**7. Icons**

Queen Helen is also associated with two icons that were donated to churches in Italy. The first icon is that of Sts. Peter and Paul, which is kept in the Vatican Treasury in Rome, and the second icon is that of St. Nicholas which was donated to his church in Bari.

The Vatican icon was painted on poplar wood in egg tempera on a gold background. It is divided into two separate registers by a horizontal red line. The upper part of the icon shows the busts of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul who are depicted in a gesture of blessing (Figure 9). Peter is holding a scroll and Paul a book of his epistles. They occupy two thirds of the composition and above them is the bust of Christ. The lower third of the icon is intended for the founders. In the central part, below the arcade on the pillars, Queen Helen is represented as a nun bowing before a Western bishop with a nimbus, holding a book and the episcopal staff (crozier), who is blessing her. The bishop is dressed in a green tunic and red chasuble, and a miter on his head. The sides of the composition are occupied by two figures identically dressed in the Byzantine costume and with crowns, their heads in a posture of prayer: her sons Dragutin on the left and Milutin on the right. This icon of St. Peter and St. Paul was probably commissioned by Queen Helen and was presumably given to Pope Nicholas IV (r. 1288–1299). According to Mihailovi´c–Shipley [13] (pp. 92–93)

the icon holds an important message. As the commissioner of the work, Queen Helen was probably aware that the contemporary religious politics in the region corresponded with the idea of the unification of the two churches promoted by the popes in the 13th century, and even briefly achieved in the Lyon Union. As it is well known, the cult of St. Peter and St. Paul was established in the late 4th century, when Pope Damascus consistently promoted them as emblems of unity within the church [14] (p. 102). During the pontificate of Nicholas IV (r. 1288–1292) this idea continued to be promoted through the images of Sts. Peter and Paul [13] (pp. 94).

**Figure 9.** Queen Helen as a nun flanked by her sons, Dragutin and Milutin, Sts. Peter and Paul icon around 1282, 74 × 49 cm. (copyist: Z. Živkovi´c). The Gallery of Frescoes, Belgrade. Inv. No. 870. Photo courtesy of The Gallery of Frescoes, Belgrade.

Although the second icon that Queen Helen donated to the Church of St. Nicholas in Bari has not been preserved, there is a description of it in the work of Antonio Beatillo from 1620 [15] (p. 653). The height of the icon was less than one meter and the width was about half a meter. However, we learn that the panel from the Vatican Treasury reveals many similarities with this one. The representation consisted of the bust of St. Nicholas in the upper part of the icon and three kneeling figures with Latin inscriptions at the bottom: King Dragutin was represented on the left as REX STEPHANUS FILIUS UROSII REGIS SERVIAE, [King Stefan son of Uroš the ruler of Serbia], King Milutin on the right—REX UROSIUS FILIUS UROSII REGIS SERVIAE [King Uroš (II) son of Uroš (I) the ruler of Serbia], and Queen Helen in the middle whose figure was accompanied by a long inscription: MEMENTO FAMULE TUE HELEN DEI GRATIA REGINE SERVIAE UXORIS MAGNI REGIS UROSII ET MATRIS URSII ET STEPHANI SUPRASCRIPTORUM REGUM.

HANC YCONAM AD HONOREM SANCTI NICOLAI ORDINAVIT [Oh, Lord, remember Thy servant in the Grace of God, Helen the Queen of Serbia, wife of the grea<sup>t</sup> King Uroš (I) and mother of Uroš (II) and Stefan, the above signed rulers, who commissioned this icon in honor of St. Nicholas] [16] (p. 143). With these icons and adopting a recognizable Italian style, Queen Helen may have wished to promote the Serbian Kingdom as a multicultural state, with strong Italian connections and affinities or to have the icon appeal stylistically to its intended Catholic audience.

## **8. The Graˇcanica Monastery**

The Graˇcanica Monastery is one of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin's last monumental endowments. The monastery is located in Graˇcanica, Kosovo, about 5 km from Priština, and represents one of the masterpieces of Serbian medieval art and architecture. On the northern part of the eastern wall in the narthex of the Annunciation Church of the Graˇcanica Monastery, painted around 1321, in the first zone to the right Queen Helen, is represented as a saint with a halo and the inscription: CTA IE ЛEHA ΠPEB ИCOKA CAMO ДPЬЖABHA KPAЛИЦA [St. Helen the grea<sup>t</sup> independent queen] (Figure 10). Next to her, to the right, there is a frontal representation of a male person dressed in a monk's suit with a halo and the visible inscription that reads: CT ИCTE ϕAH Ь O УPOШЬKPA ЛBC ʡ X ЬCP Ь ΠCK И X 3EMЛЬ И ΠOMOPCK И X ЬCTAГO ΠPЬBOB ʡ N ЧAANAГO KPA ЛA CT ( ... ) BNO У K Ь [St. Stefan Uroš King of all Serbian lands and the Littoral, St. King Stefan the First-crowned St ( ... ) grandson] [17] (p. 107). Above them, there is a representation of Christ Emanuel, giving them a monastic insignia. Although data from the image and from the inscription are mutually exclusive—King Milutin did not become a monk during his lifetime—according to Branislav Todi´c's first interpretation, this scene represents "the symbolic monasticism of King Milutin" [17] (p. 76) and was created a couple of years later than the original decorative program of the Graˇcanica church, probably around 1324 [17] (p. 130). In an article published five years later, the same author corrected his reading of the inscription and interpreted the scene as a representation of Queen Helen as a nun and King Uroš I as a monk [18] (pp. 13). The iconography of the scene and its further political message is, however, unique. During a closer inspection of the fresco between the representations of St. Helen and Uroš, the remains of two figures were discovered (Figure 11). Their appearance, although only in the drawing, as well as the fact that Christ provided them with two identical, domed crowns, according to various authors simplifies their recognition. Reduced in size compared to the monk Symeon and St. Helen, two figures of different ages are presented here, facing each other, prayerfully bowed and with their hands in the same gesture, both having domed crowns and halos around their heads. On the elderly person, next to Uroš, there is a *maniakion* and a *loros* falling over his left arm. According to Todi´c, this king was identified with King Milutin because of his long beard, while the person across from him, a young beardless man wearing a tunic and a cloak was seen "as his son Constantine" [18] (p. 14). Recently, Dragan Vojvodi´c proposed another identification of these figures. He saw them as a young king Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and his father Stefan III Deˇcanski, who have been consciously omitted from the original program of Graˇcanica because of the well-known conflict between Stefan Deˇcanski and King Milutin in 1314. Additionally, Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and his father Stefan III Deˇcanski were painted in Graˇcanica after their coronation on 6 January 1322 [19] (p. 262). The originally imagined painting of the Graˇcanica narthex thus intended to legitimate the ascension to the power of Stefan Deˇcanski and his fellow ruler in the presence of St. Helen and Uroš I as a monk.

**Figure 10.** Queen Helen as a nun, 1322, Church of the Annunciation of the Graˇcanica Monastery, eastern wall. Photo by Srdan Vulovi´ ¯ c, courtesy of the National Museum of Kraljevo.

**Figure 11.** Queen Helen as a nun with Uroš I as monk. Between them, a young king Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and his father Stefan III Deˇcanski, around 1322. Church of the Annunciation of Graˇcanica Monastery, north part of the eastern wall. Reconstruction based on drawings by B. Živkovi´c. Courtesy of M. Miša Rakocija the Editor-in-chief of the *Niš and Byzantium*.
