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The bearded Christ in a frontal pose is depicted against an azure sky sprinkled with golden stars. He is sitting on a rainbow arch dressed in an azure robe while a brown cloak, hung over his left shoulder, reaches over his knees. From under the robe, we can see bare feet wearing sandals, and the left knee is slightly raised. Christ is giving blessings with his raised right hand, while in his left, he holds an open book facing the viewer and bearing the Latin inscription Ego sum lux mundi.[1]
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[1] I am the light of the world is a quotation from Jn 8,12. The quoted saying had long been canonical in the Christ Pantocrator depictions in the Byzantine iconography and also became well-established in Western art; cf. HÖFLER 1997, p. 75.
In the image of Christ Pantocrator, Janez Höfler identifies prominent Byzantine influences, more specifically the influences of the late Comnenus style of the second half of the 13th century in Italy. He sees these influences in the loosely lowered sleeve of Christ’s right arm, the broad waist with an accentuated rounded stomach and the stretched part of the cloak that connects the torso and the right leg on Christ’s right side, the robe gathered in a zigzag on his chest, the bare feet (not just the toes) visible to the ankles, and the raised left knee.[1] Höfler identifies several Trecento innovations, particularly in how the cloak falls below the knees, its lower edge curving in one place in the shape of an ear, and in the soft outline of the fingers of the right hand that gives blessings. In his opinion, these features – especially the design of Christ’s face and his smooth, unbraided hair with traces of horizontal wrinkles on his forehead (painted with white layers), open eyes that are pointed in the corners, and accentuated mouth with a thicker upper lip – make the Koper Pantocrator seem closest to the Rimini painting of the early 14th century, his face deriving from the facial type established in the first two decades of the 14th century by Pietro da Rimini, the leading Rimini painter. Höfler compares the Koper Pantocrator with Christ Pantocrator from the Deesis composition in the refectory of the Benedictine Abbey of Pomposa, which Pietro da Rimini probably painted in 1318.[2]
On the other hand, Alessandro Quinzi attributes the fresco to the master of the leading painting workshop of Koper, Klerigin I, who, according to some theses, lived until around 1340.[3] Quinzi emphasises the chromatic scale of the painting, which is limited to red and turquoise tones, while he describes the figurative language as very distinctive, showing not only Romanesque and Byzantine stylistic features but also some Trecento innovations: the elongated proportions, the long and elegant fingers on Christ’s hands, the book placed in perspective, the neatly falling edge of the cloak with the ear-shaped fold (“a orecchio”), which is also repeated on the chest, and the toning of the facial features (a neatly blurred transition between the lighter cheeks and the darker chin).[4] He finds Höfler’s comparison between the Christ in Koper and the one in Pomposa very convincing, adding that the typology of the face with the V-shaped crease on the forehead reminds him more of the portrayal of the Crucified from Mercatello, which Giovanni da Rimini painted in 1309, interpreting Giotto’s Crucified from the Tempio Malatestiana.[5]
In her recently published monograph dedicated to Istrian mural painting, Enrica Cozzi also mentions the Koper fresco and finds its comparison to the Christ Pantocrator from the refectory in Pomposa convincing.[6] She dates the mural to the second quarter of the 14th century and underlines the potential artistic connections with the nearby city of Trieste, where, unfortunately, very few works from this period have been preserved. References to the painters exist in the surviving records, though.[7]
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[1] HÖFLER 1997, p. 76.
[2] HÖFLER 1997, p. 76; cf. also HÖFLER 2000, pp. 223–225; HÖFLER 2007, pp. 113–121.
[3] QUINZI 1997, pp. 327–332. This conclusion is based on the information from the 18th-century “Cronache”, supposedly edited by Mario Cargnatti and partly published by Niccolò Del Bello in 1905; cf. Niccolò DEL BELLO, Il presunto maestro di Vittore Carpaccio, 3, Pagine Istriane, 1905, p. 7. Quoted after QUINZI 1997, pp. 328, 332, n. 11.
[4] QUINZI 1997, p. 330.
[5] QUINZI 1997, pp. 330–331; cf. QUINZI 2001, pp. 35–36.
[6] COZZI 2016, pp. 255–256, also mentions the activities of Pietro and Giuliano da Rimini in the church of the Augustinian eremites in Padua during the first two decades of the century as well as in Treviso and Friuli in the first half of the century.
