In 1619/20 the painter Michael from Linotopi, Epirus, represents the subject of the Praises on the north section of the bema vault in the church of Hagios Menas in the village Monodendri in the district of Zagoria, Epirus. In this wall painting the artist copies accurately an al¬most identical model of 1599 that comes from Antiquity: The importance of the round dance of the eight, luxuriously dressed, women depicted there, who dance outdoors holding each other’s hand by the wrist, lies in the repetition of the Homeric mottf “wrist holding” by a sixteenth-century painter of humble origin. Both literature and art relate this characteristic position of hands with dance in ancient Greece. This motif is constantly used in the iconography of the ancient Greek dance and reappears in Post-Byzantine representations from the sixteenth century on, as a substantial number of monuments from these historical and cultural eras proves.
“Wrist Holding” or the Route of an Iconographic Motif Through Time
28 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
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