Tzangarolas Stephanos

He was descended from a family of Cretan nobles who had settled on Corfu, as he himself most likely did as well. On Corfu the church of Ayia Triada, which belonged to his family and was built, according to an inscription in the narthex, in 1680, has survived. Of the icons that ornament the church some bear the signature Spyridon Tzangarolas and are dated 1685 and others the signature Stephanos Tzangarolas with the date 1688. Most likely these are one and the same person who before he became a monk used his secular name. In 1700 he was ordained a priest. His activity extends to 1710 according to the date on the “Presentation of the Virgin Mary”, his last dated work. In addition to the icons in the church of Ayia Triada, he also did icons from the Monastery of Sisia and the church of the Evangelistria at Kastro in Cephalonia, while works of his can also be found in the Benaki Museum, the Loverdos collection, the Metropolitan Megaron of Argostoli, the Corfu Municipal Gallery and elsewhere. In his work he was originally influenced by Cretan painting but later adopted western models.