CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Gviniashvili, Salome |
|---|---|
| Title | XVI Century Georgian Wall Painting, Depiction Of Emperor Constantine And Saint Queen Helena Alongside With Ktetor Portrait Of King Levan |
| Summary | This thesis examines the meaning of portraying King Levan as ktetor alongside the Byzantine Emperor Constantine and Queen Helena, approximately one century after the fall of Constantinople. The paper delves into the strategic use of art and iconography by the ktetor to project and legitimize his political power and religious authority. For this, it reviews and conducts a comparative analysis of all the images of King Levan. In addition, the paper examines King Levan’s royal ideology at different stages of his life. A review of deeds, documents, and later historical sources, along with an artistic analysis of the paintings, reveals the symbolic meanings of these portraits. The paper also explores the broader historical and cultural significance of Emperor Constantine and Queen Helena in Georgian art and how their images were used to convey political and religious messages. The analysis enhances our understanding of how King Levan utilized art and iconography to strengthen his legitimacy and authority, positioning himself as a defender of Christianity and a new Christian leader of the East in a post-Byzantine context. This research contributes to the field by highlighting a relatively unexplored period in Georgian history, emphasizing the nuanced ways in which royal ideology and self-representation were formed and communicated through visual means. |
| Supervisor | Baukje van den Berg, Béla Zsolt Szakács |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/gviniashvili_salome.pdf |
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