Zograf 2018 Issue 42, Pages: 37-54
https://doi.org/10.2298/ZOG1842037O
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On the style of the Bachkovo Ossuary frescoes
Oretskaia Irina (State Institute for Art Studies, Moscow, Russia)
The article attempts to give a thorough description of the style of the
Bachkovo Ossuary frescoes and to draw analogies for their artistic manner
and single figures. They appear to reveal the closest similarity with some
miniatures found in Greek manuscripts of the late eleventh century. Several
common artistic methods were used in the Bachkovo frescoes and in the
monumental painting of that time as well. They also include some motifs,
which were well-known to artists of the second half of the twelfth century.
The style of the Ossuary frescoes has been correctly described as classical
in most of the pertinent studies. All the components of this style took
shape already in the late eleventh century; however, it is not impossible
that the frescoes were created later, in the twelfth century.
Keywords: Bachkovo Ossuary, fresco, eleventh-century painting, Byzantine art, classical style