A comparative study of wall paintings at the Cypriot monastery of Christ Antiphonitis: one artist or two?

The central church of the monastery of Christ Antiphonitis near Kalogrea, within the district of Kyrenia in Cyprus, is decorated with wall paintings that date from the last decades of fifteenth century. Two large and elaborate scenes, the Last Judgement and the Root of Jesse, had been preserved in the church until the Turkish invasion (1974) after which they were cut into tetragonal pieces, separated, and sent by looters to Germany for selling at illicit markets. The German Police returned thirty-two of the pieces to the Archbishop Makarios Foundation in Nicosia.     

From Byzantine to post-Byzantine art: the painting technique of St Stephen's wall paintings at Meteora,Greece

The old katholikon of St Stephen's monastery at the Meteora (site of the most important complex of monasteries in Greece after Mount Athos) is decorated with wall paintings that date from the beginning of 17th century. In terms of style, the artistic ensemble is altogether characteristic of the period. The painting technique has been examined by means of μRaman and μFTIR spectroscopies, gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).