MIRACLE 0.3
The main -Oral- Narrative:
THE SALVATION OF VERGA FROM THE DESTRUCTIVE FLOOD OF 1945
In 1945 the village of Verga was hit by a ruinous flood. The flood was unleashed on the rocky slopes and washed everything away in a destructive river of mud. Just before it reached the chapel, the disastrous flow split in two directions, leaving the chapel untouched. As the flow weakened, all this water mass miraculously disappeared.
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The stratification of Visual Narratives:
THE DISCOVERY AND PROFF OF THE TRUE CROSS
The Discovery and Proof of the True Cross is one of the largest frescoes of Piero della Francesca, at the altar in the Capella Maggiore of the Basilica of San Francesco, a late Medieval church in Arezzo (Italy), dedicated to St Francis of Assisi.
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In his Ecclesiastical History, Socrates Scholasticus, gives a full description of the True Cross discovery that was repeated later by Sozomen and by Theodoret. In his narration, he describes how Helena Augusta, Constantine's aged mother, during her visit to Jerusalem, seeking for the True Cross, ordered excavations to be carried out.
The Sepulchre, three crosses, the titulus, and the nails from Jesus's crucifixion were uncovered.
In Socrates' version of the story, in order to reveal the cross of Jesus, Macarius had the three crosses, placed in turn, on a deathly ill woman. This woman recovered at the touch of the third cross, which was taken as a sign that this was the cross of Christ, the new Christian symbol.
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Two scenes are depicted in one fresco:
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The Finding of the Cross
On the left, Helena, and her entourage, including a well-dressed dwarf, observe the work of digging up the crosses; two workmen lift the last to be found out of the pit. Piero has marked the social status of the characters by their dress and, to some extent, their physiognomy. He transfers the location of the scene from Jerusalem to the city of Arezzo, by including a stunning and quite realistic portrait of the town in where the Basilica of St. Francs is located.
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The Proofing of the Cross
On the right side of the tier, proof of the miraculous power of the True Cross is proved: when it touches the body of a dead boy, on the way to burial, he revives. Piero depicts Helena and her maidens on their knees responding to this wonder, in the middle of the town, below the temple to Minerva.
Piero's radical narrative sequence and thematic balance, the splitting of the fresco into two scenes (countryside and town) , the dislocation of the narrative to Arezzo, where the Basilica is located, instead of Jerusalem, and the depiction of Helena to both scenes are elements that contributed to the structure of the hybrid fresco ''The miracle of the flood", which has no previous visual or textual reference.
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS HOMILIES, SINAITIC CODEX 339
The manuscripts of Gregory of Nazianzus Homilies, Sinaitic Codex 339, celebrates the role of art, as the ultimate means of transcendental communication. Ιn the illustrated manuscript of the Sinaitic Code, Gregory of Nazianzus is seated inside a church, which is developed into a multifaceted edifice.
According to the late professor, Archeologist, Andreas Xyggopoulos, the iconographer created this illumination, based in two previous illustrations: i. The Codex 510 of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and ii. the codex 49-50 of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy.
- The Homilies_of_Gregory_the_Theologian_gr._510,_f_860, the Parisian codex, depicts St. Gregory seated and surrounded by a low building and some trees that indicate a garden. On the right side, a church in the form of a three-aisled basilica is depicted.
- The Ambrosiana codex 049-50 depicts Gregory of Nazianzus standing inside a basilica, while he is preaching. On his right side there are two groups who worship, The first one is parallel to Gregory, with the figures smaller in size as expected, and the other one is on the lower right corner, with figures much smaller, looking like a group of chanters. Xyggopoulos states that the group presented in the upper row are those that Gregorios mentions in his speech, namely the Maccabees.
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HOMILES TO THE VIRGIN BY THE MONK JACOB KOKKINOBAPHOS
Professor Xyggopoulos cites the illustration of Vaticanus Graecus 1162 and Parisinus Graecus 1208 as the reference of the illustrator of the Sinaitic codex 339, in relation to its edifice. The depicted church is a five-dome basilica and it is believed to be a representation of the Church of the Holy Apostles. This church, also known as the Imperial Polyandreion, was a Christian basilica, built in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in 550. It is the second among the great churches of the Eastern Empire with the first one to be the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia).
The manuscript with codices 1162,1208, Homilies to the Virgin by the monk Jacob of the Kokkinobaphos monastery, abundantly decorated with illuminations inspired by episodes from the life of Mary, testifies to the artistic renewal that characterized the 12th century. The connection between the themes of the Ascension and the Second Advent already appears in older works. Yet, the rapprochement in this manuscript is not visually represented, but is expressed by the choice of texts appearing on the phylacteries which have an eschatological meaning (Isaiah 63,1 and Psalms 46,6).
SINAITIC CODEX 339: THE BASILICA
Professor Xyggopoulos claims that the illustrator of the Sinaitic code (denote him a craftsman) did not recognize the semiology of the earlier codices, even if they were his references, creating a profligate illustration, by deforming the composition with plenty of irrelevant elements.
