Wall-paintings

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Artistic evolution in Crete ceased abruptly after the Venetian conquer in 1211, since the island became isolated from the artistic centers of the Βyzantine Empire. In the period that followed local artisans remained focus to the archetypes of the past. Under these circumstances, the archaistic and usually provincial character of the Cretan wall-painting of the first period of the Venetian occupation is easily explicable. This style survived until the third decade of the 14th c., when the Cretan painting knew a new revival under the influence of the Palaiologan Renaissance.
The gradual penetration of this new tendency and its further evolution, eased by the immigration of Constantinopolitan artisans to Crete due to the ottoman threat, leaded into an accession of the artistic level and formatted the specific character of the artistic vague that was described under the term “Cretan School of Painting”. This high quality painting is encountered in a series of churches, usually related to educated clergymen or wealthy donors, from the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th c. onwards.