SOME NOTES ON ARTISTIC LIFE IN THESSALONICA DURING THE LATIN RULE (1204-1224)

Abstract

The article summarizes opinions and hypotheses put forward in the research literature regarding the activities of Thessalonian workshops in the time of the Latin kingdom of Thessaloniki (1204–1224). The material under consideration covers works of enamel art, eulogies associated with the veneration of the city’s patron, St. Demetrius, and icons and fragments of monumental paintings preserved in the city and its environs. These works of art, which are remarkable for their stylistic diversity and have not been assigned firm dates, hardly allow us to reconstruct the artistic life of this period in clear outlines. Nevertheless, they provide rich material for further discussion of the interactions of Thessalonian artists with artisans from other regions (both of the Byzantine world and of the West), as well as of their participation in the development of a new pictorial language in Byzantine art.