Although, with a normative reading, this assertion can be legit, from an artistic point of view, one can consider this illustration as a hymn to Byzantine art, in the Middle Byzantine period. This 12th century Byzantine illustration includes, and emphasizes, the main features of Byzantine art, in a tiny masterwork. In fact, it is the depiction of the convergence of the façade, the side view, and the cross-section of the edifice, all together in one level. Freed from all elements of Cartesian and Euclidean geometry, the illustrator creates an augmented environment and allows the gaze to revolve and see evenly all sides of the basilica. Appropriating the lateral staggering of Greek Antiquity, the attributes such as up and down, back and front, right and left are irrelevant to the artistic process of the Sinaitic Codex 339 illustration.
This unique perception of augmented environment was a common practice in Byzantine art, as it strengthens the transcendental aspect of the iconography. Likewise, it allows the hybrid fresco of the Miracle of Flood to reveal all its semantic context of the visual metanarrative stratification.
The Metanarrative:
"The Miracle of the Flood" - St. Spyridon Chapel | All Rights Reserved © Karoussos Archives
The miraculous event of the twentieth century has reached our days, through oral narratives. Its depiction was made with the stratification of the -aforementioned- visual narratives which rendered a modern post-Byzantine iconographic theme.
Exclusively based on Karoussos frescoes, by selecting various elements of his work, from different compositions and reconstructing them on the synthetic structure of Piero's work, the Miracle of the Flood, reveals a brand new artistic meta-narrative, which not only preserves the Byzantine heritage, but mostly, preserves its values, redefining them in current perception.
The visual meta-narrative attests the miracle by ensuring the viewer's direct relation with the event, activating their empathetic and noetic ability to acknowledge its signs.
Timeframe
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The visual metanarrative unravels through time in Media Res, a technique that was used in Classical Antiquity, as the opportune moment when something important happens. In media res, meaning into the middle of things, is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique, wherein the story begins either at a pick point, mostly at the midpoint, or at the end, rather than at the beginning. In Media res was a common narrative method of Greek tragedy, with the most exceptional examples being found in Homer’s epics (Odyssey and Iliad). In this hybrid fresco the conclusion is the pick point itself, since the miracle denotes its teleological nature. Hence, together with the notion of the Byzantine compressed time, which is apparent, the opportune moment of a miracle is the exact moment, when one can see its sign. Therefore, the hybrid fresco offers to the viewer the moment when the sign can be apparent and, thus, acknowledged. This opportune moment holds all the signs of the miracle within and legitimate the stratification of the narratives.
Synthesis
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Τhe composition of the Μiracle of the Flood occupies twice the space of the two side compositions of the north wall of miracles in the chapel of St. Spyridon. Based on the structure of Piero's work, the two scenes of this hybrid fresco, have, each one, the dimension of the side compositions, so to achieve the required symmetry.
The two scenes are: The Salvation of the Children and the Miraculous Chapel:
The Salvation of the Children
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The left side depicts the scene where two children were pulled up from the ruins of a demolished house.
The depiction of the building is based on the destroyed building, part of the artwork in the narthex of the Great Cave monastery that concerns the rescue of a worker from the ruins of a clergyman's land. In Karoussos painting, the miraculous rescue is attributed to the icon of Virgin Mary which is placed in the centre of the house. At the same place, in the Miracle of the Flood, the icon depicts St. Spyridon, the wonder worker of the flood. The icon of St. Spyridon is the one found in the chapel, and has the same painting style as the frescoes of the sanctuary. Most likely, it is the work of the same painter and, therefore, it may dates to the pre-revolutionary period.
The figures who are witnessing the miracle derive from various compo-sitions of Karoussos's frescoes, such as the Assumption of Virgin Mary, the Raising of Lazarus and others.
The house has characteristic elements of the Maniot architecture, such as the small openings in the upper part of the building and the roof with a triangular formwork. The house testifies the direct relation with the place, where the chapel is located, and, therefore, provides the credibility of the miraculous event.
The Miraculous Chapel
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The right scene depicts the chapel and the prominent figure of St. Spyridon, at the centre, in a glorious transcendental light.
To the left of the chapel, an angel is depicted, who points to the sign of the miracle, placed exactly in the middle of the two scenes. This position indicates the coherence of the metanarrative, but also supports the composition, by creating a strong vertical axis at the intersection of the two scenes.
On the left, a female figure who has just arrived at the scene, as her movement indicates, has been placed in parallel with the angel. The two figures draw an imaginary curve which circumscribes and repeat the outline of the chapel.
The chapel, based on the Sinaitic Codex 339, presents all sides of the building, as well as elements of the surroundings, in a single plane, The composition of the Restoration of the Icons, the old frescoes of the sanctuary, the motifs, the iconostasis and all other elements, build the coherence of the visual metanarrative and cherish the perpetual renewal of Byzantine art.
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Alike St. Gregory's position in Ambrosiana codex 049-50, St. Spyridon is standing up, in the centre of the chapel. Due to the lateral stratification, the distinction between the indoor and outdoor environment is blurred. This deliberate ambiguity of the space aims at highlighting the values ​​of the place in relation to the settlement and its ecosystem.
The landscape in this hybrid mural is arranged in such a way as to affect both time and space. The rural, sacred, and domestic environment forms a single landscape, which operates in a special seasonal cycle. The convergence of the exterior and the interior in an already augmented environment, provides the necessary intimacy to the viewer, as it conveys the feeling of settlement within a transcendental space.