01 Religious Icon, The Icon of Our Lady of the Sign, with footnotes #30

Unknown artist

The Icon of Our Lady of the Sign, circa 1900

Tempera and gilding on panel

17 3/8 x 15 1/2 in. (43.8 x 39.5 cm)

Private collection

The surface is richly carved, gilded, and painted in imitation of an enameled silver cover and pearl robes.

The Icon of Our Lady of the Sign is the term for a particular type of icon of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), facing the viewer directly, depicted either full length or half, with her hands raised in the orans position, and with the image of the Child Jesus depicted within a round aureole upon her breast.

The icon depicts the Theotokos during the Annunciation at the moment of saying, "May it be done to me according to your word."(Luke 1:38). The image of the Christ child represents him at the moment of his conception in the womb of the Virgin. He is depicted not as a fetus, but rather vested in divine robes, and often holding a scroll, symbolic of his role as teacher. 

The term Virgin of the Sign or Our Lady of the Sign is a reference to the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel". Such an image is often placed in the apse of the sanctuary of an Orthodox church above the Holy Table (altar). More on The Icon of Our Lady of the Sign

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