Michael Damaskinos

File:The Crucifixion of St Andrew by Michael Damaskenos (Byzantine museum).jpg late 1500s]]

Damaskinos was born in Candia (Herakleion), his father was George Damaskinos. According to legend, Damaskinos spent some time living and working in Vrontisi Monastery, where six of his icons were kept until 1800. Damaskinos moved to Venice in the 1560s, while he was there he learned miniature painting.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444

He traveled extensively throughout Italy.Greek Icon Painting (1927) J. Stuart Hay, Leonard Bower The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 51,(292);pp: 8-9 and 12-14 From contracts we know he briefly stayed in Sicily from 1569 to 1571. Afterward, he traveled back to Venice. He was a member of the Greek Brotherhood of Venice from 1577 to 1582. He painted icons for the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of San Giorgio dei Greci in Venice. He tried to become a member of the council of the confraternity. He was unsuccessful. During the same period, he worked for both Catholic institutions and executed private commissions.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444

He became friends with sculptor Alessandro Vittoria. He sold a collection of drawings to him which he amassed from other Italian artists. Namely the Mannerist Parmigianino. He was also familiar with Palma Giovane and may have had some contact with the workshop of Tintoretto. Some of his works are clearly influenced by Paolo Veronese,

Tintoretto and Titian. Many of the Greek painters were influenced by the Venetian school. He returned to Candia around 1583.Speake, 2021, p. 443

His only daughter Antonia married painter Ioannis Mavrikas-Mandouphos or Yannas Mantoufos. Damaskinos stayed in Greece and worked mainly in Crete and the Ionian Islands. He was invited to return to Venice by the Greek Orthodox Confraternity. They wanted to commission him to paint the dome of San Giorgio dei Greci. He declined the invitations for personal reasons.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444 Extensive work was later completed at the church San Giorgio dei Greci by famous painter Emmanuel Tzane-Bounialis. He was influenced by Damaskinos.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444

Damaskinos works were characteristic of the traditional Byzantine style. He used a particular rose color that characterized his paintings, his figure dimensions were defined by only a few brush strokes.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444 He drew on wood but never marble thrones which was typical in the Cretan School.[http://parembasis.gr/2000/00_08_23.htm 2000_ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΟΣ-ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΣ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002132/http://parembasis.gr/2000/00_08_23.htm |date=2007-09-28 }} Damaskinos was also the first artist to introduce paler flesh tones to post-Byzantine painting and it was one of the stylistic features of his work which proved highly influential from the second half of the sixteenth century and onwards.A winged St John the Baptist icon in the British Museum (2003) Angeliki Lymberopoulou Apollo

Damaskinos signed his works: ΧΕΙΡ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ or ΧΕΙΡ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ, ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΧΕΙΡ or even ΠΟΙΗΜΑ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ (creation of Michael Damaskinos).{{Cite web |url=http://home.yebo.co.za/~xenitis/Cretan3.htm |title=Cretan portable icons |access-date=2007-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928124811/http://home.yebo.co.za/~xenitis/Cretan3.htm |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }} Damaskinos worked extensively on the Ionian Islands. He contributed to the fusion of the Cretan and the Heptanese School of painting. He influenced the works of Theodore Poulakis. Famous Greek Painter and theorist Panagiotis Doxaras in his book The Art of Painting published in 1720 considered Damaskinos to be one of the most important painters.Speake, 2021, p. 443-444

File:Chiesa di San Giorgio dei Greci, Venice (31253923676).jpg

Twenty-five of his major paintings are located in Venice. Damaskinos completed works for the church San Giorgio dei Greci between 1560 and 1583. Twenty of his works are part of the church San Giorgio dei Greci. Eighteen of his paintings are part of the iconostasis. The Archangel Michael is portrayed in one of the icons. The dodekaorto also known as the Great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church is featured in nine of the paintings. Two of his paintings are behind the iconostasis within the holy sanctuary. The Hellenic Institute of Venice has four of his paintings. The research facility and museum are associated with San Giorgio dei Greci. One of his paintings Wedding at Cana is part of the collection at the Museo Correr in Venice.{{sfn|Drakopoulou|2010|p=238}}

