Ἡ ὑπογραφή τοῦ Θεοφάνους τοῦ Κρητὸς στὴν Ἱ_Μ_Σταυρονικήτα

Abstract

This article presents the discovery of Theophanes the Cretan’s signature in the katholikon of the Monastery of Stavronikita on Mount Athos, resolving a long-standing scholarly question. While the attribution of the church’s wall paintings to Theophanes had been firmly established through stylistic analysis and corroborated by a manuscript notation mentioning that he and his son Symeon completed the frescoes in January 1546, physical evidence of his signature had remained elusive despite reports from 19th-century travelers  Porphyriy Uspenskiy (1846) and Antonin Kapustin (1859) of an inscription above the right choir window. During recent restoration work replacing deteriorated window frames of the katholikon, two rectangular windows were discovered to have originally been bilobed  Byzantine-style windows. Consequently, a marble column capital was found reused as a lintel that preserved part of a painted soffit bearing Theophanes’ signature. This discovery confirms that the window modifications occurred most likely between 1859 and 1968 and provides tangible evidence of the collaboration between Theophanes and his son Symeon.