| In Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos are preserved five icons by the artist Euphrosynos, constituting a Great Deesis. The dedicatory inscription accompanying them gives the name of the painter, the date (1542) and the name of the dedicator; he is probably the Cretan monk Klimis Gaitanis, who bequeathed the private Cretan monastery of Kera Kavalarea to Dionysiou Monastery. Comparison of the technique and style of the five icons with other paintings shows that Euphrosynos was inspired by works of the Macedonian School, which he imbued with a more idealistic spirit, availing himself of the means of contemporary Cretan art. The painters of portable icons in Crete in the period immediately following stayed close to this artistic point of view. |