File:Damaskenos Michael - Four military saints - Google Art Project.jpg|Four military saints

File:John the Angel of Desert, circle of Michael Damaskenos (16th c., Pushkin museum).jpg|John the Angel of Desert

File:Damaskenos Saint-George-and-Saint-Demetrius.jpg|Saint George and Saint Demetrius

File:S.Athanasius by M.Damaskenos (late 16th c.).jpg|Saint Athanasius

File:Saint-Luke-Painting-the-Blessed-Virgin.jpg|Saint Luke and the Virgin Mary

File:TheiaLeitourgia MihDamaskinos MouseioArhiepiskKritis.jpg|Divine Liturgy

File:Μιχαήλ Δαμασκηνός - Α΄ Οικουμενική Σύνοδος 7741.jpg|The First Council of Nicea

File:Ariusz.JPG|Arius - detail of Byzantine icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea

File:Le_nozze_di_Cana_-_Michele_Damaskinos_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg|The Wedding at Cana

File:Michael Damaskinos The Beheading of St John the Baptist.png|The Beheading of St John the Baptist

File:Μιχαήλ Δαμασκηνός - Μυστικός Δείπνος 0631.jpg|The Last Supper

File:Micheal Damaskinos Saints Sergius, Bacchus and Justina of Padua.png|Saints Sergius, Bacchus and Justina

• The Last Supper (Damaskinos)
• Wedding at Cana (Damaskinos)
• Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (Damaskinos)
• Adoration of the Kings (Damaskinos)
• Stoning of Stephen (Damaskinos)
• Virgin of the Burning Bush (Damaskinos)
• Tribute to the Eucharist (Damaskinos)
• Madonna del Rosario (Damaskinos)

• Cretan School
• Heptanese School
• Byzantine art
• Maniera greca

• [http://iakm.gr/agia/Page?lang=en Museum of St. Catherine/Museum of Christian Art in Heraklion]
• [http://iakm.gr/agia/Page?lang=en&name=infotext&id=504&sub=671&sub2=670 The painter Michael Damaskenos]
• [http://iakm.gr/agia/Page?lang=en&name=enotita&id=504&sub=670 Cretan Icon Painting up to the Fall of Candia]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002132/http://parembasis.gr/2000/00_08_23.htm The work of Michael Damaskinos by S. Peponakis-in Greek]
• [http://www.istitutoellenico.org/ Istituto Ellenico di Studi Byzantini and Postbyzantini di Venezia]
• [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3476 Collection of Agia Aikaterini of Sinai]
• [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/58371/rec/3 Byzantium: faith and power (1261-1557)], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Damaskinos (see index)

{{commons}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1= Drakopoulou |first1= Evgenia |title=Έλληνες Ζωγράφοι μετά την Άλωση (1450–1830). Τόμος 3: Αβέρκιος - Ιωσήφ |trans-title= Greek Painters after the Fall of Constantinople (1450–1830). Volume 3: Averkios - Joseph | location= Athens, Greece |publisher=Center for Modern Greek Studies, National Research Foundation |year=2010 |url=https://helios-eie.ekt.gr/EIE/handle/10442/14845 |isbn=978-960-7916-94-5|page=}}

• {{cite book |last1=Tselenti-Papadopoulou |first1= Niki G. |title=Οι Εικονες της Ελληνικης Αδελφοτητας της Βενετιας απο το 16ο εως το Πρωτο Μισο του 20ου Αιωνα: Αρχειακη Τεκμηριωση |trans-title= The Icons of the Greek Brotherhood of Venice from 1600 to First Half of the 20th Century |location= Athens |publisher=Ministry of Culture Publication of the Archaeological Bulletin No. 81 |year=2002 |url=|pages=|isbn=960-214-221-9 }}

{{Cretan Renaissance}}

{{Michael Damaskinos}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damaskinos, Michael}}

Category:1530s births

Category:1590s deaths

Category:Artists from Heraklion

Category:Cretan Renaissance painters

Category:Place of death unknown

Category:16th-century Greek painters