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The icon painter Ioannis Kornaros lived from 1745 to
1812. Unfortunately not much is known about his life.
But from a manuscript of the icon painter Stefanos
Nikolaïdis (1817 - 1907), we know that Kornaros worked
in Crete and Cyprus plus in Sinai and perhaps also in
Egypt.
In Crete he started his life as a painter at the
Savvathianon monastery outside the village of Rogdia a
little west of Iraklion. There he painted an icon by the
name of "Megas ei Kyrie" (Great Art Thou, O Lord), a
forerunner of the final version, which he later finished
in Toplou. The original icon still existed in 1854,
where Nikolaïdis saw it, although half ruined by moist.
Unfortunately it has since been ruined completely.
Besides painting in the two monasteries, Kornaros
painted in the Agios Matthaios ton Sinaïton church in
Iraklion.
In the period 1775 - 1790 we find Kornaros in Sinai,
where he both painted his own icons and restored others'
plus he contributed to the decoration of the church
ceiling in the Agia Aikaterini monastery. Icons from
this period also exist in Egypt, but it is uncertain if
he has in fact been there himself.
After his stay in Sinai, Kornaros went on to Cyprus,
were he among other things painted the "Archangel
Michael" in 1795. Today it can be seen in the Byzantine
Museum in Athens. |
