Stylistic observations on the painted decoration in St Nicholas at Achragias in Laconia

Abstract

The church of St Nicholas at Achragias, near the village of Theologos in Lakonia, initially the katholikon of a monastery is of the cross-in-square two-column type with a dome. Founded in the last quarter of the fourteenth century, it was decorated with wall-paintings which reflect contemporary artistic trends in Constantinople, as these were transmitted to and cultivated in Mystras, revealing the founder’s ambitions and close connections with the milieu of the capital of the Despotate of the Morea. The frescoes are the work of two painters. The first follows an ‘expressionistic’ trend that began at Mystras in the early decades of the fourteenth century and spread later in the same century in the territory of the Despotate. The second painter appears to follow the models used in the Peribleptos at Mystras.