ELKA BAKALOVA

The Wheel of Life in 17th Century Painting Iconographic Sources

century is a century of intensive spiritual change of a great significance for the cultural evolution of the Bulgarian nation and the other nations on the Balkans. Monuments of church murals from this period the most representative of the arts in the Orthodox world bear witness of numerous proof an undeniable revival in the arts. Inertia in the continuation of Byzantine traditions after the fall of Byzantium was no longer the only factor in the creation of mural paintings and icons. Encyclopedic theological thought, which inspired the elite art throughout 17th century, i.e. art in the major monasteries and works commissioned by wealthy merchants, artisans, donors to the monasteries, stimulated the emergence of complex iconographical programs upon the church walls, as well as considerable innovations in the iconographic repertoire. The most churches in Arbanassi an wealthy and privileged town, which maintained an active contact with the other parts of the Balkans are among them. Intensive trade with Dubrovnik ensured an invaluable outlet the window to Europe" which opened the way for possible western influences. I will dwell on one scene The Wheel of Life drawn in the gallery of the church of the Nativity in Arbanassi, a case of such an innovation in art during the 17th century. This scene is been frequently mentioned and given in illustrations, however it has never been subject of any special studies and interpretations in Bulgaria.1 Nevertheless, as the image of the Wheel of Life" became a specific feature of the national Revival's wall paintings from the 19th century, some authors consider it as one of the new themes in the Revival Period art."2 The Wheel of Life" is depicted in the eastern part of the gallery of the church of the Nativity, upon the partition separating the gallery from the southeath 1 At. Bokov, Za nkoi redki ili nerazeteni obrazi i kompozicii v staroto blgarsko izkustvo. Izkustvo, 3, 1984, 4042. 2 As. Vasiliev, Socialni i patriotini temi v staroto blgarsko izkustvo. Sofi 1973, 8485; See also: M. ekova, Koleloto na ivota" ot crkvata oan Predtea", Blagoevgradska Bistrica. In: Obzorna informaci na Nacionalni institut za pametnicite na kulturata, Sofi, 1989, 12.

The 17

ELKA BAKALOVA

stern chapel of St. John the Forerunner, northward to the entrance of the chapel. The Wheel of Life" is a complex composition, consisting of a great number of personages, personifications and symbols. The center is made up of four concentric circles: a solar disc, with a human face in the center, surrounded by four naked small figures personifications of the seasons; twelve rays cut the two external circles: the lighter one with the signs of the Zodiac, the darker one, outside, with personifications of the 12 months once again. A figure on the ground, clothed, appears at the external side of this last circle which raises upwards next to an enthroned figure with a crown, and to the right, in line with the rotation of the wheel, in a clockwise direction, is gradually going down, only to crash, head down with an open mouth, into the gaping mouth of the Hell. In the upper and lower parts of the composition however, already out of the rotating circle, another four figures appear adding the message of the scene. (See bellow.) Inscriptions:
I. Above the circle: O PLOYTOS THS DOQOIS ( plotoj tj dqoij [dqhj?]) External circle: Downwards from the top OIMIEXASA AYTO IDOYEPIRAMETOKATHCORO YPAGEKALEKOSME (oimoi[?] xasa yt do prame t kat0coro pge kle ksme) Upwards from the bottom NSEENOME EOSPOTENASWSOME KRATAYTO (nohnome oj pot n2 s3sw m kr2tw yto) III. Internal circle the months: From the top clockwise MARTIOS APRILHS MAHOS IOYNIOS AYGOYSTOS SEPTEBRIOS OKTOBRIO NOEMBRIO DEKEMBRIO HANOARIO CEBROYARIOS (mrtioj prilj ma0oj onioj olioj agostoj septbrioj oktbrio[j] nombrio[j] dekmbrio[j] anario[j] cebroyrioj) IV. Internal circle the signs of the Zodiac: Downwards from the top TABROS DIDYMOS KARKINOS LEWN ZYGOS SKORPION TOQOTIS EGOKEROS EIDORXOOS HQTIS (tabrj ddymoj karknoj lwn [parvnoj] zygj skorpon tqotij egkeroj edorxoj xtj) V. Internal circle the seasons: Downwards from the top

II.

