On the Development of the image of the Dormition of the Virgin and its decoration program in the Byzantine Periphery

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12245
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 01060:History of arts-related
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba (2020-2022); Waseda University (2018-2019)
• Principal Investigator: Takeda Kazufumi 筑波大学, 芸術系, 助教 (90801796)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: ビザンティン美術 / 聖母の眠り図像 / 聖堂装飾プログラム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I reexamined the meaning of the image of "Dormition of the Virgin", one of the main subjects of Byzantine art, as a church decoration. Based on the presumption that it is particularly distinctive in the periphery regions of the empire, fieldwork was conducted to collect photographic materials and investigate the conditions inside churches. Based on the results, I presented my research and wrote papers on iconography in Georgia, Russia, and Cappadocia. We found that the iconographic character of the images in churches differed from those in the center of the empire, and I speculated that this resulted from the isolation of information in the periphery regions of the empire.

Free Research Field

中世キリスト教美術

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

中世キリスト教美術、その中でもビザンティン美術の壁画装飾は、未だ出版も多くなく、図像そのものへのアクセスが容易でない。そのため、現地のフィールドワークを基にした地域横断的な装飾研究は海外の研究者に対してもインパクトのあるものである。また、本邦において認知度が高いと言えない正教とその基盤たる東欧諸国の文化について、ビジュアル・イメージを基に理解を促進する役割も果たすと期待される。