The Backovo ossuary frescoes of 1074-83

Abstract

The scarcity of dated fresco cycles from the second half of the eleventh century gives the Backovo murals a place of outstanding significance in the history of Byzantine monumental decorations. Also the Backovo frescoes, as decorations for a monastic ossuary, preserve a very rare type of painting, with such scenes as the "Vision of Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones" encountered for the first time in Byzantine painting on a monumental scale. Through a close study of the literary sources and inscriptions, a dating of 1074-1083 is established for the first and principle layer of frescoes on both levels of the ossuary. A detailed iconographic analysis of the decorations confirms this dating in the final third of the eleventh century. Likewise certain stylistic parallels, such as with the Psalter and New Testament, Dumbarton Oaks Ms. 3 (olim Pantocrator Cod.49) dated 1084, the fresco cycles of Ag. Chrysostom in Koutsovendi, some of the frescoes at Hosios Lukas, frescoes at Sakl1 Kilise in Cappadocia and at Ateni in Georgia, all point to this late eleventh century dating for Backovo. In the light of this redating of the Backovo frescoes, certain major assumptions concerning the nature of the development of Byzantine iconography have to be re-examined. This includes a re-evaluation of the evidence for the emergence of the Melismos composition. There are also some peculiarities of the Backovo iconographic programme which reflect the interests of the Armenian Chalcedonite and Georgian Churches. Apart from the 1074-83 frescoes, there are also three other relatively minor layers of frescoes from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Show more