10

THE WHEEL OF LIFE IN 17th CENTURY PAINTING ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES

CUINOPORO XIMONAS ANIQH UEROS (cvinopro ximnaj nqh vroj) VI. Under the circle: OYTEHMOYNOYTEECANHKA (ote mon ote cnika) O AKORESTOS ADHS ( krestoj 'Aidhj)

Here we find a clear visualization of the idea of transience traditionally known as the Wheel of Life", without posing the question on the origins of its iconographic formula, its literary parallels, sources and the semantics its separate components. At the eastern wall, to the left of the door, the edifying scene The Vain Life and the Lying World", or The Wheel of Life", combined with a Zodiac, is situated." wrote L. Prashkov. They contain many folk elements, both in terms of content and subject matter, a phenomenon typical for the 17th century art in Bulgaria."3 But in fact the analysis of the iconographical sources of this interesting composition leads us to ancient times and to the Early-Christian epoch. The solar disc, personifications of the months and the zodiacal signs along the concentric circles around it are no doubt related to astronomical images, which could be called cosmogrammes" coming down from the Middle Ages and going back as far as antiquity. A similar model, among the great number we could quote, is the famous Ptolomeus manuscript in the Vatican Apostolic Library, Vat. gr. 1291, which is a copy of a late-antique original made in 813 820.4 In one of the most famous miniatures it contains, fol. 3v4r, the vault of heaven is depicted, separated into concentric circles and 12 radii. The Sun = Helios in his quadriga is in the center and the personifications of the months and the signs of the Zodiac are situated around it.5 This iconographical scheme has been adopted and modified in West-European Christian art in conformity with the characteristics of the texts by it illustrated. Thus, for instance, we can find similar modifications even in the early illustrations of the Apocalypse containing Beatus Liebana's comments. In the manuscript of the Treasure-trove of the Cathedral in Herona, created in 975, the depiction of the sky consists six concentric circles, in the center of which there is not Helios but rather Christ Cosmocrator who is sitting on a throne with the sun and the moon in both its sides.6 In the first circle, closest to him, the stars are depicL. Prakov, Crkvata Rodestvo Hristovo" v Arbanasi. Sofi 1979, 139. K. Weitzmann, Die Byzantinische Buchmalerei des IX. und X. Jahrhunderts. Berlin 1935, Taf. I, 15. 5 About the other manuscripts with representations of the signs of the Zodiac see: Zodiakus. In: Lexikon der Christlishen Iconographie. Rom Freiburg Basel Wien, Bd. IV. See also: E. Musakova, Redt na zodiakalnite znaci v Simeonovi sbornik (Svetoslavov prepis ot 1073 g.) opit za rekonstrukci. Paleobulgarica, H (1992), 2, 123132. 6 I. Christ, Traditions litteraires et iconographiques dans l'interpretation des images apocalyptiques, Genve, 1969.
3 4

11

ELKA BAKALOVA

ted; then, according to the text legiones angelorum. In fact, flying lions with books are presented first (the reason being, according to V. Nois,7 the similarity of the pronunciations of legiones and leones) and then, flying angels carrying books and censers, volumina portantes et aromata odorantes. After that come the personifications of the virtues or the gifts of the Holy Ghost, extolling the Almighty, are presented.8 Similar picture of the heavens" is also to be found in the illustrations of others, late hand-written copies of the Apocalypse containing Beatus of Liebana's comments, e.g. in Turin, Bibl. Naz. Lat. 93, ca 1100, fol. 2v3r.9 This iconographical scheme of presentation of the sky and of the heavenly forces is also used in Byzantine art. This is done all in illustrating the last psalms of praise, Nos. 148150, in the illuminated manuscript Psalters. I shall only note the respective illustration from the Serb Munich Psalter, fol. 181r, depicting Christ in a mandorla sitting in the center of the heavenly arc, surrounded by angels. They are included in another yet, concentric mandorla, separated into seven belts, in which the stars, the sun, the moon etc. are situated.10 Yet closer to the schemes considered so far is the illustration to Psalm 148 in the wall paintings in the nartex of the main church in Lesnovo Monastery.11 Here Christ Cosmocrator appears within a round radiant circle with the angels around him in a larger concentric circle, with the signs of the Zodiac situated beyond it, together with the personifications of the sun and the moon, the earth and the water.12 Actually we find such a solution in the murals of the gallery of the church of the Nativity in Arbanassi. Exactly at the arch, above the Wheel of Life" which we examined, we find Christ Cosmocrator.13 He is in the center, sitting on the heavenly arc in two square numbuses placed in a circle and filled by angel's heads. The other concentric circle is divided into nine segments in which the heavenly forces arranged in hierarchical order according to Dionisus Areopagites are presented. I would like to recall here another interesting example of the use of the iconographic scheme with a different content in a monument from Bulgaria. The image I have in mind is that of Christ as a personification of the Wisdom of the Lord, in the murals of the naos of the chapel of Hrelju's Tower. Here, in one of
7 W. Neuss, Apocalypse. In: Reallexikon zur deutshen Kunstgeschichte, T. A', Stuttgart 1937, 751781. 8 I. Christ, Trois images carollingiennes en forme de commentaires sur l' Apocalypse. Cahiers archologiques, XXV, Paris, 1976, 7792. 9 Ibidem. 10 J. Strzygowski, Die Miniaturen des serbischen Psalters. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Bd. LII, Wien 1906, Taf. XLI, 9596; Taf. XLII, 9798. 11 S. uri, Hrist Kosmokrator u Lesnovu. Zograf, 13, 1982, 6571. 12 Ibidem, sl. 1. 13 G. Gerov, Vreme" i istori" v stenopisite na galerita na crkvata Rodestvo Hristovo" v Arbanasi. Problemi na izkustvoto, 4, 1996, 113; N. Klimukova, Ilystraciite na 148150 psalmi v konteksta na starozavetnata tematika v galerita na crkvata Rodestvo Hristovo". Problemi na izkustvoto, 1, 1999, 1929.

