06 works, Today, September 12th, is Hieromartyr Dositheus's day, his story illustrated #254

Unknown artist

The capture of Tbilisi by Agha Muhammad Khan

A Qajar-era Persian miniature from the British Library

Thirty-five thousand Persian soldiers marched toward Georgia in the year 1795. 

Unknown artist

Erekle II, King of Kartli and Kakheti (Georgia), 1762 – 1798)

I have no further description, at this time

The Georgian king Erekle II (1762-1798) and his two thousand soldiers declared war on the invaders as they were approaching Tbilisi. The Georgians won the first skirmish, but many perished in the fighting. The enemy was shaken and was preparing to flee the battleground, when several traitors reported to Aqa Muhammed Khan that King Erekle had lost nearly his entire army. 

Persian School, (19th century)

Mohammad Khan Qajar, the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran (1785–1925)

Oil on canvas

167.7x105.1 cms

Private collection

Persian School, (19th century): Persian painting in the West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or Turkish, museums. Miniature painting became a significant Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries.[68] The tradition continued, under some Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal miniature in the Indian sub-continent. More on Persian School, (19th century)

Luigi Premazzi

View of Tbilissi, before 1891
I have no further description, at this time

This is a corner of the old city - the Kura River, a Shah Ismayil Mosque on the left, a church and a Narikala fortress on the mountain above the Maidan.

Luigi Premazzi (Milan, 1814 – Istanbul, Turkey, 1891) was an Italian painter, mainly of watercolor vedute.

Premazzi attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and then the private school run by Giovanni Migliara. His early watercolours, based on the works of his master, were produced for the lithographic industry. His oeuvre is characterised by a repertoire of urban views produced in accordance with the dictates of perspective painting.

While most of these are set in Milan, other Italian cities were also featured in later years. He presented work regularly at the exhibitions of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti in Turin from 1842 to 1848 as well as those of the Brera Academy. Having moved to Saint Petersburg around 1850, he became a teacher at the Imperial School of Fine Arts there in 1861. Frequent stays in the Caucasus and the Middle East provided new subjects for his paintings, which he continued to send to Italian exhibitions, where they aroused wonder and curiosity.

Many of his depictions were of ruins of Christian churches in the Caucasus. More on Luigi Premazzi

This betrayal decided the fate of the battle. The one hundred fifty soldiers who remained in the Georgian army barely succeeded in saving the life of King Erekle, who had willed to perish on the battlefield with his soldiers.

Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi (1889–1943)
Battle of Krtsanisi

I have no further description, at this time

Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi (2 July 1889 – 9 June 1943) was a Georgian Modernist artist and set designer.

Born in the town of Kvareli into a noble family, Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi studied arts at Tiflis and Moscow. Returning to Georgia in 1915, he made a name as a caricaturist and illustrator and later switched to historical painting. He became best known for his set design for the Georgian theatre and cinema, for which he fruitfully collaborated with the leading director Kote Marjanishvili. He worked as an art director for about 35 films between 1922 and 1935. In the late 1930s, he mostly retired to teaching arts. More on Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi 

All of Tbilisi was engulfed in flames. The plunderers murdered the people, set fire to the libraries, destroyed the print shop, and vandalized the churches and the king’s palace. They slaughtered the clergy in an especially cruel manner.

Unknown artist

Detail: Capture of Tiflis by Agha Muhammad Shah

Georgian Defenders Raising White Banner Ignored by the Persian Cavalry, Now Retreating Back to Inside the City Walls

A Qajar-era miniature from Fath 'Ali Khan Saba's Shahinshah Nama

The British Library

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the names of all those martyrs who perished in this tragedy, but we do know that a certain Metropolitan Dositheus of Tbilisi was killed because he would not abandon his flock. While the invaders simply killed most of the clergymen, from Saint Dositheus they demanded a renunciation of the Christian Faith. 

Unknown artist

Hieromartyr Dositheus

Icon

I have no further description, at this time

They commanded him to defile the True and Life-giving Cross of our Lord. But the holy hieromartyr Dositheus endured the greatest torments without yielding to the enemy, and he joyfully accepted death for Christ’s sake. The invaders slaughtered Christ’s devoted servant with their swords.

Saint Dositheus was martyred on September 12 in the year 1795. More on Hieromartyr Dositheus

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