Studies on the 'Nativity of Jesus' Scene in a Rock Mass in Çine
Hatice Özyurt ÖzcanThe village of Dinecik in the Çine district of Türkiye’s Aydın province has a single scene depicting the birth of Jesus among the Byzantine wall paintings on the mass rock. This depiction of the Nativity of Jesus is the only surviving Nativity scene among paintings of Latmos, Yatagan, and the southern Carian coasts close to Çine. Because the Cappadocian wall paintings have the widest range of subjects among the paintings in Anatolia, they were influential in this study’s iconographic analysis of the Nativity painting. The scene consists of many episodes covering a large surface, and while a significant portion has survived, especially the hands and faces of the figures, the fact that some of the depictions have been largely destroyed makes it difficult to make a sound evaluation. Still, a detailed examination of the work was able to be made with what remained of some of the scenes that provide period clues. The center of the depiction shows the baby Jesus and Mary. To the right of Mary on a square cradle with long legs is the baby Jesus with a halo on his head, wrapped in white swaddling cloth. Behind the cradle are figures of oxen and donkeys. Joseph is in the lower right corner of the scene seated on a chair with his back to Mary. The first bathing scene in the lower left corner of the stage shows the midwives who will wash Jesus. The upper left section of the scene is understood from the remaining fragments to involve shepherds; however, most of them have been destroyed. The upper right corner has the figure of an angel and the three soothsayers. The scene contains a crowded compositional arrangement that brings together episodes such as the Prophet Kings, the Adoration of the Shepherds, and the First Bath, each being depicted as a separate scene after the depiction of the Nativity in the early period as a style that had become widespread in the paintings of the Cappadocia region toward the end of the 10th century. The fact that Mary didn’t begin being depicted in a semi-sitting position in nativity scenes with her head aimed at Jesus in the cradle until after the 10th century and that the technical and stylistic features commonly applied to 11th-century buildings had also been used in the depiction at Dinecik indicates the painting to have bene painted by local craftsmen in the late 10th and mid-11th centuries with regional characteristics.
Çine’de Bir Kaya Kütlesi İçinde Yer Alan ‘İsa’nın Doğumu’ Sahnesi Üzerine İncelemeler
Hatice Özyurt ÖzcanAydın iline bağlı Çine ilçesinin Dinecik köyünde, kaya dokusu içinde yapılmış Bizans dönemine ait duvar resimlerinden sadece İsa’nın Doğumu’nun anlatıldığı sahne korunmuştur. Bu tasvir, Çine’ye yakın konumdaki Latmos, Yatağan ve güney Karya kıyılarındaki resim programları içinde günümüze gelebilmiş tek “Doğum” sahnesidir. Bu sebeple tasvirin ikonografik yönden incelenmesinde, Anadolu’daki resim programları içinde en geniş konu yelpazesine sahip olan Kapadokya duvar resimleri etkili olmuştur. Geniş bir yüzeyi kaplayacak şekilde birçok episoddan oluşan sahnenin önemli bir kısmı mevcut olmasına karşın özellikle figürlerin el ve yüzleri, bazı tasvirlerin tamamının büyük oranda tahrip edilmiş olması sağlıklı bir değerlendirme yapmayı güçleştirmekle beraber, bazı sahnelerin dönemsel ip uçları veren kalıntıları ile eser üzerinde detaylı bir inceleme yapılabilmiştir. Tasvirin orta kısmında bebek İsa ve Meryem yer almaktadır. Meryem’in sağ tarafında uzun ayaklı, kare formlu beşiğin üzerinde başı haleli, beyaz bir kundağa sarılı bebek İsa’ya yer verilmiştir. Beşiğin arkasında öküz ve eşek figürleri görülür. Sahnenin sağ alt köşesinde bulunan Yusuf, sırtı Meryem’e dönük olacak şekilde bir sandalye üzerinde oturur vaziyettedir. Sahnenin sol alt köşesindeki ilk banyo sahnesinde İsa’yı yıkayacak olan ebelere yer verilmiştir. Sahnenin üst kısmında, büyük bir bölümü tahrip olmasına karşın korunmuş fragmanlardan çobanların olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Karşıda sağ üst köşede melek figürüne ve üç müneccime yer verilmiştir. Ana mekanı doğal yolla aşınmış kaya kütlesinin oluşturduğu, kuzey ve batı cepheleri örme duvarlarla çevrili bu küçük şapeli, din adamlarının dini merkezlerine giden yol güzargahları üzerinde yapılmış ibadet yada inziva yapılarından biri olarak değerlendirebiliriz. Şapelde korunmuş tek sahne olan İsa’nın Doğumu, Doğu Kilisesi’nin Orta Bizans döneminde en çok betimlenen yortu sahnelerinden biridir. Sahne, üslup ve teknik özellikleri yönünden Latmos ve Fethiye’deki resim programlarıyla ortak özelliklere sahip olmakla birlikte, ayrıca Anadolu’daki duvar resmi örneklerinin tümünde benzer uygulama gösteren bazı dönemsel nitelikli renk, üslup ve tekniklerin özelliklerini de kısmen taşımaktadır. Yerel üslubun baskın etkisine rağmen İkonografik özellikleri yönünden, dönemi içindeki diğer Doğum sahneleri ile yakın benzerlikler göstermektedir. Sahne, 10. yüzyılın sonlarına doğru Kapadokya bölgesi resim programlarında yaygınlaşan, Kahin Krallar, Çobanların Tapınması, İlk Banyo gibi erken dönemde Doğum tasvirinin devamında ayrı bir sahne olarak resmedilen episodların bir araya getirildiği kalabalık düzenlemeli bir kompozisyon düzenine sahiptir. Ayrıca Meryem’in 10. yüzyıldan sonra yarı oturur pozisyonda ve başı ile beşikteki İsa’yı gösterecek şekilde resmedilmesi, yaygın olarak 11. yüzyıl yapılarında uygulanan teknik ve boyama üslubu özelliklerinin Dinecik’deki tasvirde de kullanılmış olması resmin, 10. yüzyıl sonları ile 11. yüzyılın ortalarında, yerel ustalar tarafından bölgesel karakterli olarak yapıldığına işaret etmektedir..
The village of Dinecik in the Çine district of Aydın province has a single scene depicting the birth of Jesus among its Byzantine wall paintings on textured rock. This depiction of the
Nativity of Jesus is the only surviving Nativity scene among the paintings of Latmos, Yatagan, and the southern Carian coasts close to Çine. Because the Cappadocian wall paintings have the widest range of subjects among the paintings in Anatolia, these were influential in the study’s iconographic analysis of the depiction. While a significant portion of The scene consists of many episodes covering a large surface, and while a significant portion has survived, especially the hands and faces of the figures, the fact that some of the depictions have been largely destroyed makes a healthy evaluation difficult. However, a detailed examination of the work was able to be made based on the remains of some scenes that give period clues. The center of the depiction shows the baby Jesus and Mary. To the right side of Mary on a square cradle with long legs is the baby Jesus with a halo on his head and wrapped in white swaddling cloth. Behind the cradle are figures of oxen and donkeys. Joseph is in the lower right corner of the scene seated on a chair with his back to Mary. The first bathing scene is in the lower left corner of the stage and shows the midwives who will wash Jesus. The upper left part of the scene is understood from the remaining fragments to involve shepherds, although most of them have been destroyed. The upper right corner shows an angel figure and the three wisemen.
Canonical gospels and Apocryphal texts constitute the source of the iconography of the Birth of Christ, which is the fourth Feast of the Orthodox calendar. The place, surroundings, and time of Jesus’ birth are the most debated subjects of nativity scenes. Although no clear statement is made in the canonical Gospels regarding these, several different texts of the Apocryphal Gospels state that the birth had taken place in a cave. Another controversial issue is the year of Jesus’ birth. The statements in the Gospels on this topic are quite contradictory. The star of Bethlehem is mentioned in both the Canonical and Apocryphal texts and is considered to be the most important iconographic element indicating the time of birth.
The figures and events that make up the nativity scene are described differently in each Gospel, with some Gospels not even mentioning certain events or people at all. Only the Apocryphal texts mention Jesus in the cradle, the donkey and the ox, the first bath, the midwives assisting the birth, Joseph’s anxiety, and the cave, while the Apocryphal and Canonical Gospels use similar expressions to describe the angel’s good news to the shepherds, the worship of soothsayers, and the star of Bethlehem. The depictions of the nativity on the artwork here are mainly based on the narratives in the apocryphal texts, with the Gospel of Luke, which deals with these events in more detail than the Gospel of Matthew, forming a secondary source for the scenes. The depiction of certain scenes and figures was additionally influenced by works from Antiquity. The first examples of the nativity scene appeared at the beginning of the 4th century and were seen to be handled with a simple narrative consisting of a donkey, oxen, and Jesus in the cradle. With the addition of figures and subjects related to the birth in each period, however, the Nativity had become a complex composition with many figures and episodes by Middle Byzantium. The star of Bethlehem, Jesus in the cradle, the ox and donkey worshipping him, Mary, Joseph, the first bath, and the angel giving the good news to the shepherds have become indispensable figures and episodes in the advanced iconographic order of the Nativity depictions. The Nativity depiction is the only surviving religious scene of the wall paintings made in the textured rock in Dinecik, and despite having suffered much loss and wear, the fragments that contain certain preserved details have allowed this study to identify the stylistic features of the painting to some extent. The faces of all the figures except Joseph have worn away, with Joseph’s facial features only being partially identifiable. The facial details include being painted in brown on light yellow skin, the eyebrows lying in a straight line apart from each other, and the thin long nose being interrupted by a white mustache and beard. The round eyes are aimed at the ground, reflecting sadness with a simple and realistic expression.
Black, white, reddish brown, grayish blue, and yellow are the earth colors used in the painting. The shading on the clothes was created using lime white. Slightly bluish carbon black was mixed with white and used as grayish blue on the clothes. Red brown is seen on the clothes of Mary and the angel. In addition to the clothes, grayish-blue was seen to be used to create a bright area in the background, especially in the section where Mary and Jesus are located; this was frequently applied for ground lighting in the 11th-12th centuries in particular. Dark yellow was used on the faces and hands as skin color that started from the yellow in the halos of the figures. Mary’s bed is surrounded by a brown color leaning toward red for emphasis.
The figures’ clothes have linear folds, with the light and shadow effects being created with white paint and thick lines of dark brown color. The halos of the figures are dark yellow. The halos are surrounded by black inner and white outer contours. The heads and facial extensions of the ox and donkey are painted brown. The use of reddish brown for facial features had become widespread after the 10th century. This small chapel, whose main space is formed by a naturally eroded rock mass surrounded by masonry walls on the north and west sides, can be considered to have been one of the worship or retreat structures built on the routes the clergy travelled on their way to their religious centers.
The Nativity of Christ is the only preserved scene in the chapel, and this scene is one of the most depicted liturgical scenes of the Eastern Church in the Middle Byzantine period. The
scene shares stylistic and technical characteristics with the paintings at Latmos and Fethiye, but also partially bears the characteristics regarding certain period-specific colors, styles, and techniques similar to those found in all examples of the wall paintings in Anatolia. Despite the predominant influence of the local style, the scene shows close similarities to other Nativity scenes of the period in terms of its iconographic features.
The scene has a crowded compositional arrangement that brings together episodes such as the Prophet Kings, the Adoration of the Shepherds, and the First Bath, which had been depicted as separate scenes after the depiction of the Nativity in the early period. This arrangementhad become widespread in the paintings of the Cappadocia region toward the end of the 10th century. In addition, Mary being depicted in a semi-sitting position with her head pointing toward Jesus in the cradle didn’t occur until after the 10th century, and the technical and painting style features used in the depiction at Dinecik weren’t commonly applied on buildings until the 11th century; these also indicate that the painting had been painted by local craftsmen in the late 10th and mid-11th centuries using regional characteristics.
