I have tried to summarise the historical development of the Icon because I find the history of these beautiful art works fascinating.  Its a long blog, but considering the history behind the icon it’s a brief summary!

Not quite the venerated monastery for painting icons, but it’s my creative space and I love it, especially when my animals enjoy it with me.

Historical overview:
Icons, lit candles and burning incense are an integral part of the Orthodox Church.  The Orthodox Church is a Church of tradition, and the presence and use of this is a reflection of this tradition.  The word ICON comes from the Greek word EIKONA, meaning image.  Loosely an icon is any representation of a sacred image in the form of a person, produced in various media and sizes. More specifically it refers to a devotional painted wooden panel, a result of the synthesis of three different cultures: Greek, Roman and Christian.

Christian art first appeared in the catacombs which were underground rock-cut burial sites. Although the catacombs were not specific to a religious group, they are commonly associated with Christianity. When Christianity was no longer a forbidden religion, Christian art left the catacombs along with the pagan symbols and moved rapidly and vigorously into creating its own art, and its own form of religious expression.

Byzantine art started with great masterpieces, such as the churches of Saint Sophia, Saint Irene and Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople.  The influence of the Byzantine art is found also in the Eastern parts of the Empire, and as far afield as Egypt. In the monastery of St. Catherine, in the desert of Sinai, we find the same style of mosaic decorations as in the other corners of the Empire. There are also a series of icons painted on wood in encaustic (a method using melted wax in which colouring pigments are mixed) that have been preserved in Sinai, some of them also found now in the Kiev Museum and the church of Santa Maria Nova in Rome. These are early beginnings of paintings on wood that would later develop extensively into the 9th Century and beyond. It is uncertain if the icons were painted in Sinai; the reality is it is more likely that they were brought there.  The fact that they have survived is probably due to the remote location of St. Catherine’s Monastery. From Byzantium this kind of pictorial art will travel also to what is known today as Russia.

Two iconoclastic periods mark the history and life of the Church. The first period of condemnation of icons as symbols of idolatry started with the reign of Emperor Leo III, (717-741). Where any representation of Christ and His saints was rejected.  The Church was thrown once again into disarray with the coming to the throne of Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820).  This gave rise to the second wave of war against the holy images. Leo was succeeded by Michael Amorias and Michael was succeeded by Theophilus (829-842) who prohibited all painted images.

Spiritual meaning
The theologian who defended the use of icons in Christian worship was St. John of Damascus. In his treatise “On the Divine Images” he writes: “If we’ve made an image of the invisible God, we would certainly be in error… but we do not do anything of the kind; we do not err, in fact we make the image of God incarnate Who appeared on earth in the flesh, Who in His ineffable goodness, lived with men and assumed the nature, the volume and the colour the flesh.”  The return to the art of sacred images meant the return to old practices. As a result of this new religious function, all paintings with a religious subject superseded all other art representations.

In St. John of Damascus’ work we find an argument in favour of painted icons: “Since the invisible One became visible by taking on flesh, you can fashion the image of Him whom you saw. Since He who has neither body nor form nor quantity nor quality, Who goes beyond all grandeur by the excellence of His nature, He, being of divine nature, took on the condition of slave and reduced himself to quantity and quality by clothing himself in human features. Therefore paint on wood and present for contemplation Him who desired to become visible.”

Along with the Holy Scripture, the icon is a tool for the transmission of Christian tradition and faith. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the use of images, images that are complementing the written words of the Scripture. It follows then that icons are educational worshiping aids. This is why it is important to mention that the faith of the person who prays is above the aesthetic qualities of an icon. The icon has as its purpose to transport us into the realm of spiritual experience, to go beyond our material world, to show us the greatness and perfection of the divine reality that is invisible to us.

The icon is not meant to be a sentimental piece. An icon represents mostly biblical events and biblical characters. The faces of those depicted in an icon are always suggestive of virtues such as: purity, patience, forgiveness, compassion and love. For example, the icon of the Crucifixion does not show the physical pain Christ suffered on the Cross, but what led Him to the Cross: the voluntary action of giving His life for us.  The mouths of the characters depicted are never open; there are no symbols that can indicate sound. There is perfect silence in the icon and this stillness and silence creates, both in the church and in the home an atmosphere of prayer and contemplation. The silence of an icon is a silence that speaks; it is the silence of Christ on the Cross, the silence of the Virgin, the silence of the Transfiguration, the silence of the Resurrection.

