xelovnebaTmcodneobiTi etiudebi STUDIES IN ART CRITICISM I

Maia Chichileishvili
One Aspect of the Ideological Resolution of Skhalta Painting
(Interrelation between the Legacy of Abuserisdze Tbeli and Skhalta
Painting)
Summary
According to the iconographic and artistic-stylistic features the
painting of the Skhalta hall-type church is connected to the samples of the
turn of the 14 th -15 th centuries. It provides interesting material for
revealing the development and peculiarities of the Palaeologos art in
Georgia.
According to the historical data the decoration of the Skhalta
monastery with frescos as well as its construction in the mid 13 th century
is linked with the Adjarian nobility – the representatives of the
Abuserisdze patrimony. Hence it becomes clear that while compiling the
iconographic and theological program of the Skhalta painting architects
regarded the opinions of their great ancestor – Abuserisdze Tbeli, the
famous 13 th -century public figure and thinker.
Together with the doctrines of the orthodox creed the Skhalta
painting reveals the priority of the theophanic, eschatological and
salvation ideas. It is the reflection of the dominant social outlook of the
period (14 th -15 th cc). By highlighting the eschatological idea the Skhalta
painting reveals not only the general aspiration characteristic of the
Georgian painting of the given period but the opinions characteristic of
the legacy of Abuserisdze Tbeli, the spiritual son of this region. The
program of the Skhalta church painting is to a certain extent a visual
picture of the introduction to the Tbeli’s work “Miracles of St George, the
Martyr” (“New Miracles of St George”).
The basis of the theological program of the Skhalta ensemble was
determined by the general epochal aspiration, architects demands and the
legacy of Abuserisdze Tbeli.
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