At the beginning stages of the “School of Gramos”. The frescoes of the church of transfiguration (Shen Sotiri) in Tremisht, South Albania (1560)

Abstract

The murals of the single-aisle timber-roofed basilica of the Transfiguration (Shen Sotiri) in Tremisht (Permet, southern Albania) date from 1560. Several features, such as the Theotokos Blachernitissa, the Passion cycle, the courtiers’ hats and clothes of certain military saints, as well as the style of the frescoes, lead us to the artistic tradition of the Ohrid Archbishopric. Moreover, a few iconographic peculiarities seem to be associated with Ioannis from Gramosta (before the mid-sixteenth century). Consequently, the “Tremisht painter” might have been a member of Ioannis’ workshop, representing thus the beginning stages of the so-called “School of Gramos” of Post-Byzantine icon painting.

Keywords

• post-byzantine frescoes
• post-byzantine painting
• albania
• macedonia
• ohrid archbishopric
• “school of gramos”
• ioannis from gramosta