Painting: 1300-1330

n Constantinople are found the first and most important examples of the new artistic trends. In the mosaics of the Pammakaristos monastery, dated to between 1310 and 1315, the heavy style begins to recede. The serenity emanating from the forms of the holy figures and the profound human feeling conveyed by the painterly modelling are the innovative elements of this mosaic ensemble. These features will reach their climax in the mosaics and the wall paintings of the Chora monastery, one of the most impressively decorated monument of the capital. The high patronage of these two monuments by members of the aristocracy explains the superior quality of these works, which reflect the refined taste and aesthetic quests of this class. Works of very high standard, stylistically related to those in Constantinople, and likewise due to the generous donations of high-ranking personages connected with the Capital, are to be found in Thessalonike as well. The frescoes in the side-chapel of St Euthymios (1303), in the basilica of St Demetrios in Thessalonike, continue to follow the artistic trend of the heavy style, albeit with greater freedom and a painterly modelling, while the exceptionally fine mosaics and frescoes of the church of the Holy Apostles constitute the most notable example of the second Palaiologan style in Thessalonike. The aesthetic trends observable in the two big cities are also apparent in regions to which their influence extended, such as Serbia, where they are evident in the monuments of the krajl Milutin, and in the Peloponnesian fortied city so closely connected to Constantinople, Mistra Here, in the Virgin Hodegetria or Aphendiko, founded in 1310, may be seen an important ensemble, the work of a number of painters, in which different tendencies may be discerned. A particular elegance and an assimilation of the classical models, along with a dynamism and bold chromatic combinations heralding the developments of the next period, characterise the painted decoration of this monument.