Serbian Fresco Painting
Orthodox Iconography consists of portable/panel icons, frescoes (wall paintings on fresh plaster) and Orthodox mosaics. Some of the greatest, priceless treasures of Byzantine Iconography are adorning the walls of Eastern Orthodox churches in the form of frescoes and mosaics. Among those, Serbian early and medieval fresco painting takes a prominent place.
Built of stone, thousand years old Serbian churches carry some of the most majestic iconographic masterpieces that have, by some art historians, surpassed later Italian Renaissance frescoes in beauty and skill with which they were executed.
Painted in 1252, this fresco has served as a prototype for numerous later depictions of St. Elijah in the Desert, as well as for the portrait icon of the Prophet
on this site. The famous original masterpiece takes up part of the wall inside Moraca Monastery, Serbia.
Famous Greek Icon Master Photios Kontoglou about Serbian frescoes"As far as technical execution is concerned, the wall paintings of Serbia disclose their creators as marvelous masters of the difficult art of wall painting, which in Italian is called fresco, because the artist paints on fresh plaster, put on at the time he is painting, when it is moist and thus retains the paint better. In such painting it is necessary that the painter have complete mastery of his work; he must be able to paint quickly, without hesitation and without making corrections, otherwise the plaster becomes dry, the wall does not absorb the paint, and it flakes off. Then it is necessary to scrape off the plaster, replaster the wall, and start painting again from the beginning. Now in this work the iconographers of Serbia were great masters, so much so that those who have some conception of the art of fresco painting are astonished. They surpassed many of the Italians who, more than others, worked at frescoes." Byzantine Sacred Art Other Serbian Frescoes on this site:
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