Become an Instant Expert on the World of Icons

 

Ancient iconographers were restricted to whatever pigments were available. Regional colour preferences existed, such as the strident vermilion reds of 12th- to 16th-century Novgorodian icons; the rich, carmine reds of the 15th- to 16th-century Cretan School; or the attractive pinks and greens of the 17th-century Yaroslavl School.

Generalised guidelines for the colour schemes for saints’ garments were listed in 16th- to 17th-century Russian icon pattern books (podlinniki). For example, the Stroganov and Bolshakov podlinniki state (without explaining why) that Mary Magdalene’s cloak should be in a pale green (praselen) and her under-tunic, ochre (vokhra). 

The Mother of God is invariably depicted wearing a deep-red robe, a colour symbolising her human participation in the incarnation, but exceptions can be found, especially in her role as the ‘Seat of Wisdom’ or the ‘Lamenting Virgin’, where she wears blue robes to emphasise her divine status. 

---

Detail of The Burning Bush, an icon of the 17th century, the Volga region

---

2. SEEING STARS

There are hundreds of variants of ‘Mother of God’ icons, each developed from an ancient archetype – with a specific scriptural, liturgical meaning – overlaid with apocryphal, local and historic narratives. 

The main categories are the ‘Enthroned Virgin’ (with Christ Emmanuel on her lap), which was inherited from late Roman imagery, and the formal Byzantine ‘She Who Shows the Way’, the classic ‘Mother and Child’ image. 

From this developed the more intimate ‘Virgin of Tenderness’ model, distinguished by the close embrace of mother and child, their faces touching. The visionary ‘Virgin of the Sign’ image shows her with arms raised in prayer, often bearing an antique-style roundel of the Christ child she will conceive. When depicted standing to the left of Christ, her head inclined and hands extended, she is the ‘Virgin of Intercession’.

All these images show three small stars on the head and shoulders of the Virgin’s robe (certain poses restrict this to two stars). This star rating symbolises Mary’s ‘Perpetual Virginity’ before, during and after the birth of Christ, according to apocryphal tradition. 

Because the Virgin remains intact, Orthodoxy likens her to the Burning Bush of the Old Testament, another ‘unburnt’ container of God. This analogy is fabulously symbolised in Russian icons of ‘The Virgin of the Burning Bush’, where in the midst of a red and green mandala-like star of ‘fire’ and ‘bush’, she presides over the angels of the Apocalypse, prophets, evangelists and the angelic powers who govern the natural world. 

---

Detail of Christ in Majesty, from the second half of the 16th century, from the Byzantine Museum, Zante

---

3. INSCRIPTIONS: IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME

The icon is a formulaic image with standardised inscriptions, which are usually abbreviated and should be regarded as more of a doctrinal statement than a name tag. 

A depiction of Christ will be accompanied with two pairs of Greek letters, ‘IC XC', placed either side of his halo – an abbreviation for ‘Jesus Christ Saviour’. Similarly, the halo of the ‘Mother of God’ will be bracketed with ‘ΜΡ ӨΥ’, the title determined at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, to affirm her divine status. It also translates as ‘Bearer of God’. Irrespective of their place and time of origin, icons of Christ and the Virgin will always bear these Greek labels – a continuation of 1,500 years of tradition.

The halo of Christ has a distinctive cruciform motif: the three visible parts may contain three Greek letters, an abbreviation of ‘The One’, The Being’, ‘He Who Is’ from Revelation (1:8), and the title of God from the Book of Exodus (3:14). 

The order of these letters can be useful for distinguishing between similar Russian and Greek icons of ‘Christ Pantocrator’ (Pantocrator meaning ‘almighty’ or ‘all-powerful’). The Saviour’s Russian halo reads clockwise as: ‘Ѡοн’ (omega, omicron, nu), whereas Greek haloes read differently: ‘οѠн’ (omicron, omega, nu), if the letters are shown at all. 

---

Detail, Saint Luke, painted by Master Apsalon Vujicic, 1672–73, Monastery of Moraca

---

4. ICONS AND 'WRITING'

A Byzantine dispute worthy of Monty Python exists as to whether icons are ‘written’ or ‘painted’. 

Certain groups of English speakers have introduced the phrase ‘icon writing’, which is often innocently echoed by those newly beguiled by the subject who, sensing a distinction between icons and secular art, assume it requires idiosyncratic language. 

The phrase is not generally used by professional, long-established iconographers and scholars in the field. They talk instead about ‘icon painting’. 

While both groups regard the icon as analogous to written scripture, the problem stems from an over-literal translation of Russian and Greek verbs. Both of these languages use one verb for ‘write’ and ‘paint’, while in English we have two verbs. In old Greek, graphein could mean either, depending on context. In modern Greek, graphos translates as ‘to write’, while zōgraphisō, used idiomatically, means ‘to create with paint’. It is the same in old and modern Russian with pisat and zjivopis. Presumably, St Luke as both evangelist and proto-iconographer did both.

While it is obvious that most icons are painted, they are also carved, cast, embroidered, engraved, printed and even baked. The monks of Mount Athos, Greece create wheat cake ‘icons’ by pressing an icon pattern into the cake and filling in the design with coloured sugars.

---

Our Lady of Lewisham, painted in 2015 by our expert, Helen McIIdowie-Jenkins

---

5. ICON PAINTING – A MALE PRESERVE?

Historically, icon painting was the domain of male practitioners. They were either ordained or devout laymen sanctioned by a priest or, from the 19th century, production-line workers in commercial workshops. 

Today, the majority of those painting icons are female, with many women teaching and researching in the field. In the UK, icon painting courses will have 75% to 90% female participation or more. 

Although icon painting integrates many art practices once considered ‘feminine’ – namely respectable, small-scale subject matter, drawing, linear detail, pattern and painstaking ‘craft’ processes – the current popularity of icon painting among women may be due to the fact that it offers a new and meaningful form of female devotional practice, wellbeing and spirituality. 

Irrespective of gender, the classic egg tempera (not ‘tempura’) method is a demanding, nuanced and deceptively difficult painting technique. Ten to 15 or more pigments might be used in an average icon, all of which behave differently (in a gritty, opaque, transparent, ‘floaty’ or greasy manner) when mixed with the egg yolk and water binder. 

Icons are symbolically painted ‘dark to light’ using a variety of techniques. These include petit lac, glazing, scumbling, dry-brushing, cross-hatching, delineation, miniaturist detail and signwriting. Mixtures of three to five pigments are common, particularly for the requisite dark flesh underpainting (usually a dirty olive shade). The ‘non-personal’ parts are painted first (robes and background elements), followed by the ‘personal parts’ (the face, hair and hands). 

The exquisite end results are a continuation of this, one of the most enduring art forms in the history of art. 

---

HELEN'S TOP TIPS

See
An ideal place to see icons in their proper context is at your local Orthodox church, although many icons may be reproductions. Here are a few sites: