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→Life and work
Damaskinos lived in Venice for several years, where he learnt miniature painting and travelled extensively throughout Italy.<ref>J. Stuart Hay, Leonard Bower. "Greek Icon Painting." '''The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs.''' 51,(292), 1927. pp:8-9,12-14.</ref> He was a member of the 'Greek Brotherhood of Venice' from 1577–1582, having been in Venice since 1574. Along with [[w:Emmanuel Tzanes|Emmanuel Tzanes]] he painted the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of [[w:San Giorgio dei Greci|San Giorgio dei Greci]] in Venice.
In 1584 he was back in Greece and worked mainly in Crete and the Ionian islands. His works are in traditional Byzantine style but with many influences from Venetian painting, mainly Renaissance artists such as [[w:Tintoretto|Tintoretto]] and [[w:Paolo Veronese|Paolo Veronese]]. He used a particular rose colour that characterised his paintings; his figures' dimensions are defined by only a few brush strokes, while he was accustomed to drawing wooden and never marble thrones as was typical in the [[w:Cretan School|Cretan School]].
That Damaskinos was highly regarded is shown by him being invited from Crete to paint the frescoes of [[San Giorgio dei Greci (Venice, Italy)|San Giorgio dei Greci]], despite all the many Greek artists already in Venice .<ref>[http://parembasis.gr/2000/00_08_23.htm 2000_ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΟΣ-ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΣ]</ref>. Damaskinos was also the first artist to introduce paler flesh tones into post-Byzantine painting and it was one of the stylistic features of his work which proved highly influential from the second half of the sixteenth century and onwards.<ref>A winged St. John the Baptist icon in the British Museum (2003). Angeliki Lymberopoulou Apollo.</ref>