DOI Artikel:
Smorąg Różycka, Małgorzata: ‘She begged the child: Let me embrace thee, Lord!’ A Byzantine icon with the Virgin Eleousa in the Poor Clares Convent in Cracow
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44936#0011
10
5. The Virgin Kyriotissa, c. 1118-1122, Constantinople, Church of
St Sophia
on Mount Sinai dated to the end of the twelfth century.19
Perhaps some future treatments will reveal a similar fea-
ture also in the image of the Virgin herself.
Among examples produced outside Constantinople,
we should first consider the works executed in the capi-
tal’s immediate proximity, that is, in Rus'. The icon with
the Eleousa Mother of God from the Uspenskii (Dormi-
tion) Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin (1075 соб/ж-267),
painted on a panel whose dimensions are similar to the
Cracow work (approx. 52 x 38.5 cm), shows the Virgin
holding the Christ Emmanuel in her arms and hugging
his face against her cheek [Fig. 3]. The Childs left hand is
slightly raised while he holds a scroll, propped on his left
knee, in his right. He is dressed in a red chiton and a hi-
mation decorated with abundant gold hatching. Mary is
singled out by her short purple veil, patterned with gold
lattice and trimmed with a gold band, put on top of a ma-
phorion in strikingly light-blue hue. Hardly visible be-
neath the maphorion is the red skull-cap and a fragment
of Marys purple dress, trimmed with double gold band.
The icon is dated to the beginning of the thirteenth centu-
ry and associated with the Novgorod milieu.20 Its presence
19 The Glory of Byzantium. Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine
Era A.D. 843-1261, ed. by H.C. Evans, W.D. Wixom, (exh. cat.)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, pp. 374-
375-
20 See O.V. ZoNOVA, “‘Bogomater' Umilenie” XII veka iz Uspensko-
go sobora Moskovskogo Kremlia’, in Drevnerusskoe iskusstvo:
in the Uspenskii Cathedral is confirmed only from the
eighteenth century. In the mid-nineteenth century it was
included in the iconostasis at the church’s south wall and,
hidden under a silver revetment from 1875, it did not at-
tract scholarly attention until 1961, when the revetment
was removed and a painting layer dated to the eighteenth
or early seventeenth century was revealed. Only in Octo-
ber 1965, after preliminary examination of the surface of
the painting had been conducted, was it decided that the
re-painting be removed, and thus the original medieval
layer, tentatively dated to the twelfth or thirteenth cen-
turies and ascribed to the Novgorod school, was uncov-
ered.21 The bright-blue maphorion, which belongs to the
original paint layer, was executed using azurite.22
A similar bright-blue maphorion was discovered dur-
ing the conservation treatment of a Novgorodian icon of
Our Eady of the Sign (Znamenyie) in the Cathedral of
Saint Sophia in Novgorod (inv. no. Соф. i; 2175), dated
to the mid-twelfth century (before 1169).23 The icon has
been associated with a miraculous image of the Mother
of God that reportedly saved Novgorod from the attack of
the prince of Suzdal' in 1169.24 What, however, is of partic-
ular interest for the painting under discussion is the origi-
nal colour scheme of the icon, revealed as late as in the
1980s.25 The former, still surviving uppermost layer of the
icon contrasts with the bright-blue hue of the Virgin’s ma-
phorion and likely also of her dress underneath, painted
using azurite.
This kind of intensely light-blue hue can be found in lat-
er works as well, such as, for example, the four icons (de-
picting Anastasis, Ascension of Christ, Pentecost, and the
Dormition of the Virgin Mary) from the Feast tier of the
iconostasis in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Novgorod,
dated to 1341.26 The saturated bright-blue tones, discovered
after the icons had been cleaned, are found mainly in the
mandorla of Christ, but also in the garments of the apostles.
This could have been a constant feature of the Novgorod
painting, present there from the very outset, provided
the icon with the Apostles Peter and Paul [Fig. 4], dated
khudozhestvennaia kul'tura domongol'skoi Rusi, Moscow, 1972,
pp. 270-288; V.N. Lazarev, Russkaia ikonopis': ot istokov do
nachala XVI veka, pt 1, Moscow, 2000, pp. 37,165.
21 See O.V. ZoNOVA, “‘Bogomater' Umilenie’”, pp. 272-274 (as in
note 20).
22 Ibidem, pp. 280-281.
23 V.N. Lazarev, Russkaia ikonopis', p. 38, 166 (as in note 20);
E.S. Smirnova, ‘Novgorodskaia ikona “Bogomater' Znamenie”: ne-
kotorye voprosy bogorodichnoi ikonografii XII v’, in Drevnerusskoe
iskusstvo: Bałkany, Rus', Saint Petersburg, 1995, pp. 288-310.
24 E.S. Smirnova, ‘Novgorodskaia ikona “Bogomater' Znamenie”,
pp. 300-301 (as in note 23).
25 Ibidem, p. 288.
26 V.V. Filatov, Prazdnichnyï riad Sofii Novgorodskoï: Drevneïshaia
chast’ glavnogo ikonostasa Sofiïskogo sobora, Leningrad, 1974;
Ikony Velikogo Novgoroda XI - nachala XVI veka, Moscow, 2008,
cat. no. 9, pp. 130-152.
