What's Behind An Icon?

I think it is fair to say that months of hard work and many hours of devout prayer are "behind" every icon you might encounter. There is a blessing at the altar, prayers and dedication of the icon to its service as a witness to Christ.

In another sense, in an Orthodox church, the area behind the icon screen or iconostasis is called the sanctuary. The nave is where the parishioners stand or sit. This is the view from the nave of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church.

But my question (in the title of this blog) was intended to be a more prosaic one. You normally see the front of icons in photos or in person. So some people wonder what the back looks like. I did. You can't just walk up and take one down to look at it, can you? So ...

Question? What does the back of an icon look like?

Answer? It varies. Let's take a look. [click on any image throughout this blog to enlarge it]

On many icons you will see a pair of reinforcing slats that were intended to reduce curvature of the main board. These have proven to be fairly ineffective, and the boards still curve. That means some of the slats will be loose or will have fallen out over the years.

Notice the evidence of wood-eating creatures in the icons above. Usually they are long dead, but it's worth checking closely because they can eat away much of the structure of the board.

Here are three of my icons of the Archangel Michael (the fronts are seen in the previous blog post).

The back may or may not be finished in any way. Iconographers rarely signed their works, as it is a bit self-assertive to do so. Here are two modern boards. On the left the artist did sign the back; on the right she did not give her name, but put the origin of the icon and name and logo of her studio (plus the web address).

Since many of the boards I own come from dealers, it's not unusual to find labels, notes, custom stamps and price information stuck on the back of the icon. I tend to leave all those intact.

Sometimes you will find that the icons boards will have gesso on the back as well as the front. Gesso is a plaster coating which makes the icon heavier, thicker, stronger, and more resistant to moisture changes and curving. Here are two of mine that are finished in this way.

Occasionally you find an icon with writing from the period of its creation. Although I can't read what is written, I still find these exciting. The one on the right not only has writing, the writing is on an original linen cloth that is tacked to the outer edges of the icon.

Here's the front of the icon with the cloth on its back:

Finally, I'll close this post with a triptych, which is a 3-panel folding icon that has both front and back sides on all three panels. Mary is just visible looking out at us from the center of this partially-open triptych.

Ways to Display Icons

Icons are often affixed to an icon screen (in a church), hung on the wall, or placed on a shelf. Special icons might be in a glass case, or in a specially-made frame, or on a pole (for carrying in a procession). These beautifully-framed icons are at the Temple Gallery.

Most of our icons are leaning on a shelf. A few are hanging from a hook on the back. I've personally never added a hook to one of my icons; I have only reused some that were already in place. I'm afraid of injuring the older boards.

One large icon is clamped lightly between the top and bottom of an artist's easel. I used museum putty on the top so there is some expansion space if either of the wood items expands or contracts.

Several of my brass icons are attached to a dictionary stand using museum putty, to prevent them sliding or falling off when it is moved around.

I've considered a more elaborate hanging system, but for now I have been content to have them on shelves or a counter.

Here are some free-standing frames made by Dylan Hartley, called icon thrones. They allow an icon to be placed away from the walls, in the center of a large space.

A few weeks ago, when looking for icon boards, I spotted an item called an icon shrine. Here's an image, from St. John's Workshop, the folks who make them.

I supposed that these could be used inside a home as well as outdoors at a retreat center or on church grounds. I went on searching for other items that I needed.

A few days later I got a call from someone who manages the inventory of set pieces, costumes and other items at a local theatre. He offered me a piece they didn't expect to use again. It had been in the back of the warehouse for 18 years ...

Suddenly I had an enormous icon shrine or throne (or Lutheran church altar). It sat on my front porch for several days as I wondered what I should do with it.

It's 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide (3 m x 2 m). The bottom front had been burnt by candles and the paint was peeling. I spent some time removing spiders and loose nails, wiping off dust and debris and cleaning everything. The side pieces are not attached, just put in place for the photo.

