PREFACE

In the year 1900, a few copies of the first part of an incomplete edition of Dionysios of Fourna’s "Interpretation of the Art of Painting" were distributed. This work, produced under my supervision, had been printed several years prior (1893) at the private expense of Grigory Theodorov Tchélitschew 1. Following the suggestion and encouragement of the academician Nikodim Kondakow, he intended through that volume to present to archaeologists a sample of his generous intent: a scientific edition in three volumes. The first was to contain the entire Greek text of the "Interpretation," the second a French translation, and the third, archaeological observations on it, including numerous images from Byzantine manuscripts, especially those contained in the so-called Menologion of Basil 2. However, with the untimely death of Tchélitschew in the meantime (March 26, 1897) and his intent remaining, as expected, unfulfilled, that volume—incomplete as it was—was distributed among scholars and his friends and acquaintances, thus becoming a kind of memorial column to his generous soul. But what the deceased was not granted to bring to completion has now been fulfilled...

1) Interpretation of the Art of Painting by Dionysios of Fourna, from an 18th-century manuscript, edited according to its original text by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus. First volume printed at the expense of the late Grigory Theodorov Tchélitschew. St. Petersburg, from the printing house of the Most Holy Synod, 1900. 8vo, pages xx+128. The copies of this edition, dedicated to the memory of the late Tchélitschew, also include a photograph of him while living.

2) To this end, Tchélitschew acquired at great expense photographic clichés of all the images contained in the Vatican codex of the Menologion; after his death, these came into the possession of the Imperial Archaeological Institute in St. Petersburg. So far, the images of the saints for two months, September and October, have been published. See M. and V. I. Uspensky, Facial Menologion of the Greek Emperor Basil II (†1025). St. Petersburg, 1902–1903.