31. Icon on glass, "Lazarus's Saturday", painted frame, attributed to painter Matei Țâmforea, Cârțișoara, 1892, extreme rarity, collector's item

The celebration of Lazarus Saturday, which is celebrated on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, was, according to specialists, tackled in the Land of Făgăraș only by Matei Țămforea. Indeed, no other glass icon painters from Transylvania are known to have depicted this scene. In his moralizing manner, Țămforea presents Lazarus Saturday as a narrative. The icon, painted in 1892, which does not actually show the moment of Lazarus' resurrection by Jesus, is read from left to right. On the left, at a table, sit the rich who eat and make merry. At the feet of the rich, Lazarus, with a body full of sores, with a bone in his hand and three dogs watching him. On the right, the Archangel Gabriel, with a balance in hand, weighs the deeds of the rich, who are pushed into a chest. The chromatics are in muted tones – blue, red, green. The icon painted by Țămforea stands out through an unmistakable pleasure for the narrative and the clearly moralizing message – the rich, who feast and show no mercy to the poor and sick, will end up in a chest, while the poor people will sit in Abraham's lap.

Dimensions

width 58.5 cm, height 56 cm

Description

tempera on glaze, stained and painted frame, with rope

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