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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01 Religious Icon, A Russian icon of the Deesis, with footnotes #29

Unknown iconographer

A Russian icon of the Deesis

Egg tempera on wood

36 x 30cm

Private collection

In the Deesis, the Pantocrator is in the center, to his right is the Mother of God in an attitude of intercession: she represents the Church, brings back to Christ the prayer of humanity and covers it with her maternal protection. After the Virgin, the Baptist has the place of honor next to Christ, to the left of his throne; archetype of men, it makes the link between the Old and the New Testament and summarizes the long expectation of the people of Israel; he is the first to designate Jesus as the Messiah, he baptizes him in the waters of the Jordan. John is the first martyr of Christ, which gives him a special power of intercession. Christ in the center with the Mother on his right and John the Baptist on his left, both in an attitude of supplication, constitute the iconographic module called Deesis or prayer. More on this icon

The Greek word Deesis can be translated as entreaty or request. Characteristic of the iconography of a Deesis is that a group of saints turn to the centrally depicted Christ in intercession. The purpose of this intercession is to implore mercy for all mankind. The saints stand on the left and right side next to Christ’s throne, with their heads bowed in the direction of Christ and usually one hand directed towards him.

The Deesis is the most important and therefore the most central part of an iconostasis in Orthodox Church. In churches, the Deësis usually consists of several separate panels. The order of closeness to Christ is almost always the same: the Mother of God and John the Forerunner (the Baptist) stand right next to the throne, followed by the archangels Michael and Gabriel and the apostles Peter and Paul. For the positions further away from Christ, there is an increasing degree of room for differences. Here there is a place for the other apostles, evangelists, early church fathers, warrior saints, martyrs and other, possibly local, church saints.

In the centre of this icon, Christ Almighty is seated on a throne. He is holding a gospel book in his left hand. To the left and right of Christ are the Mother of God and John the Forerunner, their heads bowed in intercession. Behind the throne are the archangels Michael and Gabriel, followed by the two saints who are considered to be the founders of the early Christian church: the apostles Peter and Paul. More on The Greek word Deesis

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01 Religious Icon, MOTHER OF GOD "MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD, with footnotes #28

Ivan Fedorov, Moscow

MOTHER OF GOD "MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD"

Tempera on panel, silver oklad

12 1/2 x 10 in., 32 x 25.5 cm

Private collection

This icon with the Virgin enthroned in an oval reserve holding a book open to the words of the Magnificat in Cyrillic reading "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior," the silver oklad chased and repoussé with Neo-classical ornament, struck with mark of assayer Aleksei Vikhliaev, the Cyrillic initials AOP of an unidentified alderman, and Cyrillic initials IF, possibly for Ivan Fedorov, Moscow, 1797; the halo with seraphim and crown, with maker's marks obscured, Moscow, 1899-1908. More on this icon

Ivan Fyodorov was one of the fathers of Eastern Slavonic printing, he was the first known Russian printer in Moscow and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was also a skilled cannon maker and the inventor of a multibarreled mortar. More on Ivan Fedorov

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2 Religious Icons, Barnaba da Modena and Veneto-Cretan Icons of the Madonna and Child, with footnotes #27

Barnaba da Modena  (1328–1386)

Madonna and Child, c. 1370s

Tempera on panel

height: 109 cm (42.9 in); width: 72 cm (28.3 in)

Louvre Museum

The panel, probably originally rectangular, was cut at the top following the profile of the moldings in relief. Central element of a polyptych.

The Nursing Madonna, Virgo Lactans, or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. In Italian it is called the Madonna del Latte ("Madonna of milk"). It was a common type in painting until the change in atmosphere after the Council of Trent, in which it was rather discouraged by the church, at least in public contexts, on grounds of propriety.

The depiction is mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great, and a mosaic depiction probably of the 12th century is on the facade of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, though few other examples survive from before the late Middle Ages. It continued to be found in Orthodox icons (as Galaktotrophousa in Greek, Mlekopitatelnitsa in Russian), especially in Russia. More on The Nursing Madonna

Barnaba da Modena (c. 1328-c.1386) was a mid-14th-century Italian painter who painted in the style of Byzantine art. He is considered the first Lombard painter of note and was active in Lombardy, Piedmont, and Pisa in Tuscany.

As his name indicates, the artist was a native of Modena (Emilia). The first records regarding Barnaba date to 1361 and 1362 when he had already become a Genoese citizen and was hiring Tuscan assistants. His earliest dated paintings relate to his activities in Genoa. He produced paintings for the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa in 1364. His earliest known painting is a polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints (Palazzo Bianco, Genoa), which combines the Gothic style of Tuscan polyptychs with Emilian design. Another work, a Virgin and Child (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), shows the influence of Sienese painting in the rounded faces and the gold-striated highlights on Mary's mantle. More on Barnaba da Modena

Unidentified Veneto-Cretan artist

MOTHER OF GOD GALAKTOTROPHOUSA/ Nursing Madonna, c. 17th

Tempera on panel

34cm, 15¾ by 13⅜in.