Icons are not three-dimensional. Perspective in the icon does not exist. The attempt is made to suggest depth, but the frontal plane is never abandoned, because the icon is not a representation of our conscious world, but an attempt to suggest the beauty of the Kingdom of God. Natural objects are therefore rendered in a symbolic, sometimes abstract manner, because spiritual reality cannot be represented in images, except through the use of symbols

The Icon can be qualified more as reproduction, yet not an effortless copying of work done by others. The iconographer’s individual spirituality is present in the creation of every icon. Leonid Ouspensky remarked that: “… the personal (in iconography) is much more subtle than in the other arts and so often escapes superficial observation…. although icons are remarkably alike, we never find two absolutely identical.”

Another quote by Thomas Merton explains the icon as an act of witness: “What one sees in prayer before an icon is not an external representation of a historical person but an interior presence in light, which is the glory of the transfigured Christ, the experience of which is transmitted in faith from generation to generation…”

Symbolism
Colour plays a vital role in the symbolisation present in Icons:
White: is the colour that represents eternal life and purity.
Blue: represents celestial beings, God’s dwelling place, the sky.
Red: symbolizes activity. In Hebrew thought, red represents life. Red is also the colour that depicts health, fire and the Last Judgment.
Purple: purple is the symbol of royalty, wealth, power, and priestly dignity.
Green: in the Holy Scriptures, green represents nature and vegetation, and it is thus representative of growth and fertility. In iconography it is used for the robes of martyrs and prophets.
Brown: represents density and lack of radiance. Brown is composed of red, blue, green and black, and it is used to depict soil, rocks and buildings. It is also used as a symbol of poverty and renunciation in the dark garments of monks and ascetics.
Black: represents absence of life; it symbolizes a void. It is the opposite of white. While white represents the fullness of life, black represents the lack of it. Monks and Great Schema monks wear black garments, as a symbol of their renunciation of all that is material.
Yellow: representing sadness, it is used in the icon of the Savior being placed in the tomb.

The Icon process:
In iconography an icon is not painted, but written. The process of writing an icon is long. Many hours, weeks, sometimes months are spent in the creation of an icon, depending of course on the size and complexity of it. A Russian monk remarked once that “…icons are not civil paintings. They are not for museums. They are not decorations. They are a reflection of God that has become man. Icons carry the real feeling and teachings of Orthodoxy.” The iconographer does not have the right to change an icon just to be different and creative.  As we mentioned earlier, the creation of an icon is not the painter’s own work. He is more like a co-author. In the Painter’s Manual, preserved on Mount Athos, the master advises him who aspires to become an icon painter to pray before the icon of Christ and that of the Mother of God, because the art of painting comes from God, who alone can guide the painter’s hand to give form to the mysteries of God.

Preparation to work on an icon is similar to the preparation for going to church: with prayers and fasting. Painting an icon is a liturgical work. Always start with prayer. The following is the iconographer’s prayer:

“O Divine Lord of all that exists, You have illumined the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with Your Most Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent the most Holy Mother, the one who held You in her arms and said: `the Grace of Him Who has been born of me is spread throughout the world’. Enlighten and direct our souls, our hearts and our spirits. Guide the hands of your unworthy servant, so that we may worthily and perfectly portray your icon, that of Your Holy Mother and of all the saints, for the glory and adornment of Your Holy Church. Forgive our sins and the sins of those who will venerate these icons, and who, standing devoutly before them, give homage to those they represent. Protect them from all evil and instruct them with good counsel. This we ask through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Apostle Luke, and all the saints, now and ever and unto ages of ages.”

