AN ICON ‘DEESIS WITH SAINTS: MOTHER OF GOD, SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, GUARDIAN ANGEL, ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, SAINT NICHOLAS AND SAINT CATHERINE’ Mstyora, the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Lot 271
600800
levkas, gold leaf, mixed technique on wood panel 31 x 26 cm Condition: minor paintwork loss in the central panel, the margins have been repainted. The ‘Deisis’ is a traditional iconic representation of Christ in Majesty or Christ Pantocrator in Byzantine art: enthroned, carrying a book, and flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist and, as in this icon, other saints and angels who are depicted facing Christ, hands raised in supplication on behalf of humanity. The period of the late nineteenth century was a time when the art of Mstyora had a significant artistic value. At this time, traditional iconographic principles received a modern interpretation, considering some formal techniques of academic painting.