{"id":15247,"date":"2022-02-14T10:26:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T10:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/religiousroutes.eu\/?post_type=route&p=15247"},"modified":"2022-02-14T10:28:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T10:28:55","slug":"kapesovite-painters","status":"publish","type":"route","link":"https:\/\/religiousroutes.eu\/en\/route\/kapesovite-painters\/","title":{"rendered":"Kapesovite painters"},"content":{"rendered":"

The area of \u200b\u200bZagori as early as 1431, during the Ottoman conquest of the area, is self-governing and autonomous and enjoys favorable treatment, when fourteen villages of the central part capitulate to the Ottomans and gradually until 1460 the rest join. From the second half of the 17th century, with the establishment of the “Vilaeti of Zagori” and the peculiar autonomy towards the Ottoman rule, favorable conditions for development are created for the whole region, while at the same time there is a migratory flow to Wallachia and the Danube hegemony. which became more massive from 1750 onwards, a time when the commercial activity of the Balkan merchants was flourishing. Also, in 1774, the unification of the people of Giannio and Zagori into one community contributed decisively to the economic prosperity of Epirus. Through the migratory current, trade compensates for the shortcomings of domestic production and the accumulated wealth from trade enables the leading class to indulge, among other charities, in the birthplace, and in the erection or radical renovation of records and temples, with the grandeur of which the merchant-donors were socially promoted. The area is becoming a center for the practice of religious painting and the profession of hagiographer and painter is in demand, resulting in the names of painters in the second half of the 18th century. to multiply.
\nWithin this socio-economic and spiritual context, the Kapesovite painters are active, originating from Kapesovo of Zagori, who in the 18th c. 31 temples are painted in Epirus, Macedonia and Albania, portable icons are told and gilded iconostasis. These are a total of twelve painters, who appear with well-known paintings from 1728 to 1841. Important is the family tradition in hagiography, which is inherited from one generation to another, while the volume of their work proves that they are professional painters. , who do not deal with their art periodically, but systematically and work throughout the year and not seasonally. However, they differ from the other bourgeois professional unions of the 18th and 19th centuries, since there is no strict organization, obligations and rights that characterize organized unions. The Kapesovite painters are a syndicate, which determines the conditions of the profession and the stages of apprenticeship by the unwritten customary law. Important information about the time and duration of their work is given by the founding inscriptions of the temples, in which they are referred to as “Kapesovites” or “from Kapesovo village”.<\/p>\n