[7] For the first half of the 14th century, the records of the painters’ activities are preserved mainly in I quaderni dei camerari del Comune di Trieste; cf. COZZI 2016, pp. 255–256.
Christ Pantocrator was painted by a master who was, judging from the style, trained in the pre-Giotto painting of the late 13th century (Assisi). The type of the depicted figure is close to the model known in the early 14th-century Rimini painting.[1]
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[1] Cf. HÖFLER 1997, pp. 76–79; HÖFLER 2000, pp. 223–225.
The dome’s apex features the ruler of the world, Christ Pantocrator, the enthroned Christ in a rainbow, giving blessings. Western art adopted this image of Christ from Byzantine art, where the canonical image had taken shape in the 10th and 11th centuries. It only appears in apse and dome paintings from the 12th century onwards.[1] This image became established in the West almost simultaneously, first in its pure form in the mosaic cycles in Sicily (Palermo, Cefalù) and then throughout Italy and elsewhere. The Byzantine representation of Christ Pantocrator persisted in Italy even in the altered stylistic contexts, when the old Romanesque-Byzantine forms were replaced by Gothic ones in the context of the new painting of the Trecento and even later during the Renaissance.[2]
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[1] The fundamental work is Carmelo CAPIZZI S. J., Pantokrator. Saggio d’esegesi litterario-iconografica, Orientalia Christiana analecta, 170, 1964. Quoted after HÖFLER 1997, p. 75.
[2] HÖFLER 1997, pp. 75–76.
The portrayal of Christ Pantocrator in the Baptistery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Koper was almost certainly a part of a larger and more comprehensively conceived composition. Judging from the many analogies, Christ was probably depicted in a mandorla and surrounded by evangelists or their symbols.[1] Perhaps he was also accompanied by the angels that usually hold the Pantocrator’s medallion or the Church Fathers in the act of writing. Ever since the early Romanesque period, this motif of Christ in his glory had been one of the most common themes of apse and vault paintings throughout Western Europe, especially on the Apennine peninsula.[2]
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[1] QUINZI 2001, p. 35.
[2] Cf. HÖFLER 1997, p. 75; QUINZI 1997, pp. 327–328.
No information about the patron exists. If the creation of the fresco is associated with the renovation of the Baptistery in 1317, which was initiated by the Captain and Mayor of Koper Nicolo Falier, it is possible that he also commissioned the painting as part of the Baptistery’s renovation.
Pigments: presumably white lime, yellow ochre, red earth, azurite, malachite, massicot, organic black
Analytical techniques: OM
During the restoration works, the members of the Restoration Centre of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia staff obtained 24 samples. However, as these have not yet been processed, the plaster’s precise composition remains unknown for now. When the samples were taken, it was established that the mural had been painted in two stages, meaning that the scene had been overpainted. This calls for additional, more meticulous analyses. The plaster for the halo was added on top of its drawing.[1]
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[1] Ivo NEMEC, Poročilo naravoslovnih preiskav. 1: Kristus na prestolu, rotunda Carmina, Restavratorski center, Ljubljana, s. d. (typescript).
As the chemical analyses of the pigments have not yet been carried out, it is impossible to determine what belongs to which of the two presumed painting stages. Judging from the visible colour palette, it is possible to conclude that the painter used white lime for the rainbow’s white lines and for the stars in the sky, as well as to brighten up the other colours. The white stars were applied during the second stage of the painting.[1] The painter portrayed the Earth’s globe under Christ’s feet using yellow ochre, perhaps mixed with red earth, which he also used to model Christ’s cloak. He used blue azurite for Christ’s tunic and the blue background, which has, in places, transformed to green. This is an example of azurite’s degradation into (para)tacamite. The cross on the halo appears to be green, so the painter could have used malachite, or this could also be degraded azurite. The halo is intensely yellow, featuring visible remnants of some dark colour layer – probably a degraded lead pigment, perhaps yellow massicot that the painter applied to the presently visible yellow underpainting. It is also possible to see traces of black ornamentation, possibly degraded silver or a lead pigment. Judging from the colours, the carnation was probably made by combining white lime, yellow ochre, and perhaps red earth and umber. The painter must have used the latter for the beard and dark hair strands. The black pigment is organic in origin. It could be bone black or carbon black, which are the most frequently encountered black pigments used for medieval mural painting in the territory of today’s Slovenia. The main binder is probably lime from the plaster, though the painter must have added some organic binder for the final details.
