Description:
Abstract To this day, the unique iconography of a fifteenth-century painting of culturally mixed character made by the Cretan artist Andreas Ritzos has not been sufficiently explained. So far, the motif of the letters “IHS” encapsulating narrative scenes of the passion has been linked to the widely propagated devotion of St. Bernardine of Siena to the name of Jesus. However, several elements contradict a direct reference to Bernardine propaganda. The concept underlying the panel seems to be a more complex and highly erudite one. The fact that Christian Kabbalists discussed many of its topics suggests that the iconography of the panel was influenced by Kabbalistic ideas, probably due to the intense relations between Crete and Venice in particular and Italy in general as a centre of Christian Kabbalistic lore. In any event, the panel proves to be a result of the thriving climate of intellectual, religious and artistic syncretism in Renaissance Crete.