Cretan school

The 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, becoming the central force in Greek painting during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. The Cretan artists developed a particular style of painting under the influence of both Eastern and Western artistic traditions and movements; the most famous product of the school, El Greco, was the most successful of the many artists who tried to build a career in Western Europe, and also the one who left the Byzantine style farthest behind him in his later career.

Early painters from Crete included Nikolaos Philanthropinos 1380-1450, Ioannis Pagomenos 1285-1340 and Manuel Fokas. Philanthropinos completed some mosaics in Venice, Italy at St Mark's Basilica in the 1430s. The fathers of the Cretan school are considered Angelos Akotantos, Andreas Pavias and Andreas Ritzos. Some of their works include: Saint Anne with the Virgin, The Virgin Pantanassa and The Crucifixion. Between 1454 and 1526, Crete was saturated with painting workshops, and the number of painters exceeded 145. Some painters, such as Nikolaos Gripiotis, produced mass quantities of unsigned icons for Italian and Greek patrons during the period, while other painters chose to sign their works.

Angelos Pitzamanos and Donatos Pitzamanos traveled to Italy, fusing the Cretan style with the School of Otranto in the late 1400s and early 1500s. A popular work completed by Angelos was Madonna of Constantinople. By the mid-1500s, Michael Damaskinos and Georgios Klontzas dominated the century with their incredible works. Some of Damaskinos' works were: Wedding at Cana , Madonna del Rosario, and Beheading of John the Baptist. Some of Klontzas' works were: In Thee Rejoiceth , Triptych of the Last Judgement, and Saint Catherine's Engagement. Both of the painters flourished around the time of El Greco, while Klontzas was recorded assessing one of his works. Another notable painter of the same era was Thomas Bathas, who maintained the Miraculous Icon of the Virgin Mary at St Mark's Basilica but also painted his own version entitled Virgin Nikopoios.

His student Emmanuel Tzanfournaris was part of the late Cretan school, and he completed the Virgin of the Passion. The late Cretan school included painters from the 1600s such as Elias Moskos, Emmanuel Tzanes, and Theodore Poulakis. Some of their works included: Jacob's Ladder, Saint Onuphrius and Noah's Ark . Most painters of the Cretan school began to migrate to the Ionian Islands and Venice during the war with the Ottoman Empire, and the late Cretan school shares characteristics with the Heptanese school of painting.

Flemish engravings were introduced to Greek paintings during the middle part of the 1600s, one of the earliest works was completed by Georgios Markazinis integrating Flemish engravings with the Creto-Venetian style known as The Crucifixion. Poulakis' Noah's Ark also emulated engravings. The Greek painters living in Crete dropped from 156 between 1527-1630 to 68 between 1631-1700. While some painters remained, most of them migrated to the Ionian Islands. The last period, from 1700 to 1820, saw 52 Greek painters active in Crete during the Ottoman occupation. Some included: Georgios Kastrofylakas, Michael Prevelis and Ioannis Kornaros. One of Kornaros notable works includes: Catherine of Alexandria.

There was a substantial demand for Byzantine icons in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and, as a Venetian possession since 1204, Crete had a natural advantage and soon came to dominate the supply. A probable early example is the famous icon of the Virgin in Rome known as Our Mother of Perpetual Help, which was certainly well known in Rome by 1499. At this date there is little to distinguish Cretan work from other Byzantine icons stylistically, and the quality of work is lower than that associated with Constantinople.

This period also saw considerable numbers of wall-paintings in local churches and monasteries – altogether some 850 from the 14th and 15th centuries survive in Crete, far more than from earlier or later periods.

By the late 15th century, Cretan artists had established a distinct icon-painting style, distinguished by "the precise outlines, the modelling of the flesh with dark brown underpaint and dense tiny highlights on the cheeks of the faces, the bright colours in the garments, the geometrical treatment of the drapery, and, finally the balanced articulation of the composition", or "sharp contours, slim silhouettes, linear draperies and restrained movements". The most famous artist of the period was Andreas Ritzos (c. 1421–1492), whose son Nicholas was also well known. Angelos Akotantos, until recently thought to be a conservative painter of the 17th century, is now, after the discovery of a will dated 1436, seen to have been an innovative artist in fusing Byzantine and Western styles, who survived until about 1457, when the will was actually registered. The will was made in anticipation of a voyage to Constantinople; several icons were bequeathed to church institutions, some Catholic but mainly Orthodox, and the disposition of his stock of pattern drawings was carefully specified. Andreas Pavias (d. after 1504) and his pupil Angelos Bizamanos, and Nicholas Tzafuris (d. before 1501) were other leading artists.