The St. Peter Icon of Dumbarton Oaks Reconsidered

Abstract

The thesis concentrates on an icon of st. Peter from the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. The author reexamines its present dating to the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, and attribution to Macedonia, and suggests that the icon be seen within the oeuvre of Michael and Eutychius, the two preeminent artists of that time/ region. Stylistically, St.Peter is closest to their work of 1314-17, exemplified in the frescoes from the King's Church in studenica and st. George in staro Nagorichino. Iconographically, this icon finds a unique parallel in the Church of Peribleptos, Ochrid (1295), where St. Peter is also shown with keys around his neck. Since the proposed attribution falls within the reign of the Serbian King Milutin (1282-1321), the thesis considers how the Serbian political predicaments at the time reflect on st. Peter's image in the Church of the Savior at Zica, restored between 1309-16, and the Church of the Annunciation at Gracanica, built between 1311-20. These churches, like the Ochrid Peribleptos, show the First Apostle holding a church model above his head. Both the keys around the neck from the D.O. icon and Peribleptos, and the churches above St. Peter's head from Peribleptos, Zica, and Gracanica, indicate a special emphasis on the role of the First Apostle. The author further suggests that these images may reflect the ecclesiastical relationship between the Serbian and Ochrid Archbishoprics and that the D.O. icon may also be concerned with issues of church authority.