15th Century
There was a substantial demand for Byzantine icons in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and, as a Venetian possession since 1204, Crete had a natural advantage and soon came to dominate the supply. A probable early example is the famous icon of the Virgin in Rome known as Our Mother of Perpetual Help, which was certainly well known in Rome by 1499. At this date there is little to distinguish Cretan work from other Byzantine icons stylistically, and the quality of work is lower than that associated with Constantinople.
This period also saw considerable numbers of wall-paintings in local churches and monasteries - altogether some 850 from the 14th and 15th centuries survive in Crete, far more than from earlier or later periods.
By the late 15th century, Cretan artists had established a distinct icon-painting style, distinguished by "the precise outlines, the modelling of the flesh with dark brown underpaint and dense tiny highlights on the cheeks of the faces, the bright colours in the garments, the geometrical treatment of the drapery, and, finally the balanced articulation of the composition", or "sharp contours, slim silhouettes, linear draperies and restrained movements". The most famous artist of the period was Andreas Ritzos (c. 1421-1492), whose son Nicholas was also well-known. Angelos Akotantos, until recently thought to be a conservative painter of the 17th century, is now, after the discovery of a will dated 1436, seen to have been an innovative artist in fusing Byzantine and Western styles, who survived until about 1457, when the will was actually registered. Interestingly, the will was made in anticipation of a voyage to Constantinople; several icons were bequeathed to church institutions, some Catholic but mainly Orthodox, and the disposition of his stock of pattern drawings was carefully specified. Andreas Pavias (d. after 1504) and his pupil Angelos Bizamanos, and Nicholas Tzafuris (d. before 1501) were other leading artists.
Even before the fall of Constantinople there is evidence that leading Byzantine artists were leaving the capital in order to settle in Crete. The migration of Byzantine artists to Crete continued increasingly the next years and reached its peak after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, when Crete became "the most important centre of art in the Greek world", influencing artistic developments in the rest of the Greek world. Cretan icons were commissioned for monasteries on Mount Athos and elsewhere. The Cretan school had a smaller rival; until it fell to the Turks in 1522, Rhodes also had a community of artists, but not so large or significant.
The Venetian archives preserve considerable documentation on the trade of artistic icons between Venice and Crete, which by the end of the 15th century had become one of mass production. There is documentation of a specific order in 1499, of 700 icons of the Virgin, 500 in a Western style, and 200 in Byzantine style. The order was placed with three artists by two dealers, one Venetian and one from mainland Greece, and the time between contract date and delivery was set at only forty-five days. Probably the quality of many such commissioned icons was fairly low, and the dismissive term Madonneri was devised to describe such bulk painters, who later practised in Italy also, often using a quasi-Byzantine style, and apparently often Greek or Dalmatian individuals. Production of icons at these levels seems to have led to a glut in the market, and in the following two decades there is much evidence that the Cretan trade declined significantly, as the European demand had been reduced. But at the top end of the market Cretan icons were now the finest in the Byzantine world.
Read more about this topic: Cretan School