Monk Kosmas Simonopetritis
Who was Panselinos?
The identity of the artist of Protaton and the determination of the conditions and the time of its wall-paintings
The present study identifies the legendary Panselinos, who painted the wall–paintings of Protaton, with the (chief-)master (John) Astrapa, who painted the illustrations in the Codex Marcianus gr. Z. 516 (904). The “master Astrapas” was also a painter (of icons or/and wall-paintings) as it is indicated through a notice in the codex. The key point that leads to the identification of the manuscript illustrator and the painter Ioannis Astrapas with “Panselinos” can be revealed through an illustration of an anthropomorphic “full moon”, painted by Ioannis Astrapas, for the needs of a treatise on astronomy-geography by Demetrius Triclinius about the moon. This depiction gave John Astrapas, the painter of the ‘full moon’, the name “Panselinos” (= “full moon” in Greek), under which he appears in the sources known to date from 1566.
The identification is confirmed by various observations: stylistic (classicism); qualitative (reference to John Astrapas as “the best painter in Thessaloniki” by Triclinios); geographical (the undeniable origin from Thessaloniki of John Astrapas and of “Panselinos”, the painter of Protaton); chronological (they were active in the exact same period of 1300-1312); occupational (the main common occupation is hagiography (wall-painting) and manuscript illustration); graphological; the way of signing,; his theological thought, dominated by the fact of God’s entry into human history and the incarnation of the Word of God; the political conception, which considered Byzantium as the centre of the world.
Very important evidence, which shows that Panselinos illustrated manuscripts on behalf of other codex scribes, is the depictions of the evangelists in the codex nr. 47 of Pantokrator monastery, an Evangelistarium, a manuscript written by Theodore Agiopetritis and dating from 1301-1302. Three depictions of the evangelists are identical with those from Protaton. This observation leads us to the conclusion that the painter, to whom Theodore Agiopetritis commissioned the illustration of his Gospel, was John Astrapas, who, after having painted the four miniatures in the manuscript in 1301-1302, used them as models or anthivola in Protaton a few years later.
Protaton was repainted, after the raid and the catastrophe which has been caused by the Catalans, who were dwelling in Kassandra between 1307 and the spring of 1309. A new important evidence, which has so far gone unnoticed and confirms this dating, is the testimony of byzantine document nr. 43 of Vatopaidi monastery’s archive, which mentions the murder of the Protos (Primate) of Mount Athos, Luke, during the raid of the Turks, a group who accompanied the Catalans. Beside the above mention document, a letter of condolence has been sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Athanasios, to the athonite monks between 1306 and 1307, referring to Luke’s assassination.
Finally, there seems to be a relation between John Astrapas, the scribe of the Codex Marcianus and Astrapas, who painted the wall paintings of Virgin Eleousa (Ljeviška) of Prizren in 1307, and the main painter of Protaton.
The above attestations allow us to reconstruct the painting career of John Astrapas – Panselinos. He was born around 1270 in Thessaloniki and his father was probably Eutychios Astrapas, cousin of Eutychios Astrapas, the master of the wall-paintings of the church of Panagia Peribleptos in Ohrid. The church of Peribleptos was the first major project on which he began to unfurl his painting talents as an assistant in 1294/1295. Since then he avoided signing his works. He begins to show a surprising flair for painting and illustrating manuscripts, working as a scribe in the double sense that the word had at the time. He joined the intellectual circle of the great scholars of Thessaloniki, led by such personalities as Demetrius Triclinios and Thomas Magistros. In 1301-1302 Theodore Agiopetritis commissioned him to paint the illustrations for his Gospel, and General Michael Dukas Glavas Tarhaniotis commissioned him to paint the wall-paintings of the chapel of St. Euthymios in the basilica of St. Demetrios of Thessaloniki.
Around 1307, he was sent to paint the cathedral of Prizren as the first master, leading a crew of local craftsmen. There he expressed even more strongly his originality and boldness, as well as his great love of classical civilization. He worked in Prizren during the period 1307-1309, while the countryside of Thessaloniki and Athos were subjected to the unprecedented ferocity of the raids by the Catalans and the Christian Turks who accompanied them. It was during this period that the Turks raided Protaton, where they murdered Luke the Protos and destroyed the church and the pre-existing frescoes. When the Catalans withdraw from Kassandra, the Athonites call upon “the best painter of Thessaloniki”, John Astrapas, to paint the church. He worked there with his brother Michael between 1309-1311. At the same time, Dimitrios Triclinios will commission him, not only as a simple illustrator of manuscripts, but also as a ‘co-scientist’, to paint the reflection of the earth on the moon and the interpretation of its bright and dark parts. This depiction that will give him the name “Panselinos” (“full moon”), under which he first appears again in 1566.