12

THE WHEEL OF LIFE IN 17th CENTURY PAINTING ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES

the concentric circles around Christ, naked figures are depicted personifications of the gifts of the Holy Ghost or Christian virtues.14 So far we considered some images of the Heavens within Medieval Christian art, stemming from the cosmogrammes of the Late Antiquity. It should be noted however that such a compositional solution can also be found in the presentation of the earth in maps from the Late Antiquity and Early Christian times mappa mundi. This is the place to recall the Byzantine concept of the world which was geocentric rather than heliocentric. Of course, I mean the visible part of the world, not the heavens which is inhabited by higher powers. And it is exactly this part that has been reflected, for example, in the illustrated manuscripts of the Christian Topography written by Cosmas Indikoplevstos between 547 and 549. In one of the manuscripts dating from the 11th c. kept in the St. Catherine" Mount Sinai Monastery (codex 1186) we find several versions of such map of the world": on fol. 66 the earth is presented like a quadrangle, surrounded by the waters of the world ocean, amidst which personifications of the wind are depicted in medallions; on fol. 181 the earth is presented as if seen in a profile" with the planets around it and the external concentric circle is divided into twelve segments in which there are angels, exactly the way they are the signs of the Zodiac elsewhere. Another element of interest to us in this miniature are the human figures, ascending (to the left) and descending (to the right) as the wheel is turning, and they are personifications of the sun and the moon in this case.15 It is in a similar manner, i.e. as mappa mundi, that E. Kitzinger interprets a floor mosaic from 12th c. found during the excavations of an Early-Christian basilica in Turin (in the Civico Museum today). The earth here is in the form of a circle, outlined with the wavy lines of the water (the ocean) broken at places by depictions of islands marked with big signs. One of them reads: BRITANIA INSULA INTER FUSA MARI ORCADES INSULE TILE ULTIMA INSULA, the other: SCOTIA INSULA PROXIMA BRITANIAE It is interesting, as Kitzinger notes, that the signs seem to have been borrowed directly from Isidor of Sevilla's Etymologies".16 Outside of the circle, yet again in round medallions, the personifications of the winds are portrayed; their names are also been borrowed from Isidor, both from his Etymologies" and from his other work, De natura rerum", in which twelve winds are enumerated.17 In the terms of the Medieval
14 L. Prakov, Hrelovata kula. Sofi, 1973; cf. J. Meyendorff, L'iconographie de la Sagesse Divine dans la tradition byzantine. Cahiers archologiques, X, Paris 1959, 259277. Cf. E. Bakalova, Society and Art in the 14th Century in Bulgaria. Byzantinobulgarica, VIII, 1986, 5962. 15 Sinai. Treasures of the Monastery of St. Catherine, ed. K. A. Manafis, Athens 1990, 342, ill. 28. 16 E. Kitzinger, World Map and Fortune's Wheel: A Medieval Mosaic Floor in Turin. In: E. Kitzinger, The Art of Byzantium and Medieval West. Selected Studies. Indiana University Press. BloomingtonLondon 1976, 327356. 17 Ibidem.

