Depictions of holy monks in the western bay of the Church of the Virgin in Studenica

Abstract

The study is dedicated to the figures of holy monks in the west bay of the Church of the Virgin in Studenica, painted during the restoration of the original murals in 1568. The paper seeks to establish the identity of some saints who were previously incorrectly identified, as well as the identity of those who were unobserved in previous studies. It also discusses to what extent the choice of holy monks to be depicted was determined by the original iconographic program. The research results confirm the hypothesis that has for long been present in scholarly literature; according to it, during the restoration of frescoes in the Studenica katholikon, the painters largely repeated the original painted program. Nevertheless, judging by the example of the holy monks depicted in west bay, it may be concluded that in some cases they departed from the original iconographic program. In selecting new saints to be depicted they must have relied on the Menologion. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]