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"Deesis"
written by Ustinian Tilov
Catalog # 1.35
Medium: tempera on wood.
Hand-made according to the
Bulgarian Iconographic tradition and
techniques.
Possible heights:
A) 19 - 21 cm
B) 25 - 27 cm
C) 38 - 40 cm
As for the width, the proportions of the original icon will
be kept.
late 16th and early 17th century, from Nessebur. Tempera on wood, 130 x 110 cm. Now at the Old Bulgarian Art department of the National Art Gallery.
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This is a frequently occurring Deesis composition with Christ in the centre, seated on a high backed throne. He wears a blue sticharion, a pink orarion with black crosses inside circles (polystaurion) and a white omophorion, which were the distinctive features of an archbishop’s vestment, to emphasize his liturgical service, as indicated by the inscription. This is the text on the Gospel which Christ holds:
“ These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” ( John XV. 17,18)
On both his sides are the Virgin and St John the Baptist in an attitude of supplication, as intercessors of the New Testament and the Old Testament Church before Christ for the salvation of mankind.
The Virgin wears a blue hiton and a dark red maphorion, while St John the Baptist wears a brown chiton and a green himation. There is a certain mannerism in the elongated figures, which is still within the limits of moderation, and that is typical of the entire group of Nessebur icons.
As regards the type and the manner in which the fabrics are rendered, the Virgin and St John the Baptist present interesting affinities with icons attributed to Theophanes the Cretan.
The origin of the icon is unknown, but it could well have been painted in a studio in Nessebar at the end of the late 16th or the beginning of 17th century.