The Balpis Expansion of the Technical Part of the Hermeneia Painting Manual by Dionysius of Fourna

ABSTRACT

Painting manuals with technical and iconographical prescriptions served the needs of Greek icon painters during the post-Byzantine period. The circa 1730 CE Hermeneia of the art of painting was compiled by the hieromonk and icon painter Dionysius and is regarded as the most comprehensive pertinent Greek text. Dionysius’ Hermeneia was widely circulating among icon painters in the form of hand-written copies, many of which survive today. Most of these Hermeneia manuscripts are near-facsimiles of the Dionysius prototype text. Yet, two copies made by Father Ioannis Balpis, a Cretan icon painter, in 1782–83 CE offer an important expansion of the technical part. Here, the authors present the first ever translation of the hitherto unpublished Balpis’ Hermeneia technical additions that offer unique new insights into the materials and techniques of post-Byzantine painting. Moreover, through the critical evaluation of the Balpis additions, it is shown that the Dionysius technical part is by no means an exhaustive account of its contemporary technical knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Painting manual
• post-Byzantine
• Hermeneia revision
• pigment
• gilding

Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere thanks to Dr. Agamemnon Tselikas, head of the Historical and Paleographical Archive of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, for granting permission to publish the Samos MS, as well as to Dr. Sofia Chandaka, Dr. Panorea Gaitanou, Ms. Panorea Benatou, and Mr. Sotirios Bekiaris from the Benaki Museum, for granting permission to publish and assisting the study of the Benaki Museum manuscript. Also, special thanks are due to Dr. Varvara Papadopoulou, Deputy Director of the Ioannina Ephorate of Antiquities, for providing access to the Byzantine Museum of Ioannina collection. GM expresses his gratitude to the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) for providing financial support for this study. Finally, tke authors extend their gratitude to the three anonymous reviewers, who, through their thoughtful and constructive comments, contributed significantly to the improvement of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I.e., the period preceding the year 1453 CE, which corresponds to the seizure of Constantinople by Ottoman Turks and marks the beginning of the post-Byzantine period (1453–1830 CE).

2 The standard Hermeneia text was translated to English by Paul Hetherington (Dionysius of Fourna 1996).

3 This specific recipe, along with the recipe §52 that deals with oil painting on fabric, are of particular interest. Given the fact that these very recipes exist in a Dionysius’ source that obviously predates the compilation of the Hermeneia (ca. 1730), they clearly suggest that oil painting and textile substrates were employed by Greek painters prior to the emergence of the On painting manual (Δοξαράς 1871). The latter deals almost exclusively with various theoretical and practical aspects of oil painting, and was compiled in 1726 by Panagiotis Doxaras, an advocate and practitioner of western European painting, who is regarded as the painter who introduced the western European mode of naturalistic painting to Greek Orthodox territories (Παναγιώτου 2015).

4 For a detailed discussion of these two and other relevant recipes see Mastrotheodoros and Beltsios (2019).

5 Several earlier (Byzantine) recipes on chrysography (i.e., on the production of gold inks for writing purposes) are included in the work by Schreiner and Oltrogge (2011). For a summary, see Oltrogge (2011).

6 Iconography lays far beyond the research interests of the current authors, therefore the relevant iconographical sections will not be discussed herein.

7 Parts in brackets correspond to later additions that appear on the restored part of this particular leaf.

8 Two icons bearing the name Antonios Maroulis are found in Kythnos Island (Χατζηδάκης and Δρακοπούλου 1997).

9 Note that when written in Latin the name “Μπάλμπης” stands for Balbis; the latter might have been (mis)transcribed as “Βάλβης” in Greek.

10 For the transcription of the Greek texts see Appendix A.

11 The text from this point to the end of the recipe appears separately in B (recipe number 6, f17v)

12 The term pertains to poisonous plants which are occasionally identified with members of the poisonous aconitum genus plants (Ranunculaceae family); see e.g., Βυζάντιος (1857), 403, 405 and Mastrotheodoros and Beltsios (2019) for a more detailed discussion.

13 Only in Samos MS61, where it has replaced P11; yet, the latter appears in Benaki MS141 (B).

14 Traditional hard liquor produced through the distillation of grape skins.

15 It is accepted that the traditional medium for icon painting was egg yolk (see e.g. Κόντολγου 1993; Cristache et al. 2015; Papazoglou et al. 2019). However, in this case and elsewhere (e.g., S17, S37, S53) Balpis used only the term “αυγό” i.e. “egg” without specifying whether it is the yolk, the white or the whole egg. The only instances that the yolk is indeed specified is in S66 (Making artificial amber).

16 “τοκαρισμοί” in the Greek text, ultimately from the Italian verb toccare=touch; the Greek term possibly refers to a succession of strokes having the character of final/finishing touches.

