In 1150, weakened by the onset of an illness, he was forced to retire from public life by Manuel. Isaac then devoted himself to the construction of the monastery of Theotokos Kosmosoteira at Bera (modern Feres) in western Thrace, where he was to be buried. Isaac was noted for his erudition and his patronage of learning, and is considered the author of a number of scholarly and poetic works. He is also notable for rebuilding the Chora Church in Constantinople, where his mosaic donor portrait survives to this day. His younger son Andronikos I Komnenos eventually managed to realize Isaac's ambitions, becoming emperor in 1183–1185, the last of the Komnenian dynasty.