Follower Of Theodoros Poulakis, The Relics Of Saint Spyridon Of Trimytonte

Early 18th century, Follower of Theodoros Poulakis (Crete, 1622 – Corfu, 1692)

The relics of Saint Spyridon of Trimytonte preserved in the Kerkyra temple

Tempera on panel and gold foil, 26.5 x 19 cm

Critical profile Dr. Stefania Verità

Saint Spyridon of Trimitonte (c. 270 – 12 December 348) was bishop of Trimitonte, now Tremetousia, on the island of Cyprus. Spiridione was born into a Christian family towards the end of the 3rd century in Hesse, on the island of Cyprus. It is known that he spent his early years as a cattle herder but that following the death of his wife he devoted his life to religion. He was appointed bishop of his hometown and during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Maximian he was arrested and exiled. According to tradition, Spiridion participated in the First Council of Nicaea in 325, supporting the doctrine of Jesus' essential equality with God the Father, but his presence is not documented. He died on December 12 in 348 and was buried in the temple of the Holy Apostles in Trimitonte. His biography was handed down by the hagiographer Simeon Metaphrastes and the church historians Sozomen, Tyrannius Rufinus and Socrates Scholasticus. After the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire, his tomb was opened, and the relics taken to Constantinople. Sources claim that his body was uncorrupted and smelled of basil, and this was considered evidence of his sanctity. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the priest Geōrgios Kalochairetīs transported the relics to Corfu, which at that time belonged to the Republic of Venice, in 1456 and they were kept by the monk's family and, later, by the Bulgarians until the construction of a special church in 1589. The relic of the Saint's right hand was donated to Pope Clement VIII in 1592 and is kept in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. In this eighteenth-century icon, two angels are presented in the act of protecting and guarding the relics of the saint at the temple of Kerkyra, on the island of Cyprus, where the venerated relics were preserved before the construction of the place of worship dedicated to the saint in the second half of the sixteenth century. The peculiarity of the icons is already highlighted by the preparation of the support on which it is painted. The wooden board itself is a symbol of the cross, while the canvas is a symbol of the mandylion, or the veil of Veronica, or the Shroud; the plaster that is spread on the canvas, the levkas, is a symbol of the stone. The icons were painted on wooden boards, generally of linden, larch or fir. On the inside of the tablet, an excavation was generally carried out, called “chest” or “ark”, so as to leave a raised frame on the edges. The icon is not a personal interpretation but a ritual with precise canons to be respected; unlike paintings, whose author's name is often known, the icon must remain anonymous. Theology considered icons to be works of God himself, made through the hands of the iconographer. The work can be attributed to a follower of the Greek Theodoros Poulakis (Crete, 1622 – Corfu, 1692), a leading exponent of the last period of the Cretan School and later founder of the Ionian School. After his initial training in Candia, he moved to Venice around 1644, where he remained for about thirteen years. Here he came into contact with contemporary European painting, particularly Flemish and Venetian painting, whose influence is manifested in his icons with an evident Baroque character. Later, he settled in Corfu where he lived most of his life, also traveling to Kefalonia. His works, more than 130 of which have survived, represent a bridge between the tradition of the Cretan School and new Western trends.