67. Icon on wood, "Mother of God with the Child (Hodigitria)", Greek school, towards the end of the 17th century

The Mother of God is portrayed below the waist. She holds the Infant with her left hand and points to Him with her right – the Hodegetria type (She who shows the Way). According to tradition, over the blue dress (palla) with golden embroidery and pearls at the neckline and cuffs, she has draped in angular folds, a red maphorion (repainted, color over color, with cherry), edged with a gold ribbon, which covers her head and falls over her shoulders and arms. Baby Jesus is dressed in a yellow ocher chiton, repainted with white, and a red himation, with partial repaintings in the 19th century. With his left hand, he holds a scroll, and with his right, he blesses. Both wear halos delimited from the initial gold background of the icon, by a row of dots incised in the ground of the icon. Currently, the background of the icon is repainted in blue. The typology of the faces of the Mother of God and Baby Jesus is rendered according to the iconography of Greek painting from the second half of the 17th century. Unprofessional interventions on the original painting, probably executed in the 19th century, alter the general aspect of the painting without it totally losing its artistic qualities. The restoration of the painting will restore its full value. Above, at the corners, probably in the 19th century, decorative motifs composed of ribbons and stylized flowers, specific to the decorative repertoire at the beginning of the 19th century, were applied.

Dimensions

width 21 cm, height 33 cm

Description

tempera and gold foil on wood

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