13

ELKA BAKALOVA

geographical concepts, the water with the islands represents the world ocean, encompassing the earth, and the whole image represents orbis terrarum. * * *

There is however another iconographical source on the examined composition, common for Western Europe namely throughout the 11th12th centuries: Fortune's Wheel. I would remind that the Roman goddess Fortune who, unlike the Greek Tyche was originally the goddess of fertility and later, under the influence of the presentation cult of Fortuna Primigenia, becomes the goddess of fate, of the happy chance and the luck. That is why she is sometimes depicted with the horn of plenty (cornucopia) and sometimes, as stepping on a wheel which is a symbol of changeability (mainly of the fleeting nature of happiness) and quote often with bound eyes. But this is how it was in antiquity. In the middle ages there appears the representation of a wheel, turned by Fortune (usually a female figure behind the wheel, besides or inside it) with ascending and descending human beings. As we already noted, this portrayal, highly popular in the West-European Middle Ages, is based on The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius, a 6th-century scholar and statesman. It is in this work that the Roman goddess has been granted a new life and a new function that of a performer of God's providence.18 The complete work, and Book two in particular, abounds in brilliant and many-sided characteristics of the inconstant Fortune. Here are some examples: Wherefore, O man, what is that hath cast thee into sorrow and grief? Thou hast, methinks, seen something new and unwonted. If thou thinkest that fortune hath altered her manner of proceeding toward thee, thou art in an error. This was alway her fascion; this is her nature. She hath kept that constancy in thy affairs which is proper to her, in being mutable; such was her condition when she fawned upon thee and allured thee with enticements of feigned happiness. Thou hast discovered the doubtful looks of this blind goddess. She, which concealeth herself from others, is wholly known to thee. If thou likest her, frame thyself to her conditions, and make no complaint. If thou detestest her treachery, despise and cast her off, with her pernicious flattery. For that which hath caused thee so much sorrow should have brought thee to great tranquillity. For she hath forsaken thee, of whom no man can be secure. Dost thou esteem that happiness precious which thou art to lose? And is the present fortune dear unto thee, of whose stay thou art not sure, and whose departure will breed thy grief? And if she can neither be kept at our will, and maketh them miserable whom she at last leaveth, what else is fickle fortune but a token of future calamity? For it is not sufficient to behold that which we have before our eyes; wisdom pondereth the event of
18 M. Meslin. L'homme romain. Des origines au Ier sicle de notre re. Paris 1985, 7579. The most important study on the medieval iconography of Fortune is still: A. Doren, Fortuna im Mittelalter und im der Renaissance. Vortrge der Bibliothek Warburg, vol.2, Teil I, 1922/23, 71143.

14

THE WHEEL OF LIFE IN 17th CENTURY PAINTING ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES

things, and this mutability on both sides maketh the threats of fortune not to be feared, nor her flatterings to be desired. Finally, thou must take in good part whatsoever happeneth unto thee within the reach of fortune, when once thou hast submitted thy neck to her yoke. And if to her whom, of thine own accord, thou wouldest prescribe a law how long she were to stay, and when to depart, shouldst thou not do her mighty wrong, and with thy impatience make thy estate more intolerable, which thou canst not better? If thou settest up thy sails to the wind, thou shalt be carried not whither thy will desirest, but whither the gale driveth. If thou sowest thy seed, thou considerest that there are as well barren as fertile years. Thou hast yielded thyself to fortune's sway; thou must be content with the conditions of thy mistress. Endeavourest thou to stay the force of the turning wheel? (underlined by me E. B.) But thou foolishest man that ever was, if it beginneth to stay, it ceaseth to be fortune."19 And more:
The pride of fickle fortune spareth none, And, like the floods of swift Euripus born, Oft casteth mighty princes from their throne, And oft the abject captive doth adorn. She cares not for the wretch's tears and moan, And the sad groans, which she hath caused, doth scorn. Thus doth she play, to make her power more known, Showing her slaves a marvel, when man's state Is in one hour both downcast and fortunate.20

