Though a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, Olga of Kiev gives the impression of being as unsaintly as one woman could possibly be. She’s one of the most vicious and vengeful rulers in the history of the Kievan Rus’ – the principality that would eventually give birth to modern…
Tag: gold leaf
St Brigid of Ireland
Saint Brigid was born Brigit, and shares a name with a Celtic goddess. There is much discussion over her birthparents, yet it is generally believed her mom was Brocca, a Christian baptised by Saint Patrick, and her dad was Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain. When Dubthach’s wife discovered Brocca was pregnant, she was sold to a Druid landowner. It is…
St Scholastica
Scholastica (born in Italy c. 480 – 10 February 542) is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The most commonly told story about her is that she would, once a year, go and visit her brother at a place near his abbey, and they would spend the day worshiping…
Iconic beginnings….
I love Icons. Not just for their religious representation, but the whole naivety of the image, and how the artist has translated his interpretation of something sacred to him onto a flat surface. I was first introduced to them as a 17 year old venturing into the British Museum for the first time. Coming from South Africa…
An Iconic icon moment!
I have always loved Russian Icons, and since the day I saw them hanging in a friends home they became an obsession. One of those obsessions you keep with you because you are not sure how you are going to get your hands on one unless you paint it yourself. Painting something yourself isn’t always the…
artbyeileen 