Heptanese School (painting)

The Heptanese School of painting (Greek: Επτανησιακή Σχολή, literally: "The School of the Seven Islands", also known as the Ionian Islands' School) succeeded the Cretan School as the leading school of Greek post-Byzantine painting after Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence, and also saw the first significant depiction of secular subjects. The school was based in the Ionian Islands, which were not part of Ottoman Greece, from the middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century.

The Ionian Islands or Heptanese from the 17th to the 19th century were under successive Venetian, French and English occupation. The relative freedom that the Heptanese people enjoyed compared with Ottoman ruled mainland Greece, and the vicinity and the cultural relationships with neighbouring Italy, resulted in the creation of the first modern art movement in Greece. Another reason for the regional blossoming of arts is the migration of artists from mainland Greece and especially Crete to the Heptanese wanting to avoid the Ottoman rule. In particular Crete from the 15th century and the sack of Constantinople until the 17th century, when it was occupied by the Ottomans in 1669, was the main cultural centre of Greece, as it was ruled by the Venetians who allowed and encouraged artistic work (See: Cretan School). The main representatives of the fusion of Heptanese and Cretan Schools are Michael Damaskinos, Dimitrios Moschos and George Moschos, Manolis Tzanes and Konstantinos Tzanes and Stefanos Tsangarolas.

Art in the Heptanese shifted towards Western styles by the end of the 17th century with the gradual abandonment of strict Byzantine conventions and technique. Artists were now increasingly influenced by the Italian Baroque and Flemish painters rather than from their Byzantine heritage. Paintings began to have a three dimensional perspective and the compositions became more flexible using Western realism, departing from the traditional representations that embodied Byzantine spirituality. Such changes were also reflected on the technique of oil painting on canvas which replaced the Byzantine technique of egg tempera on panel. Subjects included secular portraits of the bourgeoisie, which became more common than religious scenes. Bourgeois portraiture had an emblematic character which emphasised the class, profession and position of the individual in society. Frequently, however, these works also constitute penetrating psychological studies. The mature phase of the School of the Ionian Islands echoes the social developments as well as the changes that had occurred in the visual arts. Portraits began to lose their emblematic character. The early rigid poses were then succeeded by more relaxed attitudes (Kallyvokas, Iatras, Avlichos). Other subjects from the School of the Ionian Islands includes genre scenes, landscapes and still lifes.

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