135 Elizabeta DIMITROVA TALES FROM IMAGINARY ARCHIVES: painterly, biblical and otherwise ПАТРИМОНИУМ.МК, година 16, брoj 21 / 2023 УДК: 75.052:27‐523.4(497.731)"13" Key words: Byzantine painting, Kurbinovo, King Marko’s monastery, Leonardo da Vinci, Symbolism. Abstract: the paper examines the ways and manners of creation of visual narratives based on Biblical sourc- es that have been depicted in another fashion - diferent, yet not distinctive from their textual background. It inves- tigates the artistic approach towards signifcant subjects of biblical nature and their visual articulation born out of personal invention and/or freedom of imagination. In that regard, the paper tries to disclose the motifs behind some of the most popular illustrations of themes described in the verses of the Gospels which do not coincide soundly with their textual frameworks. In other words, it shows how much a prominent subject matter can be modifed in order to satisfy the notion of visual alternation of well known Biblical chapters. The saying every picture tells a story is commonly used to express the idea that visualization of certain sub- jects reaches our mind faster than their existing narratives. It is also true that each picture has a diferent approach to the process of visualization, except some pictures tell more than one story. That process, by all means, encompasses the initial ideological or emotional connection of the artist to the subject matter regardless of how complex or compli- cated that subject matter can be. In the millennia long ar- tistic activity, from the cave painting up to the invention of abstract art, the pictures have been witnessing the social, emotional and/or aesthetical relationship of the humanity to the ongoing circumstances of diferent nature. Still, in the 21 st century art historians cannot explain the accurate purpose of the monumentally depicted zoomorphic rep- resentations on the walls of the Altamira cave 1 , nor de- cipher how the images of the imperial couple appear in the mirror placed in the backdrop of Velásquez’ master-piece entitled Las Meninas 2 . This is simply due to the fact that no matter how one tries to comprehend the essence of the picture using logical parameters and rational approach, one can never penetrate into the depths of artist’s person- al imagination which is his most intimate feature, exclusive to him and him only. Even if the artist is inspired by a literary source or a canonic text, such are the verses of the Bible, he envisages the story in a particular way characteristic of his own imagina- tive skills and painterly approach. Hence, the same subject appropriates diferent iconographic assem- blage in the works of diferent authors which makes the artistic procedure more attractive for comparison or discourse. This is highly attributive to the Bibli- cal subjects both in the medieval and later painting. What is more peculiar, the same artist can paint the same subject multiple times which can be observed in Byzantine fresco painting whereat the artist was commissioned to execute similar fresco programs in several churches. However, the executions were nev- er the same no matter how similar they might look to an unprofessional observer. That is due to the de- sire for an authentic creation distinctive of all great painters in human history, thus, one can recognize the painter’s handwriting, yet his creative imagination as an integral part of his artistic credo will never allow the copy and paste principle. On the other hand, the observer can look at the painting in the most individual manner. When ac- quainted with the subject, the observer can recognize the basic matrix of artistic visualization originating from the textual synopsis. Still, if one looks at the picture as a visual assemblage of the basic matrix (description) + additional components (imagination) 1 D. S. Whitley, Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: the Origin of Creation and Belief, Buffalo 2009, 35. 2 G. Kubler, Three Remarks on the Meninas, The Art Bulletin 48/2, Milton Park 1966, 212-214; M. M. Kahr, Velásquez and Las Meninas, The Art Bulletin 57/2, Milton Park 1975, 225-246; W. D. Carr, Painting and Reality: the Art and Life of Velásquez, in: Velásquez (W. D. Carr and X. Bray Eds.), London 2006, 46-47.