Identification of wall-paintings by the workshop of the Theban painters Georgios and Frangos Kontaris, in the area of their birthplace

Abstract

In Thebes, the hometown of the 16^th-century renown painters Frangos Katelanos and the Kontaris brothers quite recently some more painted decorations have been noted which can be attributed to the workshop of the latter. These have been either unearthed in fragments from excavations in Thebes or are still surviving in churches of nearby villages, as in Saint George at Akraiphnio, in two cases in the village of Kokkino, in Saint Nicholas and Saint Athanasius, in Saint Marina at Platanaki, and in Saint Sozon at Orchomenos. The above bear evidence both iconographic and stylistic that relate them to work of the Kontaris brothers. Furthermore, the historical documentation for Thebes in the 16^th century suggests, along with the archaeological corroboration, that the city was indeed a prosperous economic and artistic centre in the region.