St. George church in Mlado Nagoričino: The artistic context of the frescoes

Abstract

The frescoes of the St. George Church in Mlado Nagoričino (North Macedonia) have repeatedly attracted the scholars’ attention, but so far the circle of monuments close to these paintings has not been accurately identified. The article deals with attribution a number of preserved images to certain workshops whose works are known from other ensembles. There are three different styles in the painting, which can be attributed to three different painters (or a group of painters). Apparently, the same artists who painted the church of the Slimnitsa monastery worked in the naos. This conclusion is consistent with the observation of Macedonian researchers. The other two styles apparently belong to Greek painters who can be associated with the artist Michael of Linotopi. He worked in the first third of the 17th century and painted many churches in the Balkans. One of the closest analogs of the St. George Church painting in Mlado Nagoričino are the frescoes of the Dormition Church in Zervat (Albania) and the katholikon of the Makryaleksi monastery (Greece), where Michael worked. Both the similarity of the handwriting of the inscriptions and the proximity of the physiognomic features of the some saints’ faces pointed that way. However, the style of these frescoes does not exactly match the painting of St. George’s Church. Since the analogs given in the article are rather approximate, the frescoes of the St. George church in Mlado Nagoričino cannot be attributed to the activities of the Michael’s workshop with certainty. However, it can be argued that the painting in Mlado Nagoričino was done by painters who were part of the entourage of this artist.