The Aegean Islands remained outside the Turkish empire for two more centuries, outposts of the western christian powers. Most important amongst them, the island of Crete, under Venetian rule until 1669, became the scene of a last, but not least, flash of artistic activity. In the urban centres of Candia (today's Herakleion) and Chanea a mixed class of Greek and Venetian nobles, merchants and artisans develops, under a cruel, but realistic and -for its time- religiously tolerant, administration.

Even before the capture of Constantinople, refugees streaming from Constantinople and Morea, among which numerous remarkable painters, boost the art in Crete, which till then was rather provincial. In Candia only, according to the Venetian archives, the number of the known painters for the 1453-1526 period reaches a stunning 120 names. The Cretan icon painters soon turn to the exclusive production of portable icons in large numbers for export. They produce for a geographically, religiously and ethnically differentiated clientele, with various artistic preferences. They acquire the professional capacity to paint in many different styles, satisfying the wishes of their patrons.

Notwithstanding its obvious eclecticism, before the end of the 15th century Cretan art specifies its iconographic and aesthetic rules, at least concerning the works which remain faithful to the orthodox tradition. These rules prevail during the 16th and 17th centuries. Based in Constantinople, initially it forms a movement to return to the anti-classic byzantine traditions. At the same time, it represents the last conscious and artistically noteworthy effort to integrate some of the achievements of western art into the traditional context, without manifestly violating the byzantine inheritance. Perhaps there lies its whatsoever weakness.

Amidst the remarkable icon painters of this first period, we mention Andreas Ritzos* (+ circa 1492), Andreas Pavia (+ after 1504) and Nicolaos Tzafouris (+ before 1501).

* The painting above, Christ the Almighty, today at Toplou Monastery in Crete, is attributed to A. Ritzos.