| In the environs of the village of Chromonastiri in Rethymnon is preserved the church of Aghios Eutychios, with fragments of wall paintings. The church is of a type common on the islands of the southeast Aegean, probably with Eastern influences. Its painted decoration dates to the 11th century. The subject-matter and unique style of the wall paintings also betray a link to oriental works, as regards their technical execution and use of line, the tendency to realism and, in part, the iconography. They are also, however, linked to Byzantine mosaics. The confluence of eastern and Byzantine styles in Crete produced a particular trend in monastic Byzantine painting, which is also found on the Aegean islands, the coasts of the Peloponnese and Attica, and in Southern Italy. |