Background
He was born in Heraklion in Crete (date unknown), and no doubt trained there, but all his known work was done in mainland Greece.
He was born in Heraklion in Crete (date unknown), and no doubt trained there, but all his known work was done in mainland Greece.
Theophanis Strelitzas (Greek: Θεοφάνης Στρελίτζας), also known as Theophanes the Cretan (Θεοφάνης ο Κρης, "Theophanis of Crete" or Theophanes Bathas (Θεοφάνης Μπαθάς), was a leading icon painter of the Cretan school in the first half of the sixteenth century, and in particular the most important figure in Greek wall-painting of the period. Frescoes bearing his signature survive in the Greek monasteries of Mountain. Athos, especially Stavronikita monastery and Lavra, and Meteora which has his earliest dated work, from 1527.
He also did many panel icons, either for iconostases or small portable works.
Theophanes returned to Crete before his death in 1559. Two detached wallpaintings attributed to Theophanes are in the Hermitage Museum in Saint St. Petersburg.
Like most Cretan painters of this date, his work shows some influence from Western painting, but less in his case than with many artists. Some faces are personalised or looking out to the viewer, and his figures are modelled to convey volume.
His work is more conscious of visual perspective than older Byzantine artists, but he does not use the geometrical perspective schemes by then standard in the West.
He uses traditional Byzantine compositions, in a rather austere and powerful manner. He should not be confused with Theophanes the Greek (Feofan Grek), an icon painter who worked in Muscovite Russia in the late fourteenth century.