I stopped more extensively on these texts as I am convinced that they contain the basic meaning of the considered composition in Arbanassi. As far as its visualization is concerned, it is known in several related variants in West-European medieval art. The earliest known example of a presentation of Fortune's Wheel comes from a miniature from the 11th century preserved in a MS from Monte Casino (MS 189, folio 146). This miscellany, besides De arithmetica" by Boethius includes exerpts of the Etymologies by Isidorus of Seville, as well as a poetic text of 16 lines, on the vicissitudes of fate. Maybe namely this text was illustrated by the illumination I mentioned, moreover the drawing is quite primitive and does not create the impression of belonging to any established iconographic formula.21 This drawing, done in ink, consists of a circle with four human figures: the one at the left is getting on the wheel, the one on the top is represented crowned, with a sceptre, triumphant, standing, the one on the right going down, with the head down, and the figure at the bottom falling from the wheel. The inscripti19 Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae. In: Boethius. Tractates, The Consolation of Philosophy in the English translation of I. T." (1609). LondonCambridge, Mass. MCMLXVIII, 174 175. 20 Ibidem, 175177. 21 E. Kitzinger, op. cit.

15

ELKA BAKALOVA

ons on each of the respective figure are as follows: Regnabo / Regno / Regnavi / Sum sine Regno. They emphasize the significance of the wheel as a symbol of the fickleness of Fortune (in spite of the fact that Fortune herself is not shown), the rise and the fall of man in the sense that was pointed out in Boethius's work. This is the place to note that the outermost circle in the Arbanassi mural is exactly this circle. It even has handles for rotation, like a giant steering wheel and the ascending and descending figures (they are ten here) are attached to them, with some of them being accompanied by similar signs in Greek. In the topmost end there is a figure sitting on the throne and reigning and at the bottom a falling figure is depicted. During the 12th and 13th centuries two versions of this composition with the portrayal of Fortune herself were established in Western medieval art. One of them can be seen on the miniature from a manuscript of Carmina Burana" from the Bavarian State Library in Munich (MS lat. 4660, fol. 1).22 Fortune's personification is depicted in the center of the composition, inside the wheel, turning together with it. In other cases, as it is, for example, in the murals in the St. Kyriak Church in Berghausen (ca 1220) Fortune is behind the wheel and turns it like a steering wheel.23 And there is yet another case, like in the respective miniature to Hortus Delicarum" (the Garden of Delights) by Herada of Landsberg from the 12th century, where Fortune is depicted seated on a throne by the wheel and turning it by means of something like a crank.24 Here is the place to note that similar depiction of the Wheel of Fortune is found in a Byzantine manuscript from the Paris National Library (Paris. Gr. 36, fol. 163). This is a miscellany, written in different handwrittings, which dates from the end of the 14th and the beginning of 15th century. It is considered by some scholars to be created under Western influence, and yet by others, in a South-Italian scriptorum.25 In fact it marks the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The researchers of the theme The Wheel of Fortune" bring to witness a number of relevant texts by medieval philosophers, which in real fact have encouraged the illustrations to that theme. Thus for instance, in his oration enumerating various images and narrations from the antique mythology which can be
22 G. Steer, Das Fortuna-Bild der Carmina Burana" Handschrift Clm 4660. Eine Darstellung der Fortuna Caesarea Kaiser Friedrichs II? In: Literatur und bildende Kunst im Tiroler Mittelalter. Insbruck, 1982, 183207. Cf. D. und P. Diemer, Qui pingit florem non pingit odorem". Die illustrationen der Carmina Burana (Clm 4660). In: Jahrbuch der Zentralinstituts fr Kunstgeschichte 3, 1987, 4375. 23 Fortuna; Rad. In: Lexikon der Christlichen Iconographie, Bd. III, 491494, fig. I. 24 G. Games, Allegories et Symboles dans l'Hortus deliciarum. Leiden, 1971, Pl. XLVI, fig. 79. Cf. A. Katzenellenbogen, Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art. London 1939. 25 J. Spatharakis. The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts. Leiden, 1976, p. 77, fig. 44. About the byzantine and postbyzantine representations of the idea of transience and the personifications of the Life (Kairos) see: H. Mporaj, 'Allhgorik parastsh to Boy Kairo se mia metabyzantnh toixograca st Hio. Sto: 'Arxaiologikn Dltion, t. 21, 1966, 'Av0na 1967, s. 2634.

