How and why does vernacular art become foreign? What does ‘Greek manner’ mean in regions far beyond the Mediterranean? What stories do images need? How do narratives shape pictures? The study addresses these questions in Byzantine paintings from the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, contextualized with evidence from Poland, Serbia, Russia, and Italy. The research follows developments in artistic practices and the reception of these images, as well as distinguishing between the Greek manner – based on visual qualities – and the style favoured by the devout, sustained by cults and altered through stories. Following the reception of Byzantine and pseudo-Byzantine art in Lithuania and Poland from the late fourteenth through the early eighteenth centuries, Maniera Greca in Europe’s Catholic East argues that tradition is repetitive order achieved through reduction and oblivion, and concludes that the sole persistent understanding of the Greek image has been stereotyped as the icon of the Mother of God.

Giedre Mickunaite focuses on temporal dimensions of pictorial and verbal imagery. She explores structures of cultural legacy and regards oblivion as a vehicle in production of late medieval and early modern culture. Since 2003, Mickunaite teaches and carries art historical research at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in Lithuania.

"Mickunaite’s valuable book highlights the issue of maniera Greca and its understanding in a historical context, indicating the potential links of their creators with the Morava school, and emphasising the role of Gregory Camblak."
-Miroslaw Piotr Kruk, The Byzantine Review, vol. 6, 2024

''The book is an extended attempt to provide a new framework for understanding the presence and evolving meaning of these Greek images. At the same time, in a microhistorical way, the pieces of art under examination serve as a gateway to narrate broader processes: confessional disputes, ideologies of power, changing artistic tastes, or, finally, cultural transfers that were established beyond the stereotypical East-West or centerperipheries divisions.''
- Jan Blonski , 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual , July, 2024

''As mentioned by Mickunaite, “this study is a kind of rescue expedition, which aspires to save fragmented as well as semantically mixed images from neglect” (p. 17). [...] It is praiseworthy that she draws attention to the overlooked, and yet very important, material presented in the book. [...] so hopefully, the publication will reach a broad audience and place those “small” pieces into a “big” narrative.''
- Dorota Zaprzalska, 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual , Vol.2, 2024

Acknowledgements
Introduction or an eye in debris
I. Silence
Beyond confessions: Byzantine paintings in Lithuanian castles
Along the bulwark of Christianity: Moravan masters and Lithuanian patron?
Catholic supervision: the Crucifixion in Vilnius Cathedral
II. Negotiations
From home to house: Jagiellonian commissions of Byzantine paintings in Poland
Interlude of the ‘schismatic queen’
Greekness venerated, known, obsolete
On hands that paint
III. Translations
Church turned eastwards, minds westwards
Form follows story
Truth: displayed, seen, known, performed
Conclusions: Greek image in temporal and semantic loops