5. The Virgin Kyriotissa, c. 1118-1122, Constantinople, Church of
St Sophia
on Mount Sinai dated to the end of the twelfth century.19
Perhaps some future treatments will reveal a similar fea-
ture also in the image of the Virgin herself.
Among examples produced outside Constantinople,
we should first consider the works executed in the capi-
tal’s immediate proximity, that is, in Rus'. The icon with
the Eleousa Mother of God from the Uspenskii (Dormi-
tion) Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin (1075 соб/ж-267),
painted on a panel whose dimensions are similar to the
Cracow work (approx. 52 x 38.5 cm), shows the Virgin
holding the Christ Emmanuel in her arms and hugging
his face against her cheek [Fig. 3]. The Childs left hand is
slightly raised while he holds a scroll, propped on his left
knee, in his right. He is dressed in a red chiton and a hi-
mation decorated with abundant gold hatching. Mary is
singled out by her short purple veil, patterned with gold
lattice and trimmed with a gold band, put on top of a ma-
phorion in strikingly light-blue hue. Hardly visible be-
neath the maphorion is the red skull-cap and a fragment
of Marys purple dress, trimmed with double gold band.
The icon is dated to the beginning of the thirteenth centu-
ry and associated with the Novgorod milieu.20 Its presence
19 The Glory of Byzantium. Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine
Era A.D. 843-1261, ed. by H.C. Evans, W.D. Wixom, (exh. cat.)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, pp. 374-
375-
20 See O.V. ZoNOVA, “‘Bogomater' Umilenie” XII veka iz Uspensko-
go sobora Moskovskogo Kremlia’, in Drevnerusskoe iskusstvo:
in the Uspenskii Cathedral is confirmed only from the
eighteenth century. In the mid-nineteenth century it was
included in the iconostasis at the church’s south wall and,
hidden under a silver revetment from 1875, it did not at-
tract scholarly attention until 1961, when the revetment
was removed and a painting layer dated to the eighteenth
or early seventeenth century was revealed. Only in Octo-
ber 1965, after preliminary examination of the surface of
the painting had been conducted, was it decided that the
re-painting be removed, and thus the original medieval
layer, tentatively dated to the twelfth or thirteenth cen-
turies and ascribed to the Novgorod school, was uncov-
ered.21 The bright-blue maphorion, which belongs to the
original paint layer, was executed using azurite.22
A similar bright-blue maphorion was discovered dur-
ing the conservation treatment of a Novgorodian icon of
Our Eady of the Sign (Znamenyie) in the Cathedral of
Saint Sophia in Novgorod (inv. no. Соф. i; 2175), dated
to the mid-twelfth century (before 1169).23 The icon has
been associated with a miraculous image of the Mother
of God that reportedly saved Novgorod from the attack of
the prince of Suzdal' in 1169.24 What, however, is of partic-
ular interest for the painting under discussion is the origi-
nal colour scheme of the icon, revealed as late as in the
1980s.25 The former, still surviving uppermost layer of the
icon contrasts with the bright-blue hue of the Virgin’s ma-
phorion and likely also of her dress underneath, painted
using azurite.
This kind of intensely light-blue hue can be found in lat-
er works as well, such as, for example, the four icons (de-
picting Anastasis, Ascension of Christ, Pentecost, and the
Dormition of the Virgin Mary) from the Feast tier of the
iconostasis in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Novgorod,
dated to 1341.26 The saturated bright-blue tones, discovered
after the icons had been cleaned, are found mainly in the
mandorla of Christ, but also in the garments of the apostles.
This could have been a constant feature of the Novgorod
painting, present there from the very outset, provided
the icon with the Apostles Peter and Paul [Fig. 4], dated
khudozhestvennaia kul'tura domongol'skoi Rusi, Moscow, 1972,
pp. 270-288; V.N. Lazarev, Russkaia ikonopis': ot istokov do
nachala XVI veka, pt 1, Moscow, 2000, pp. 37,165.
21 See O.V. ZoNOVA, “‘Bogomater' Umilenie’”, pp. 272-274 (as in
note 20).
22 Ibidem, pp. 280-281.
23 V.N. Lazarev, Russkaia ikonopis', p. 38, 166 (as in note 20);
E.S. Smirnova, ‘Novgorodskaia ikona “Bogomater' Znamenie”: ne-
kotorye voprosy bogorodichnoi ikonografii XII v’, in Drevnerusskoe
iskusstvo: Bałkany, Rus', Saint Petersburg, 1995, pp. 288-310.
24 E.S. Smirnova, ‘Novgorodskaia ikona “Bogomater' Znamenie”,
pp. 300-301 (as in note 23).
25 Ibidem, p. 288.
26 V.V. Filatov, Prazdnichnyï riad Sofii Novgorodskoï: Drevneïshaia
chast’ glavnogo ikonostasa Sofiïskogo sobora, Leningrad, 1974;
Ikony Velikogo Novgoroda XI - nachala XVI veka, Moscow, 2008,
cat. no. 9, pp. 130-152.