Dome with Christ Pantokrator, prophets, angels and the Theotokos (01069)

Exhibition room: II.5 Attica: a Byzantine province
Date: 1233/1234
Dimensions (cm): 135 X 230
Provenance: Chapel of Saint Nicholas of Spilia Pendeli, Attica
At the apex of the dome, in a circular frame with red ground, a bust-length Christ Pantokrator is depicted. In the drum the Virgin is depicted, flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel and eight prophets (David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Jonah, Daniel and Elijah). The paint surface is abraded in parts, so that large parts of the figures of the Virgin and the Archangel Michael are missing as are the heads of the prophets Daniel and Elijah. The dome comes from the north chapel of Spilia Pendeli, Attica, which was dedicated to Saint Nicholas. It is dated by inscription to 1233/1234. The style of the wall-paintings, with its wide-eyed figures, the smooth rendering of masses and the decorative tendency in the draperies, indicates a local workshop based in the general region of Attica in the 13th century.