Ursula Betka 2009
The icons and devotional paintings in this exhibition convey the theology and contemplative power inherent in icons, along with the experience of universal divine and human love that traverses the bounds of religious affiliations and unites us all. The exhibition encompasses a time-span from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries and celebrates the diversity of traditions that emerged in Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Italy, Russia and the Balkans.
In the early church, the Greek word eikon, meaning ‘image or portrait’, came to specifically describe an image of the divine or sanctified being in a state of spiritual transfiguration, glorified and forever radiant in paradise. Icons of Christ and the Mother of God were created, and existed, to verify the theology of the Incarnation. Icons of saints convey the role as intercessor and carry the prayers and petitions of the faithful to God. In the evocation of the realm of heaven, icons lead the viewer to contemplate the cosmic importance of their salvation history. An icon is wrought in faith and quiet prayer. The meaning of the icon is contemplated and inspires the hope that the work will bring blessings to those who gaze upon it with a sincere heart.
Icons of Christ, the Mother of God and the Saints should be true likenesses of the prototype, a term referring to the first, divinely inspired portrait. Tradition tells us that the prototype for the icon of the Virgin Mary and Christ child, for example, was painted by St Luke in the presence of the Holy Family, with the guidance of an angel of the Lord. Religious paintings of the Italian Renaissance tradition from the early-sixteenth century onward cannot strictly be defined as icons since the imagery developed new ways of expressing human emotion and sensibility, along with a new iconography not consistent with the earlier eastern tradition.
Thus we refer to this tradition of religious paintings as ‘devotional’ or ‘liturgical’, in reference to their use in the various forms of communal and personal prayer in the western churches. The exhibition draws on both the eastern and western traditions of the role of sacred images in Christian worship.
East meets West
Icons of the eastern Byzantine world were a great stimulus to Italian artists, particularly in the thirteenth century. Before the year 1291, Italians, especially the Sienese, were present in the eastern Mediterranean as traders of cloth and goods. French and Venetian Crusaders had occupied the crusader states of Syria-Palestine up until 1291, when the Mamluks captured the city of Acre. Some crusaders were artists and they painted icons in Syria-Palestine during their occupation. Greek or Levantine icon painters also worked in Italy during this time. The Sienese artist, Duccio, learnt well from Greek iconographers. He conveys all the depth of spiritual expression, yet there are subtle shifts in the treatment of his painted figures. New is the quest to engage the viewer through endearing gestures of the Christ-child, and the Virgin turns to make eye contact with the viewer. Duccio and the Sienese school in the thirteenth century introduced an aesthetic of human beauty, along with the rich material quality of the picture.
Cities like Siena, Florence, Pisa and Assisi, from the thirteenth century, were alive with artists creating religious imagery. This flourish coincided with the emergence of the Preaching Orders of friars, particularly the Franciscans and Dominicans, who aimed to revivify the spirituality of all classes of lay and religious society. The new orders were great promoters of the Byzantine icon tradition in Italy. Traditional themes were embraced anew, but new subject matter for Italian icons also emerged.
Distinctive are the life-size paintings of the Virgin and Child Enthroned and the monumental Painted Crucifix. This may in great part be attributed to St Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan movement, since the crucified Christ was a central devotion for Franciscans. Thus too, icons of popular contemporary saints such as St Francis of Assisi, St Clare of Assisi, and St Dominic appear for the first time.
Italian religious paintings are also linked in crucial ways to the church altar. The Italian altarpiece developed in response to the need for a type of visual and theological ‘backdrop’ for the liturgical ritual at the altar. This is not the case with Byzantine icons in the east, which, by this time, are attached to the iconostasis or 'icon screen', concealing the altar and liturgical ritual. The image of the Virgin and Child takes a central place of honour on Italian altars from the thirteenth century. However, there is a distinctive transformation in the nature of the depiction of Mother and Child. St Francis of Assisi, and his spiritual movement, encouraged an emotive identification with the human experience of Mary and her child Jesus - to consider Mary as a mother, and Christ as an accessible baby.
While the Eastern icons of the Virgin and Child are embraced anew in late-Medieval Italy, Italian artists soon adapted the ancient icon tradition. A new interactive relationship between the sacred figures and the devotee is apparent, alongside an increasing suggestion of human love and intimacy between mother and child.
Technique
The age-old techniques of icon painting begin with a wood panel, prepared with a ground of layers of white chalk mixed with animal glue to form a solution called gesso. The luminosity and almost enamel-like quality of the painted surface of an icon is wrought through the age-old technique of egg tempera painting. In this method the iconographer makes his or her own paint, using a mixture of egg yolk, water and alcohol blended with powdered pigments – the source of colour. Pigment mixed with egg yolk (tempera), a fast drying medium, is then applied in a layering and hatching of fine strokes. In this way, the “expressive hand” of the artist is not apparent. Gold leaf is used to symbolize the spiritual realm. When illuminated by candlelight, the play of tempera and gold aim to inspire a deeper prayerful union with God.