Private collection

Cretan School describes an important school of icon painting, under the umbrella of post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the Fall of Constantinople, becoming the central force in Greek painting during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Cretan artists developed a particular style of painting under the influence of both Eastern and Western artistic traditions and movements; the most famous product of the school, El Greco, was the most successful of the many artists who tried to build a career in Western Europe, and also the one who left the Byzantine style farthest behind him in his later career. More on Cretan School

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01 Russian Icon, An icon of St Euthymios the Great, with footnotes #58

Unknown iconographer

An icon of St Euthymios the Great, Greece, first half 17th century

Tempera on panel

90 by 55.5 cm, 35 2/5 by 21 4/5in.

Private collection

St. Euthymius the Great, (born 377, Melitene, Armenia—died January 20, 473, Palestinian desert, northeast of Jerusalem; feast day January 20), ascetic and one of the great fathers of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, who established religious communities throughout Palestine.

Orphaned in his youth, Euthymius was educated and later ordained priest by Bishop Otreus of Melitene. He was charged with the spiritual care of the ascetics and monasteries of the city, but in 406 he left for Palestine in search of solitude. Joining the monastery of Pharan, near Jerusalem, he befriended St. Theoctistus, and about 411 they retired to a cave in the wilderness beyond Jerusalem. On being joined by others, they established a cenobitic (“communal”) monastery, or laura, that integrated contemplative life with other liturgical and intellectual projects and work done in common.

Euthymius moved on with a small band and set up similar communities, one on the west bank of the Dead Sea, another farther west in the desert of Ziph, and a larger community northeast of Jerusalem, toward Jericho. This last foundation was named after Euthymius, and its church was dedicated by Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem in 429.

Euthymius converted many nomad Saracens to the Orthodox Church. He was often consulted on theological questions by the Eastern bishops and participated in formulating the decrees of the Council of Ephesus (431) against the Nestorian heresy. He also contributed to the Council of Chalcedon (451) in refuting the heretical monophysites. Euthymius is credited with disseminating orthodox Christological doctrine throughout Palestinian monasticism, overcoming defamations by his theological adversaries. By his influence the Byzantine empress Eudoxia became convinced that monophysitism was in error and withdrew support from its chief proponent, Abbot Eutyches of Constantinople. More on St. Euthymius the Great

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1 Religious Icon, Bernard van Orley's THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, with footnotes #26

Circle of Bernard van Orley

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD

Oil on panel

36.2 by 26.1 cm.; 14 1/4 by 10 1/4 in.

Private collection

This is one of a number of versions of the composition, the finest of which is a picture formerly in the collection of Friedrich Glück, Budapest, considered by Baldass to be by Van Orley before 1520.1 A workshop version is in the Royal Collection (L. Campbell, The Early Flemish Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge 1985, p. 105, no. 66, reproduced plate 78; inv. 1003). Van Orley’s original is in the Prince of Wied collection, Munic. More on this work

Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), , was a leading artist in Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, though he was at least as active as a leading designer of Brussels tapestry and, at the end of his life, stained glass. Although he never visited Italy, he belongs to the group of Italianizing Flemish painters called the Romanists, who were influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, in his case especially by Raphael.

He was born and died in Brussels, and was the court artist of the Habsburg rulers, and "served as a sort of commissioner of the arts for the Brussels town council". He was extremely productive, concentrating on the design of his works, and leaving their actual execution largely to others in the case of painting.

Accordingly, his many surviving works (somewhat depleted in number by Reformation iconoclasm) vary considerably in quality. His paintings are generally either religious subjects or portraits, these mostly of Habsburgs repeated in several versions by the workshop, with few mythological subjects. More on Bernard van Orley

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1 Religious Icon, DUTCH MASTER's Crowning of Mary, with footnotes #25

DUTCH MASTER

Crowning of Mary

Oil/tempera on oak. Parqueted

78 x 51cm. 

Private collection

Surrounded by a cloud aureole God the Father (to the left) and Christ (to the right) are sitting on a throne bank with high rests. God the Father is dressed in a coat of brocade and has a tiara on his head. Christ wears a green-lined red coat and holds the globe in his left hand. Together they hold the crown above Mary's head who is kneeling in between them, her hands clasped for prayer. In this way she is crowned Queen of Heaven. Behind the throne bank there are two angels observing what is going on. In the upper margin of the painting there is the dove of the Holy Spirit which, together with God the Father and Christ represents the Holy Trinity. All of the flesh tones are overall in a good condition. The background shows a condition, which makes presume a former pressed brocade application. The rather curious rests of the throne also support this presumption, because they would fit more organically into such an original context. The entire colouring of the work shows a harmonic character which is typical for this time. The painting might be a section of a formerly large retable. More on this work

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