- A normal person stops buying things (or gets a storage unit)
- A hoarder doesn't know what the word enough means
- A collector often realizes one can't get more/better things until there's space and cash for them
- A serious collector sells his couch, car or TV set to get more/better stuff
- A half-serious collector like me might let a few items go to other collectors ...
Today I'll comment on a couple icons that have found new homes after living with me for awhile. I'm not going to pretend that it didn't hurt to sell most of them, but they went a long way towards paying for my folding iconostasis.
These comments are taken from a book I wrote a couple years ago about my icon collection. The "facts" come mostly from the dealers from whom I purchased the icons.
St. Nicholas, Sophia, Faith, Hope & Love
Technique & Material: a solid board with side dowels, gesso, tempera, silver leaf on the crowns, drying oil from around 1880
Description: The icon displays St. Nicholas with martyrs – Wisdom (Sophia) and her daughters, named for Christian virtues – Faith, Hope and Love (Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov). The girls hold symbols of the virtues in their hands - Faith holds a cross, Hope an anchor, and Love a heart.
Condition: Extra rare. Bright and spiritually warm icon. The icon is in an ideal state of original preservation.
Tradition: In the 2nd century, a Christian widow named Sophia was living in Rome. She named her daughters Faith, Hope and Love. Being a Christian, she raised the girls in the spirit of the Holy Faith. Emperor Hadrian was informed of them and he wished to see them. The girls started to prepare themselves for martyrdom in prayers.
The mother had taught the girls to live for Christ – she said, Remember that I bore you in sufferings, and raised you regardless of hardship: soothe your old mother by firm confession of the name of Christ. Supported by prayer and persuasion from their mother, the three sisters, who were 12, 10 and 9 years, fearlessly confessed their faith to the Emperor and within the view of their mother were tortured and decapitated. Hadrian did not torture Sophia and even let her bury her daughters. But after 3 days she died and gave her soul to Jesus, after the shock of witnessing the sufferings and death of her children.
Mother of God Theodorovskaya
Technique & Material: board 2 stretchers, with gesso, tempera and golden border. From Kiev about 1820-1850.
Description: The Mother of God is depicted standing fully upright with the crowned Christ Child in her arms; surrounded by the sick and the suffering, to whom Angels of the Lord bear gifts of mercy, consolation, and suitable aid. The icon is called Joy of All That Sorrow in English.
Tradition: About 500 years ago, a bishop from Constantinople traveling through the Ukraine was hosted by a charitable woman. He gave her an icon which began to work miracles, including healing her brother’s blindness. In 1597 the icon was given to monks in Pochaev where the Mother of God had appeared in 1340, leaving an imprint of her footprint in the rock, from which a stream gushed forth. In 1675 when the Lavra was besieged by Moslem Turks, it was saved by miraculous intervention, and other miracles continued to be worked through the holy icon. Returned to the Orthodox Catholic Church in 1831, the icon has been a source of God’s grace for Orthodox Christians in western Ukraine and Carpathia. Copies of this icon are found throughout Orthodox Russia, each with its own history and reports of miracles.
Quadripartite Crucifixion
Technique & Material: Board with gilding, gold leaf, embossed border, and tempera paint. The icon is only in fair condition.
The scenes are clockwise from top right: the Mother of God Kazan, St. Pantaleon (the healer), St. Nicolas (gift-giver), and the Mother of God of the Protecting Veil.
Mother of God Pokrov
Technique & Material: Board with gesso, embossed border, decent condition.
Description: Also called the Intercession of the Protecting Veil or the Protection of the Theotokos. This is a vision of the Holy Fool André who saw the Mother of God standing on a cloud in the air within the Church of the Blachernae at Constantinople. Angels and Saint Peter, Saint Paul and St John the Baptist flank her.
Tradition: The icon shows Romanos the Melodist, who could not sing well until the Mother of God came to him in a dream and gave him a scroll to eat, thereby granting him the gift of song. The Mother of God is holding in her outstretched arms her protective mantle (pokrov) over the congregation. She is encircled by Archangels and Saints and immediately above her Christ delivers a blessing.
Below at center stands Romanos. He points upward and holds a scroll reading ‘Today the Virgin stands in the church.’ To the right of Romanos, the Holy Fool André raises his arm toward the Mother of God, showing her to his disciple Epifany. To the right further still, the Mother of God appears to Romanos in his sleep, feeds him a scroll and grants him the gift of song. To the left of Romanos are the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Emperor Leo and Empress Theophano.
I sold this next icon because it was the first one I had repaired, and I didn't like its looks afterward. Otherwise it was a very nice icon.
Deesis / Intercession
Technique & Material: Very thick board with silver leaf background. In 2009 there was some restoration done to repair holes in the field and damage to the feet of the figures.
Description: The icon represents the Deesis (Greek for prayer or supplication). Jesus Christ is depicted at the center of the composition, and is represented as the King of Glory, seated on the throne. The Mother of God and St. John the Forerunner are standing to His left and right.
The Deesis composition soon grew into the Extended Deesis or Great Deesis where many further intercessors were included. The main row of the iconostases in Russian churches included 14 saints ranked either side of Christ, facing inwards towards him.
Stavroteka Crucifixion
Technique & Material: Large single board with gesso, gilding, tempera and incised copper-cast Crucifixion with multi-colored enamel. The brass casting is retained by several small brass nails. The icon was recently cleaned and minor repairs were done to the painting along the left edge.
Description: The central scene is Christ crucified, shown by the brass cast icon in the center. The centurion is a witness, along with John and the three women. Other scenes on either side at the top show Jesus being taken down from the cross, and Jesus being laid in the tomb. Saints and angels in the outside margins witness these events as well.
