Images of the Bulgar-slayer: three art historical notes

Abstract

Following A. Cutler and G. Prinzing, this paper maintains that two works of art, Basil's psalter portrait and the imperial silk in Bamberg Cathedral (Gunthertuch), cannot be associated with Basil II's victory over the Bulgarians in 1018. A third work, a series of portraits known only from a late twelfth-century epigram, is adduced as evidence for the importance of Basil to the imperial image cultivated by the Komnenoi and Angeloi. The conclusions of an earlier investigation are, therefore, slightly modified and verified: the legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer was the product, in general, of the military ethos cultivated at the Komnenian court, and, in particular, of Isaak Angelos' reaction to the rebellion by Peter and Asen in 1185.