Thesis title: TRA DUE CAPITALI Arte e committenza aristocratica a Costantinopoli e Tessalonica nella prima età dei Paleologi (1261-1350 ca.)
The study investigates the late Byzantine period (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries), reconstructing the “grammar” of artistic patronage within the Palaiologan aristocracy between Constantinople and Thessaloniki. With an integrated approach, the research shows how aristocratic evergetism functioned as a device for political and religious legitimation, self-representation and dynastic memory, as well as for the accumulation of cultural capital. Particular attention is devoted to the leading figures of the period and to the female component of the elite, whose foundations, networks, and visual programs are reconstructed. In parallel, individual cases of patronage are repositioned within the framework of the fourteenth-century crises, bringing into focus the dialogue between doctrine, ritual, and image. The result is a comparative map of the languages of power that rereads visual and architectural production as the outcome of patrons’ strategic choices, proposing precise chronological adjustments and foregrounding their agency – including gendered agency – in shaping the Palaiologan urban and devotional horizon.