The most widely used material to construct an icon is wood. The wood has to be hard and non-resinous.   The surface of the wood panel is then covered with a sheet of linen that is glued to the wood and on top of it are applied many layers of gesso. (Gesso is a special mixture of plaster and glue that when it hardens is very strong.) In general seven layers of gesso are applied, and each layer is sanded after it has dried. Because the drying process can take a while, it may take a week or more to prepare the surface of one icon before painting can begin. The final sanding is very important; as the surface must remain silky smooth.  The next step is that of tracing the drawing of the prototype that will be used onto paper. Once this is done, the drawing is then transferred to the icon board with the aid of carbon paper.  Once the drawing is on the board, with a stylus, the contours of the drawing are etched lightly onto the surface of the board. This is done so that the contours do not disappear under the different layers of paint that will be successively applied. What then follows is the application of the gold leaf. Gold leaf must be applied before anything else. To apply the gold leaf, the area that is to receive the gold leaf is covered with a thin layer of special glue, over which the gold leaf is carefully applied. There are different kinds of gold leaf, the most widely used is 23k gold, there is of course also gold paint that some may use for economic reasons.

Once the gold leaf is done, work on the actual icon begins. Contrary to what may be taught in art schools, the painting on the icon is built from bottom up, starting with dark colours and working up to very light colours. In general there are seven layers of paint. After the base layer has been applied, the outlines are redrawn and the subsequent layers are what are called highlights. Once the icon is completed, the inscriptions are added and it is then left to dry. After the icon is dry, a fine layer of varnish or oil is applied to the surface, creating a fairly resistant surface. If the painting medium is egg tempera, then boiled linseed oil is applied to the surface and left to penetrate the painted surface and the wood, thus creating a protective coating on the face of the icon and giving it a brightness and depth.

Spiritual meaning of the Icon:
The spiritual meaning of icon writing is based on the book of Genesis.  “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving upon the face of the waters. And God said: “Let there be light” and there was light”  It is in these three that the beginning and the end of the making of the icon is reflected.  The process of writing an icon, as the movement from being without form to Being of Light; symbolises the light of life. The icon slowly develops in the hands of the iconographer from a pure white surface on which there is no form to the general outline of the image of man to a full transfigured figure with a name written on the icon.  The whole process of creation is repeated in each icon: from shadow toward light, adding layer after layer of paint and lines, and from a face darkened to the Face transfigured and transformed, the Face of a holy figure resembling God in Christ.

The belief is that Man is the crown of God’s creation and He revealed Himself, and made Himself known by taking the form of man in the Incarnation of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Word of God.  The Word. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God” (John 1:1). The concept of the word refers not only to the gift of speech, thinking, but also to the gift of hearing and sight. Therefore theology can be expressed not only by the word as in the Holy Scripture but also in sound as in sacred music and in image as in holy icons.  It can be said that iconography is theology through God the Word as Image, therefore, the icon is regarded as a form of Christian doctrine. It is the Word of God, the Holy Scripture, in colour.

The icons displayed in the church are more than attractive pieces of art, or decorative items; they present religious subjects which can be classified as religious art. The icon is seen as a link between the eternal and the earthly aiding the worshiper in his own pilgrimage through this life on earth.  In the presence of a good icon we move from contemplation to prayer. In fact it can be said that a good icon is one that inspires prayer.

After I have painted several layers of gesso over the board and sanded it down I transfer the drawing onto the board.  I don’t trace the icons with carbon paper, though it is a very good idea.  I quite enjoy the process of “transcribing”the drawing myself.

I then paint an iron oxide red paint underneath where I am going to place the gold leaf.  I quite like the antique aged feel it gives where the iron oxide paint shows through rather than just the white gesso.  Then I apply the gold leaf, and once that is done I begin the painting process where I try to remain as true to the colours of the icon I am copying as possible.

Every time I paint an icon I look for brushes small enough to do justice to the detail work.  I just don’t seem to be able to source what I need locally.  What I really need are miniature brushes specifically for the finer detailed work.  They are not available here, and it looks like I will need to source them online.  Brushes are like shoes, they need to fit you well so I prefer to feel the balance of a brush before I buy it, which is why I have been avoiding sourcing them online.

This is an unusual icon.  I haven’t painted one like this before and the symbolism on it was fascinating.

There seems to be two interpretations of the meaning of the skull at the base of the cross, the first is more symbolic and the second is more historical:

The skull represents Adam, the first man, along with original sin. Jesus was sent to Earth to absolve us of our sins through His death. Jesus’ blood is washing away our sins by flowing across the skull of Adam and that Jesus is above sin.

The hill that Jesus was crucified on was called Golgotha, or Skull Hill. This is where Adam was reportedly buried and the Lord was crucified where Adam lay.