16

THE WHEEL OF LIFE IN 17th CENTURY PAINTING ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES

used in Christian sermons, Honorius of Augustodonum cites the omage of Fortune in the first place: The turning wheel is the glory of the world which turns with it. The woman by the wheel is Fortune, entwined in the glory. Her head points now upwards, now downwards, as most people frequently rise to power and wealth yet often fall in poverty and misery again."26 And here is a similar text by Walafried Strabo (11th c.): woe is the possession of the world. What do you think as clear, often sinks in dark clouds and darkness; he, who has been suspended (hanging) on the quick wheel, now rises, now falls down: this is how the wheel draws one."27 The last words of this quotation lead us to the fact that the connection between the two themes the cosmological map of the world and the Wheel of Fortune has been established yet in medieval literature. E. Kitzinger quotes a text by Isidor of Sevilla from his Etymologies" which states that terra is a synonym of orbis, and later is associated with a turning wheel (Orbis sicut rota est). As we already pointed out, in Walafried Strabo the allegory of going up and down is added, together with the rotation of the wheel (without, naturally, having in mind whatever relation to Copernicus's theory of the rotation of the earth). Rota Fortunae is transferred to Orbis terrae. Among the text which enchant the correlation between the earth circle and the turning Wheel of Fortune in Boethius, is the text of Psalm 76 (77), line 19, which reads: The voice of Your thunder was heard in the heavenly circle" It is interesting to note the lack of correspondence between the last words in the Bulgarian and the Latin text of the Psalm:
Vox tonitroi tui in rota. Illuxerant coriscationes tuae orbi terrae: Commota est et contremuit terra.

One should also bear in mind the semantic closeness between mundus, as universe, and orbis terrae, which is stressed upon in the comment by Honorius of Augustodonum to this Psalm:
Per rotam hic mundae fifuratur qui celeri circulutione ut rota jugiter voluatur.28

In fact it is exactly this relation that serves as the basis for the fusion of the two considered themes in the composition in the Church of Christ's Nativity in Arbanassi. The scene from Arbanassi contains several other accompanying elements which we shall not discover in the mentioned iconographical sources. These are mainly the figures depicted under the wheel. Right under it is the open mouth of
26 27 28

I express my gratitude to Prof. Anna Nikolova, who had translated the latin texts for me. E. Kitzinger, op. cit. Ibidem.

17

ELKA BAKALOVA

Hell in which the figures fall, familiar from the scenes of the Last Judgment. On both sides are the personifications of day and night, pulling long ropes and keeping the wheel going round. They add to the concept of transience, which is the main theme of our image. In the late-medieval art of the Orthodox peoples there are other, though infrequent, depictions associated with the idea of transience in which a significant place is held by the personifications of the day and the night. Here I would like to specifically remind an icon (probably Russian) from the Museum in Recklinghausen dating from the same 17th c. The central place in it is occupied by an open grave and the figures contemplating it. Two figures on wheels are depicted at the two sides of the grave to the left, a dressed youth with the solar disc in hands (personification of the day) and to the right, a half-naked female figure holding the moon in her hand (personification of the night.)29 If the personifications of the day and the night in the Arbanassi composition lay stress on the eschatological aspects in the semantics of the image, then the two figures in the upper part of a youth (left) and of an elderly man (right) take the moralistic bias to another direction. They represent, in real fact, an illustration to the parabola of the pillar" in one's own eye and the piece of wood" in someone else's (Math. 7:3; L. 6:42), thus prompting some important imperatives of Christian ideology. It is this addition" to the iconographic scheme of The Wheel of Life" in Arbanassi that is unique and as far as we know it is not observed in other similar depictions of later times.30 Otherwise, the very theme and the basic iconographic formula become particularly important during the 18th century and mostly during the 19th century in monumental painting on Bulgarian lands, and in the Balkans in general. But with a number of features these scenes differ lagerly from the Arbanassi composition. First and before all this is what is depicted in the center. The cosmic diagrams of the late antiquity or the middle-Byzantine period disappear or only part of them remains; it is the iconography of the Wheel of Fortune with the figure on the center that dominates. Usually the four seasons are represented around it but unlike the Arbanassi mural where they are personifications (four small naked figures), they are present as landscapes, according to the state of the nature in the different seasons, through depiction of the different kinds of work, characteristic of each season.31 But there are cases, like the one in the St. John the Forerun29 R. Stichel, Studien zum Verhaltnis von Text und Bild spat- und nachbyzantinischer Verganglichkeitdarstellungen. WienKlnGraz, 1971, s. 117118, Taf. 8, fig. 20. I am gratefull to Dr. Eva Haustein-Bartsch who had sent me the photograph of this icon. 30 The Parabola of the Piece of Wood (Mat. 7:3, Lu. 6:42) is depicted in 1779 among other didactic themes in the paraclession of St. Sava in the Monastery of Chilandar. See: D. Medakovi, Manastir Hilandar u H veku. Hilandarski zbornik 3, Beograd 1974, 59. 31 In the Ermhneia The Wheel of Life" is recommended for the decoration of the Refectories; see: Das Handbuch der Malerei von Berge Athos. Trier 1855, s. 382392. In Bulgaria there are images of the Wheel of Life from the 18th century onward in: Illientzi Monastery (1832), the Monastery of the Virgin's Dormition in Trojan (1847/48; I. Gergova, Tronskit manastir S., 1988, 1112, il. 40); the church of St. John the Forerunner in Karabunar (1861; V. Mardi-Babikova,

18

THE WHEEL OF LIFE IN 17th CENTURY PAINTING ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES

ner's church in the village of Bistritsa, Blagoevgrad district, where many other images symbolizing transience are added under the Wheel (like the ones in the icon from Recklinghausen, for instance).32 The Wheel of Life" remain a favorite theme during the 19th century to such an extent that it became a scene depicted not only in the churches but also in the houses of well-to-do Bulgarians, e.g. the Lekov's house in Panagjurishte of 1873. So the theme The Wheel of Life" as one of the most unique illustrations of the idea of transience is rather medieval that dating from the National Revival. It penetrates the Orthodox art from Western Europe, directly or through Mt. Athos, in the 17th century.33 The complex content of ideas of the composition from the church of Christ's Nativity in Arbanassi is yet another evidence of the theological erudition of the epoch. It brings testimony to the fact that the 17th century is one of the most creative periods in the development of art, full of particularly intense creative activity, various and significant innovations both in the spheres of style and iconographic programs.

Elka Bakalova KOLO IVOTA U ARBANASIMA ikonografski izvori Rezime H vek, razdobqe znaajnih duhovnih promena u kulturnom razvitku kako bugarskog tako i ostalih balkanskih naroda, ogleda se i u prodoru teoloko-enciklopedijskih ideja u umetnost ovog perioda. Jedna od zapadnoevropskih tema koja se obrela u bugarskom zidnom slikarstvu XVII veka jeste i Toak ivota, ivopisan na istonom delu galerije smetene severno od paraklisa svetog Jovana Krstiteqa u crkvi Roewa Hristovog u Arbanasima. Veliki broj likova, personifikacija i simbola u i oko toka koji se okree u smeru kazaqki na satu odraava sredwovekovnu ideju o prolaznosti ovozemaqskog ivota. U ovom radu podrobnije su razmotrene ikonografske formule, literarni izvori i paralele kao i semantiki elementi ove sloene kompozicije koja je neposredno ili preko Svete Gore sa Zapada dospela na pravoslavni Istok.
Nauno-motivirano predloenie za obvvane na c. Sv. oan Predtea" v s. Karabunar, Pazardiko, za pametnik na kulturata, Sofi 1974); the Sokolsky monastery near Gabrovo (1862); Batoshevsky monastery; the church of Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple in Blagoevgrad (18881889) and the church of St. John the Forerunner in Bistritsa (1882). In Macedonia in the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Vutkuck (1764). I am grateful to Mrs. Zagorka Nikolovska who sent me the photograph of this image. And for the examples of Albania my deepest gratitude to Victoria Popovska-Korobar. 32 M. ekova, op. cit. See also: E. Bakalova, Apokalipsist v crkvata Sv. oan Predtea" v s. Bistrica, Blagoevgradsko. Problemi na izkustvoto, 1, 1999. 33 The essential part of this study was made during my research stay in Munich (1997) with the assistance of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

19

Wheel of Life. Mural painting in the church of Christ's Nativity, Arbanassi

Wheel of Fortune. Manuscript, Bavarian State Library in Munich, lat. 4660

Icon in the Museum in Recklinghausen

Wheel of Life. Detail. Mural in the St. John the Forerunner's church, Bistritsa

Wheel of Life and scene of the Apocalypse. Murals in the St. John the Forerunner's church, Bistritsa

Wheel of Life. Detail. Mural in the St. John the Forerunner's church, Bistritsa

Illustration of the Parabola of the Piece of Wood. Wall painting in Chilandar

Wheel of Life. Wall painting, Albania

Wheel of Life. Mural in the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Vitkouck, 1764

The church of Transfiguration Monastery near Turnovo