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[1] Ivo NEMEC, Poročilo naravoslovnih preiskav. 1: Kristus na prestolu, rotunda Carmina, Restavratorski center, Ljubljana, s. d. (typescript).
Without samples, it is impossible to confirm the exact painting technique, though most of the mural was definitely painted al fresco, i.e. on fresh plaster, as most of the preserved colour layers still adhere well to the base. However, the extent to which the painter completed the scene al secco can no longer be determined.
The mural has been heavily retouched. The underdrawing cannot be discerned with any certainty, as the painter covered it thoroughly with subsequent colour layers. It could have been painted in red, as there is a visible trace of a red line under the final black contour on Christ’s right ankle (Fig. 1). The halo was designed using additional plaster for the radially arranged pouncings. The plaster was added to the drawing of the halo, and an ochre colour can also be found where this plaster later fell off, indicating that it clearly belongs to the second stage of the painting.[1] The warm yellow colour of the ochre pigment features black spots. Thus, the halo might have been painted using lead yellow, possibly massicot, which has degraded, though – perhaps to black plattnerite. As the painter applied it to an already dry surface, this colour layer has mostly peeled off (Fig. 2). Because of its intense, vivid colour, massicot was often used as a cheap substitute for gold. A grey underpainting (veneda) might have been applied under the blue azurite for the sky and Christ’s tunic. However, this cannot be confirmed without sample cross-sections. If a grey underpainting truly exists, it is certainly brighter under the tunic. Given the Italian-oriented style of the mural, the use of a veneda would be surprising, as it is a feature of the northern tradition of underpainting azurite, while in the Italian tradition, the reddish morello was normally used. The painter first applied the yellow, blue, and red local colours and then modelled them. For the drapery, he used broad brushes to outline broad folds in darker colours (Fig. 1). In some places, he attempted to create subtle colour transitions by applying several tones of the same colour. The frontally depicted face of Christ (Fig. 2) features a broad upper part but narrows towards the chin. The outer ends of the otherwise wide-open eyes conclude with long, narrow corners in the shape of a droplet. The thin and long eyebrows continue from the root of the nose and only start curving downwards near the temples. The nicely shaped nose, featuring small nostrils, is straight, narrow, and long. The mouth is fleshy, and the lips are separated by a strong dark line ending in two accentuated corners. The lower lip is only indicated with a semi-circular line drawn with a semi-dry brush. It seems that the painter first applied an ochre base, to which he added white colour using broad horizontal (forehead), vertical (nose), and bowl-shaped (cheekbones) strokes, thus already creating the basic colour modelling, as the yellow base shows from under some of the strokes. In this manner, he modelled, for example, the wrinkles on the forehead and shaded the eyebrows and the eyes. He then applied a stronger yellow colour along the nose and down to the chin, emphasising the lower contour of the face. He also emphasised the lower line of the eyebrows and eyes with a thin yellow stroke. Finally, he painted the moustache and beard using thin, parallel dark brown strokes, drew the final contours for the eyes, and painted the hair on top of the reddish base colour. He also shaded the recess under the nose and emphasised the beard with parallel lines under the mouth. The same colour modelling, achieved by applying white on top of an ochre base, can be seen on the neck, accentuated with two parallel yellow and light brown horizontal wrinkles. The painter also drew two more yellow lines, converging downward, between the chin and the collarbone. The hands are narrow, elegant, and feature long fingers. The painter also defined the long nails with a thin stroke and accentuated them with a short line under their bottom edges. The hands and the feet are both modelled in the same manner as the face – on a brighter ochre base, over which the painter applied modelling using white layers. Finally, he also added intense yellow shading strokes, especially on the edges of the fingers. For the legs, he left the middle part of the ankles in a light yellow base colour (Fig. 1). The mural’s overall precision attests to the work of a high-quality painter.
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[1] Ivo NEMEC, Poročilo naravoslovnih preiskav. 1: Kristus na prestolu, rotunda Carmina, Restavratorski center, Ljubljana, s. d. (typescript).
Koper, Baptistery of St John the Baptist, Stage 1 (Koper, baptistery of St John the Baptist), 2024 (last updated 10. 12. 2024). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/poslikava/4422/ (20. 9. 2026).
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