Madonna of Constantinople

A ‘Greek style’ panel

The Madonna with Child and angels holding the crown, in the typical iconography of the Madonna of Constantinople, is proof of the presence in Puglia and, specifically, in Barletta of works of oriental, Byzantine style, defined as 'Venetian-Cretan'. In fact, Greek inscriptions are visible.

It was believed that the panel, painted on a gold background and currently located along one of the side naves of the church, came from a chapel dedicated to the Madonna of Constantinople, which still existed in the church at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Because of a number of affinities with other known works, the painting has been dated to the first half of the sixteenth century and has been attributed to Donato Bizamano, exponent of a line of painters of Cretan origin, including Angelo who had the opportunity to work in Barletta. This is clear from an inscription on a panel depicting Christ at the column preserved in the church of the Annunziata in San Mauro Forte (Matera).