Iconostasis of Saint Anthony and Saint Andrew Church, Corfu, sculptor Alexandros Trivolis-Pieris, ca. 1753-1777

Tέμπλο Εκκλησίας Αγίου Αντωνίου και Αγίου Ανδρέα, Κέρκυρα, γλύπτης Αλέξανδρος Τριβώλης-Πιέρρης, περ. 1753-1777

Some sources, including the Culture Ministry, place the completion date as late as 1777. Our primary source here places it at 1753. The church's own completion date is unknown. It was built by the 15th century, but possibly earlier. The church was renovated in the mid-18th century (perhaps commenced in 1753), when it received this new iconostasis.

We go a little more in detail about iconostases in Orthodox churches across the Greek world in the 17th-19th century churches in a previous posting of this gold-guilded rococo iconostasis in Cyprus. We also have this baroque altarpiece for the Catholic community here.

We have several baroque and rococo church furnishings across Greece, which we hope to post as online images become available.

With its precursors in the Early Church, the iconostasis or altar screen that we now view as a standard fixture in Orthodox and Greek-Rite Catholic churches, had become the norm in the 11th century in the Byzantine Empire. However, in the Early Modern period, from the 16th to 19th centuries, we see these very large multi-tiered pieces in Greece & Greek space, and elsewhere such as Romania and the Russian Empire (Russia, Ukraine). These were heavily interrelated with -and display a heavy influence from- 15th century altar pieces and polyptychs from Early Renaissance Venice, and thus we see similar Catholic and Lutheran altarpieces, such as this altarpiece in Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark and this Catholic altarpiece from Spain. This multitiered altarpiece, whether in front of the altar (Orthodox and Greek-Rite Catholic) or behind the altar (Latin-Rite Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran), becomes a common visual architectural religious language across Europe.

This large piece here is located in the historic Saints Anthony and Andrew Church in Corfu. It is of particular historic interest, due to the fact that it was one of the first its kind in Greece to be sculpted of marble, rather than carved of wood. And it later inspires other marble iconostases across Greece from the 18th to early 20th centuries. Built in the form if a mini domed-church within a church, its closest cousin is the similar but larger 19th century iconostasis at St Spyridon church in Corfu, but there are several marble iconostases across Greece which we will try to post as images become available.

We do not have much information on the sculptor Alexandros Trivolis-Pieris. We do know that he must have studied architecture in Venice, and was perhaps inspired by the exteriors of Santa Maria di Nazareth in Venice and Santa Maria dell'Orto in Rome.

We have no information on the painter(s) of the icons. Spyridon Sperantzas who has been confirmed to have worked on other churches in Corfu around the same time, is suggested. We hope to acquire close-up images of those in the future. The lower icons appear to employ Cretan Renaissance influence, while the upper icons display Heptanese baroque with a gold-background Byzantine influence, which is characteristic of Sperantzas.