Madonna of Constantinople

Madonna of Constantinople is a tempera painting created by Greek painter Angelos Pitzamanos. Angelo was from the island of Crete. He was active from 1482 to 1535. His teacher was famous painter Andreas Pavias. Angelo finished commissions with his brother Donatus Pitzamanos. Eleven remaining works are attributed to Angelo. He signed most of his works in Latin, his signature poem was Angelus Bizamanus the Greek painter from Crete.

The painting was nicknamed Madonna of Constantinople. His brother famous Greek painter Donatus Pitzamanos also created works called Madonna of Constantinople. Another work by Angelo was nicknamed the Madonna of Constantinople. It is located at the church of San Matteo Bisceglie, Italy. Madonna of Constantinople was a very common name for art affiliated with Constantinople. Italian Renaissance patrons preferred the works of Greek Byzantine masters from Constantinople. Constantinople and Thessaloniki were the epicenters of Greek Byzantine painting and the palaeologan renaissance. Another famous Greek painter Michele Greco da Valona was also affiliated with Constantinople. Greek painter Belisario Corenzio was named after the famous Byzantine General Belisarius.

Italian art began to transition away from the Italian-Greek Byzantine style both Angelo and Michele Greco De Valano adopted the new technique incorporating both Byzantine painting and the Italian Renaissance style. Both artists can be likened to another famous painter of Greek origin from the same period named Ioannis Permeniates. Greek painters such as El Greco and Michael Damaskinos followed the same path during the second half of the 16th century. Other Italian Renaissance painters of Greek origin such as Antonio Vassilacchi and Marco Basaiti completely adopted the Italian style. The Madonna of Constantinople by Angelo is located at the Pinacoteca metropolitana di Bari.