selection of Saints in the Narthex of Saint George’s Church at Voroneț Monastery: A Case Study on the Transmission of Religious Models from the Balkans towards Moldavia during the 15th Century”, Art Studies Readings, 2020, no. 1 (published in 2021), pp. 145–178 https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=928937

Vlad Bedros, „‘Provincia’ moldovenească la sfârșitul secolului al XV-lea și participarea ei la polemica anti-unionistă: dovezi ale istoriei artei, [The Moldavian ‘Province’ and Its Involvement in the Anti-Unionist Polemic: Evidence from the History of Art], In honorem Răzvan Theodorescu. Profesorul la 80 de ani, București, Oscar Print, 2021, pp. 53–61

Papers

Symposium Artă şi civilizaţie medievală [Medieval Art and Culture], National Museum of Bukovina, 27th edition, Suceava, November 3–4, 2022
https://muzeulbucovinei.ro/2022/11/04/simpozionul-arta-si-civilizatie-medievala-editia-a-xxvii-a/

Vlad Bedros, Imagine și spiritualitate, între paraclise boierești și ctitorii voievodale din Moldova (cca. 1480 – cca. 1530) [Image and Spirituality, Between the Chapels of the Noblemen and the Commissions of the Ruler]

Andrei Dumitrescu, Botezul împăratului Constantin în iconografia moldovenească: articularea unei reprezentări narative între Episcopia Rădăuților și paraclisul de curte al logofătului Ioan Tăutu [The Baptism of the Emperor Constantine in Moldavian Iconography: Articulating a Narrative Image, Between the Archbishopric of Rădăuți and the Court Chapel of Logothetes Ioan Tăutu]

International symposium The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, October 13–15, 2022 https://nec.ro/events/the-akathistos-hymn-in-byzantine-and-post-byzantine-tradition-the-history-of-a-liturgical-masterpiece-between-text-and-image-2/

Vlad Bedros, The ‘Saturday of the Akathist’ Reflected in Moldavian Miscellanea and Marianic Imagery (Late 15th – Early 16th c.)

24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies: Byzantium – Bridge Between Worlds, Venice – Padua, August 22–27, 2022 https://byzcongress2022.org/programme/

Vlad Bedros, Limits of Iconicity: Whirling Discs and Spiraled Visual Motifs as Conveyors of Divine Presence in Post-Byzantine Wall Paintings from Moldavia

Andrei Dumitrescu, “A Hand from Heaven:” The Archangel Michael and the Baptism of Constantine the Great in Late Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-century Moldavian Representations

Oana Iacubovschi, Phlogotheël, Syhail and Misail: The Sparse Iconographic Evidence of a Popular Devotion. From Eleventh-Century Cappadocia to Late Fifteenth-Century Moldavia

Putna Colloquia, Putna monastery, 27th edition, July 21–23, 2022
https://www.centrulstefancelmare.ro/en/27th-edition-act28.html

Vlad Bedros, Cel Vechi de Zile în iconografia moldovenească (sec. XV–XVI): implicații triadologice [The Ancient of Days in Moldavian Iconography (15th-16th c.): Trinitarian Implications]

Andrei Dumitrescu, De la Sarepta la Ierusalim: văduva ca arhetip al donatorului în iconografia moldovenească de la finalul secolului al XV-lea [From Zarephath to Jerusalem: The Widow as Archetype for the Donor in Moldavian Iconography al the End of the 15th c.]

The Newman Seminar in Late Ancient and Byzantine Cultures: Depictions of the Prophet Elijah in Jewish and Christian Contexts: Literary and Visual Sources, Newman Institute, Uppsala, June 8, 2022
https://newman.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Newman_Seminar_8_June_Program.pdf

Vlad Bedros, The Prophet Elijah and the Theme of Spiritual Filiation in Moldavian Iconography, ca. 1480–1530

Ștefania Dumbravă, Depictions of the Prophet Elijah on Post-Byzantine Vita Icons

Andrei Dumitrescu, From the Ascension of Elijah to the Descent of the Logos. On the Narrative Sequence of the Frescoes in the Diaconicon at Morača Monastery (ca. 1260)

57^th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 9–14, 2022, panel sponsored by the International Centre of Medieval Art: From Prophet of Israel to Miracle-working Saint: the Transformations of Elijah’s Story in Jewish and Christian Iconographic Traditions, https://icms.confex.com/icms/2022am/meetingapp.cgi/Session/2604

Vlad Bedros, The Prophet Elijah and the Theme of Spiritual Filiation in Moldavian Iconography, ca. 1480–1530

Andrei Dumitrescu, Narrative Strategies and Sacramental Meanings: Picturing Elijah’s Story in the Thirteenth-Century Frescoes at Morača Monastery

International Congress of Art History, London, April 15, 2021, Panel sponsored by the International Centre of Medieval Art: The Virgin as Auctoritas: The Authority of the Virgin Mary and Female Moral–doctrinal Authority in the Middle Ages
https://eu-admin.eventscloud.com/website/2065/the-virgin-as-auctoritas/

Andrei Dumitrescu, All Glory Is in the King’s Daughter: Depictions of the Virgin as Empress in the Late Byzantine World

International conference What Does Animation Mean in The Middle Ages? Theoretical and Historical Approaches, Byalostock September 16–19, 2021
https://medievalartresearch.com/2021/08/29/conference-what-does-animation-mean-in-the-middle-ages-the-a-zelwerowicz-national-academy-of-dramatic-art-in-warsaw-poland-and-the-university-of-bergen-norway-16-19-september-2021/

Andrei Dumitrescu, The Virgin in the Whirling Star: Questions on the Performative Dimension of Ecclesiastical Wall Paintings from Late 15th- and Early 16th-century Moldavia

International conference Gender and Mobility, University of Surrey, January 11–13, 2021
https://medievalgender.co.uk/2021-surrey/

Andrei Dumitrescu, Abba and Amma: Questions of Gender Identity in the Depictions of Holy Women and Hermits in Late 15th-century Moldavian Monasteries