17 The term ‘λινόχρα’ / linochra is the plural of the term ‘λινόχρον’/ ‘linochron’, which is also encountered in the recipes S23, S28 & S36. On recipe S23/B25 the ‘λινόχρα’ are rendered in a mixture of equal parts of ochre and lead white. Note that the term linochron / linochra derive from the combination of the terms ‘λινόν’/ linon which stands for the color of flax fibers (λινό/ λινάρι = flax) and ‘ωχρός’ / ‘ochros’ (= ochre-colored). Another possibility is that the term is a variant of λινόχρους (= flax-coloured; a naturally-coloured linen cloth can be pale yellow).

18 Probably the solid residue of the sandalwood exudate, i.e. sandalwood resin.

19 The dram is a weight unit that equals 3.203 grams; 400 drams make an oka (1283 grams).

20 For example, a pale shade of yellow brown.

21 ‘oxei’ (correct spelling: oxy) denotes a red, reddish-brown or violet color and in the case of painting it might pertain to red ochre or similar pigments. In the case of S26 (see below) oxei is interpreted as ‘sinapidi’ (a form of sinopia); for a detail discussion of oxei/oxy see Mastrotheodoros et al. (2021).

22 S24/B26 is about xylophana; the latter term might refer to wooden lanterns or to items with the appearance/color of wood. Since neighboring paragraphs pertain to special colors, we interpret this paragraph as if it pertains to wood-type appearance/color.

23 See the note 19 for synapidi and oxei/oxy in S23.

24 One might assume that here oxei = red ochre; see alson note 19.

25 Unidentified term.

26 Potamoi (ποταμοί – literally ‘rivers’) are thin, vertical decorative bands that appear on the sticharion, a long rather plane robe worn by priests serving in the frame of Orthodox Christian church.

27 πυροδυσμός (= πυροδισμός, pyrodismos): the transparent reddish paint layer that is applied thinly on the cheeks, neck etc., to impart a slight redness.

28 I.e., the color of flax-fibers, see the relevant comment in S17.

29 Recipes S35 and S36 of the Samos 61 MS appear combined in a single recipe (B37) in the Benaki 141 MS.

30 Plural form of the term ‘λινοκοπία’/ ‘linokopia’: the word is used to describe the qluing agent used for applying gilded highlights (the equivalent of the Russian ‘assist’) (Mastrotheodoros et al. 2018).

31 The corresponding recipes of both Balpis texts are more or less the same as those of Διονύσιος 1997 §27 (only minor spelling differences). However, the Balpis Hermeneiae contain short additional prescriptions at the end of the recipes, which are transcribed here.

32 This recipe embodies copies of three recipes from the reference manuscript (Διονύσιος 1997), namely P§38–39-40. However, a short part of P§39 has been omitted by both father Ioannis texts, therefore it is transcribed here.

33 Turpentine; see also recipe S51/B52 where the trementina is specifically mentioned ‘Venice’ (i.e. Venice turpentine).

34 ‘Πέγουλα’/ ‘Pegoula’ is the term used originally by Dionysius (P29) to refer to the residue of the thermal processing (‘boiling’) of the fir-tree resin. Copies of the relevant Dionysius’ recipe are found in both the Balpis manuscripts (see Table 1), yet Balpis uses a slightly deviating term (‘μπέγουλα’/ ‘begoula’).

35 Balpis considers the management of unrepairable icons in the concluding section of his 1783 Hermeneia copy (see Appendix B); the pertinent dilemma, i.e., ‘incineration or inhumation’, is not unlike that for the disposal of the bodies of the dead. Balpis suggests inhumation and cites a story that was taken from a Paterikon (a collection of tales and teachings of Fathers, i.e., hierarchs, saints, ascetics etc) and involves supernatural guidance. The same story is found in a nineteenth century manuscript that is kept in the Megisti Lavra monastery library (Mount Athos, Greece) (Παντϵλϵήμων 1958).

36 Probably soapwort, see Mastrotheodoros et al. (2021).

37 Presumably a substance deriving from lotus/persimmon plants (Diospyros genus), see Mastrotheodoros et al. (2021) for details.

38 The original Balpis’ term is ‘άχυτο’ which literary means ‘non-poured’; authors assume that this designation pertains to the purification process of native sulfur, which includes melting and pouring (or ‘casting’) of the liquid sulfur.

39 Mourtasangki derives from the Persian term murdah-sang/ murdár-sang, which corresponds to a ‘litharge’/Pb substance (see Mastrotheodoros et al. 2021 and references therein). I Interestingly, Balpis interprets the rare term as ‘μολυβόχωμα’/ ‘molivochoma’ (lead-earth), an explanation not present in the original Dionysius’ text.

40 ‘Ερμηνϵία/ Hermeneia’ normally means ‘interpretation’; nevertheless, the idiomatic sense ‘instruction’ is probable, in view of the context and the sense ‘instruct’ of the corresponding idiomatic verb ‘ϵρμηνϵύω/ ορμηνϵύω’.

41 See e.g. recipes S11, S18, and S66, to be found only in the later Samos MS. See also Table 1.

Additional information

Funding

This research was co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning» in the context of the project ‘Reinforcement of Postdoctoral Researchers – 2nd Cycle’ (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ).