Byzantine and post-Byzantine memories are abundant in Kastoria. Just a walk around the Byzantine Museum and the churches of the town can reveal many aspects of the different expressions of Byzantine Art to the visitor. The monumental painting and the icons once more show the economic prosperity of the town, which made it a center of cultural radiance.
The portable pictures that survive in Kastoria are part of one of the most important groups of holy icons of the Byzantine and post Byzantine period of the world and they are preserved in Agion Oros, Veria, Sina and Cyprus. The icons of this collection are found in the churches of the town or at the collection of the Byzantine Museum. The surviving icons are dated to the second half of the 12th century and after. Before this period, there are no icons from the churches of this area. In the second half of the 12th century and the 13th century we find icons of quite high artistic quality, a fact that is related to the presence of high level artists in the town, who decorate seven churches: Agios Nikolaos Kasnitzi, Agioi Anargiroi, Agios Stylianos, Panagia Mavriotissa, Agios Dimitrios Eleousis, Agios Stephanos, and Panagia Koubelidiki of the same period. There are very few surviving icons from the first half of the 14th century. It is not by chance that there is no surviving wall painting in the churches of the same period either. The second half of the same century is characterized by artistic blooming that reaches its peak till the end of the century and after the Turkish Occupation as well. Also, during this period the town is occupied successively by the Serbians, the powerful Albanian family Mouzaki and the Turks, there is a remarkable series of portable icons that are characterized by brilliant artistic quality that also prevails on the church wall paintings. The churches that are built during this period are: Agios Athanasios of Mouzaki, Agios Nikolaos of Kiritzis, Agios Georgios of the mountain, Panagia Faneromeni, Agios Nikolaos of Tzotza, Agios Nikolaos of Metropolis and Agios Alypios. At the same time, in other churches, as in Taxiarchis of metropolis, the decoration is renovated
Among all icons of this period, the high quality icons that stand out lead the researchers to an artist from a large empire center, possibly from Thessalonica, and icons that have been created by artists from the local workshops that come from Macedonia and Northern Epirus and paint wall paintings and portable icons. From the first half of the 15th century, the surviving icons in Kastoria belong to local artistic workshops that operate in the wider area. During the second half of the 15th century and mostly during the decades 1480-1510, the artistic production is intensified and by the end of the century there is a trend expressed century by the artistic workshop of Kastoria to renew the paintings of the 14th, something quite obvious on the churches’ wall paintings. New elements, as daily life pictures, the weaving tradition of the East along with details from the Italian painting of the 15th century are included in the workshop features, whose artists create portable icons. Icons, works of the School of Crete and date back to the second half of the 15th century and until the 17th century survive in Kastoria. Let us remind that there are no monumental ensembles of the School of Crete in the town whereas there are in other urban centers of Macedonia. The icons most possibly have been imported from the Ionian Islands or Venice, proving in this way the relationship of the town with Hellenism in the Venetian occupied areas, Venice and the Ionian Islands. Icons created in the workshops of the Northwestern Greece School from the end of the 15th century and till the 19th century still survive and are included in anti-classical trends of the Post-Byzantine painting.
A large number of churches were built and painted in Kastoria town, either thanks to the sponsorships of the town’s noblemen and migrate Kastorians, or to honor the Saint, patron of the city or of the craft unions. The older surviving wall paintings date back to the 9th and 10th century and belong to an archaic, artistic trend, which we meet among the young artists of Cappadocia of the same period. Technically, the forms stand out for their hard, rigid outlines, the flat linear folding of the cloths and the total absence of body mass. There are many wall paintings of this period at the church of Taxiarchis of Metropolis, of Agios Stephanos, the church of Agios Dimitrios of Economou Parish and of Taxiarchis of Economou Parish. The eldest painting of the churches of Kastoria is found in a very bad condition at the church of Agios Stephanos. The wall paintings of the first painting layer at the church of Agioi Anargyroi are estimated to date back to the end of the 10th century and early 11th century. Unfortunately, no icon paintings from the second half of the 11th century and the first half of the 12th century survive in Kastoria, in contrast to the second half of the 12th century and early 13th century, from which period very remarkable wall paintings survive in six churches. The wall paintings of these churches along with the icons of the same period, record the most important period of the Byzantine painting in Kastoria. These churches are: Agios Nikolaos Kasnitzi, Agioi Anargyroi, Agios Stilianos, Agios Dimitrios Eleousis, Agios Stephanos and Panagia Mavriotissa.
From all these wall paintings of this period, the icon paintings of the three-aisled basilica of Agioi Anargyoi dated to 1180-1190 are attributed to three artists of different origin. The most important are considered to be the work of an anonymous painter whom the researchers named A. His figures are elegant, very tall and have cast folding fit on their body and their expressions show mental tension. This technique is connected with the “dynamic” style, whose works are found in Macedonia, Crete, Sicily, Cyprus and Russia. The fact that the particular style is found in areas that are distant from each other, shows that it has been formed in some large artistic center of Constantinople. The only wall paintings that have survived from the first Palaeologus’ period in the city of Kastoria, are found at the church of Panagia Mavriotissa and the church of Panagia Koubelidiki. The exterior wall paintings of Taxiarchis of Metropolis are dated a little before mid 13th century. The icon paintings of the church of Panagia Mavriotissa are consider to belong to a conservative painting current of the 13th century, which is characterized by the technique of post-Comnenian period of art. The features of the technique employed at the icon painting of Panagia Koubielidiki (fine color patterns, harmony of color combinations, plasticity of folding that gives volume to the body, greenish moulding of the face) are attributed to the “voluminous” style, which was dominant in the second half of the 13th century. It was employed at large in Constantinople. The 14th century has also its own features.
There is intensive building and artistic activity (mostly during the second half of the 14th century) in the town of Kastoria, even during the Turkish Occupation. It is the period to which researchers attribute the erection and decoration of several churches: Agios Athanasios of Mouzaki, Agios Nikolaos of Kyritzi, Agios Georgios of the mountain, Agios Nikolaos Tzotzas (Parish Parishprecinct of Metropolis), of Agios Alypios etc. The wall paintings in these holy monuments are a creation of artistic workshops activated in several areas of Greece, Albania and Serbia. The technique of these workshops continues this tradition of the first half of the 14th century. There are many wall paintings surviving from the first half of the 15th century in various churches: Agion Trion, Panagia Rasiotissa, Agios Andreas of Rousouli, where one can find the sole painting ensemble surviving in its total and dated to that period. The wall paintings at Agios Andreas are considered to have been made early in the decade. During the second half of the 15th century, the painters that live in Kastoria are influenced by the techniques of the Venetian occupied areas and by Venice itself. A renewal trend is dominant in their painting. Among the top works of the time are the icon paintings of Agios Nikolaos, by Nun Efpraxia, dated to 1485. The workshop to which most wall paintings belong, which is located in Kastoria expresses this renewal trend from the tradition of the 14th century and the introduction of new elements in the everyday life and the Italian painting, mostly of the 15th century. The workshop has been influenced by the Italian painting realism when depicting space, the landscape and the expressions. The workshop artists, apart from the church of Agios Nikolaos of Nun Efpraxia, seem to have painted also the churches of Agios Nikolaos of Lady Theologina, of Agios Spyridon and of Agios Nikolaos Megaleiou. At the same time, the researchers attribute to the same workshop the creation of portable icons.
However, the workshop’s style, for the sake of realistic expressions, sacrificed the mental content of the sacred figures, something that was unfamiliar and inappropriate for the orthodox East. Also, the fact that Kastoria’s workshop had been influenced by the western style was something that the Church disliked, since at the time the Church was hostile towards the West. These are the reasons why the very important work of the workshop vanishes in the first decade of the 16th century, before having the chance to create a “School”. The gap left is filled in by the return to old patterns, employed by the Cretan School at that period. From late 15th century till the 19th century many churches are built in Kastoria and their wall paintings are created by artists that work in workshops of the Northwestern Greece School. The wall paintings of this period that are particularly interesting are those of Agioi Apostoloi (1547), Panagia Rasiotissa (1553) and the chapel of Ioannis Theologos in Mavriotissa (1552), because they belong to famous artists, such as Onoufrios Protopapas of Neokastro Metropolis, Thiveos Frank Atelanos, Efstathios Jacob, David of Albania and several others. A large number of artists, coming from the local workshops representing a more popular art, work next to these artists, in the monasteries and the churches of Kastoria. Linotopitis Nikolaos is one of them and he signs the wall paintings of Agios Nikolaos of Lord Thomas in 1639. The monumental ensemble of the Cretan School is absent from Kastoria, although it is seen in many regions of Macedonia, such as in Veroia.
