The castle
on top of the hill at an altitude of 620 m. was built in 1249 by the greatest
of all Frankish princes, William II of Villehardouin. William was a “second generation “crusader knight : he was
born in Kalamata the second son of Geoffrey of Villehardouin, who had taken the
cross in the fourth crusade . He spoke both French and Greek. Somewhere I read
that prince William
made a point of spending every Spring in Mystras, because he loved
the many flowers that decorate
the hill in that period. In 1261 the
Frankish castle and palace were ceded to
the Greeks. Because of the ongoing
hostilities between Franks , Greeks , Albanian tribes and Turkish mercenaries the population
living in the Lacedaemonian plain
flocked to the better defendable hill side of Mystras. In 1270 metropolitan Eugene started the building and decoration of the metropolitan church of saint
Dimitrios. This oil painting shows a
cobbled path that leads down the hill to
the building complex that was
added to the church of saint Dimitrios during the Ottoman Empire. The many flowers are bathing in bright sunlight and in the
background the Eurotas valley can be
seen. What inspired me to paint this landscape was the way in which the flowers
seemed to
radiate light. The trunk of the cypress tree casts a shadow forming a line
that guides the eye to the sun lit flowers, playing the leading part. I’ve
argued before (see here) that many landscape paintings gain interest by
incorporating some kind of human intervention; without the building complex
there would be no “stage” for the flowers to play their leading role.
Cobbled path leading
down to the church of saint
Dimitrios, Mystras
40 x 50 cm, oil
painting
