David Selenica or Selenicasi was an Albanian

Albanians

Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...

 painter of the late 17th and the early 18th century. He is regarded as one of the most prominent figures of Albanian post-Byzantine

Byzantine art

Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....

 icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

 painting.

Selenicasi, also known as David of Selenica was born in the late 17th century in Selenicë, a village in the region of Kolonjë

Kolonje

Kolonjë is a small village in Gjirokastër District, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania, located northwest of the city Gjirokastër which is about 30 minutes away. The village has a festival every year on the 10th of May called Dhjet Maj , when everyone who has left the village returns to celebrate...

. He died in the mid-18th century near Korçë

Korçë

Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...

.

Works

In 1715 he painted fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es in one of the chapels of the monastery of the Great Lavra

Great Lavra

This is the monastery on Mount Athos. For the monastery associated with Saint Sabbas, see Mar Saba.The Monastery of Great Lavra is the first monastery built on Mount Athos. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of 160 metres...

, the first monastery built on Mount Athos

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...

.
From 1722 to 1726 David Selenica and his two disciples Kostandin and Kristo painted the murals, the frescoes and the basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 of the church of Saint Nicholas in Moscopole

Moscopole

Moscopole was a cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians, and now a small municipality in Korçë District, modern southeastern Albania. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing press in the Balkans outside Istanbul, educational institutions and numerous churches...

. In 1727 he painted the murals and the frescoes of the church of Saint John the Baptist in Kastoria

Kastoria

Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...

, and the church of Blessed Virgin Mary in Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

.

Technique

In contrast to other painters of his era, Selenica uses bright colours in his paintings and icons. Selenica combines elements of Byzantine art

Byzantine art

Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....

 of the Paleologan era and Venetian school of art

Venetian school (art)

-Context:In the 15th century Venetian painting developed through influences from the Paduan School and Antonello da Messina, who introduced the oil painting technique of Early Netherlandish painting. It is typified by a warm colour scale and a picturesque use of colour...

.

Legacy

David Selenicasi's work influenced many of his contemporaries like Kostandin Shpataraku

Kostandin Shpataraku

Kostandin Shpataraku was an Albanian painter and decorator. Many of his icons are located in Ardenica Monastery. One of his associated works sold at a charity ball hosted by Liri Berisha, wife of the Albanian premier for 75,000 euros....

, the brothers Kostandin and Athanas Zografi

Kostandin and Athanas Zografi

The brothers Kostandin Zografi and Athanas Zografi were Albanian painters of the 18th century from Dardhë, in modern Korçë District, southern Albania . They are regarded as the most prominent painters of the Albanian post-Byzantine icon art of the 18th century and generally of the region of Epirus...

 and works of the early 19th century. He is regarded as the founder of a distinct national school of painters based in Korçë

Korçë

Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...

.

His works are exhibited in the National Historical Museum of Albania

National Historical Museum (Albania)

The National Historical Museum in Tirana, Albania, is the country's largest museum. It was opened on 28 October 1981 and is 27,000 square metres in size, while 18,000 square metres are available for expositions. The museum was designed by Albanian architect, Enver Faja.The construction of the...

 in Tirana

Tirana

Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...

 in the pavilion of icon painting and the National Museum of Medieval Art

National Museum of Medieval Art

National Museum of Medieval Art is a museum in Korçë, Albania. It was established on April 24, 1980. The museum has over 7,000 art and cultural items, mainly icons and less stone, wooden, metal and textile works representing various moments in Albania iconography development...

of Korçë. Other works of David Selenicasi are found in several monasteries of Mount Athos. In Moscopole seven of his murals have been preserved.

Sources