Rather than restore this piece, I just barely repainted a few small small sections until I had matched the color and reduced the impression of the burned areas. I didn't want to make it look new, just like it was loved and appreciated.

Then I tried various icons. They all appeared too small or inappropriate. The icon inside this shrine must be the right scale and a single figure, I think. This image came to my mind (photo from Wikipedia Commons). The Pantocrator from St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt.

I knew where I could find one to borrow, so after some prayer and consideration I asked for the temporary loan of a partially-completed icon of Christ Pantocrator. I'm pleased with the icon's nearly-finished state of completion, even though the halo gold leaf is not yet applied.

Here's how it looks now:

I think it looks wonderful. I found a matching "altar cloth" to put under the icon, and mounted a small icon of the Mother of God underneath. Now we need to find a safe way to light the icon.

Icons I have sold

At some point, most of us realize we have enough stuff. How do we then react?

• 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.

Description: This large icon is typical of many 4-part icons. It depicts four scenes surrounding the central Crucifixion. The Crucifixion in the center shows God at the top, the Holy Spirit descending as a dove, Christ crucified, and death at the bottom of the cross. 

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.

The Iconostasis

An icon screen, or iconostasis, is a complex assembly of many smaller icons. It forms the front of an Orthodox church. It usually has all the feast scenes on one of its rows.  For more detail on the purpose of an icon screen, you can read this short article.

Here is the icon screen in St John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Washington, DC.

I have a folding (or traveling) icon screen. It is about 2 feet high and 5 feet wide. On this screen the feasts are on the second row up from the bottom.

Here are some detail shots of the panels on either side of the center:

Going from left to right we see Mary's birth, her presentation in the temple, the annunciation, the nativity of Jesus, his presentation, his baptism (also called the epiphany or appearance of God), and his entering into Jerusalem.

Continuing on the right side of the screen, we see:

The Ascension of Christ, the Old Testament Trinity, the Transfiguration, the Dormition (falling asleep) of Mary, the Death of John the Baptist, the Exaltation of the Cross and a scene I'll have to research further.

On the center panel of the icon screen we find:

At the top, crowned John and Mary are showing adoration to Christ while holding up prophecies about him. Below on the left is a Resurrection / Descent icon showing Christ breaking down the gates of Hades, and on the right is the Crucifixion. Below those is the Last Supper, then Annunciation, and finally at the bottom, the Four Evangelists.

There are two scenes of the Annunciation on this traveling iconostasis. Was it intentional, or an accident? I don't know.

The other images shown in the rows of this iconostasis include angels, cherubim and seraphim; Saints, Prophets and Apostles.

GREAT FEASTS Icons

The church helps its members recall the life of Jesus Christ by celebrating events of his life and ministry each year. These events unveiled some of God's character - His love and His holiness - and His activity in our world.

There is a specific type of multi-scene icon that presents an assortment of these holy days, festivals or feasts on a single board (or casting). The selection of feasts and their arrangement may vary from icon to icon, but the norm is to show 12 or 16 scenes.

Of the normal dozen events portrayed on a feast icon, six focus on Jesus: Nativity, Presentation in the Temple (Candlemas), Epiphany (Baptism), Transfiguration, Entry into Jerusalem, Ascension. Four center around Mary: Birth, Presentation in the Temple, Annunciation, Dormition (Assumption). The final two are Pentecost (Coming of the Holy Spirit) and the Elevation of the Cross.

Feast icons may have other scenes as well, including the Women with Spices at the Tomb, the Crucifixion, the Descent into Hades, the Raising of Lazarus, Lowering Christ from the Cross, the Last Supper, the Old Testament Trinity, and so on.

Here are some of my feast icons. The first one, a cast metal icon, contains all the principal feasts plus a few extra images of Mary on the far right panel. I have named each of the scenes at the bottom to help you decipher this icon. [Click on any image to enlarge it]

The next icon has an embossed and perforated copper cover which shields all the images, leaving only faces, hands and bare feet showing through. It was customary to paint the icon on a board, and then make a cover that enhanced and glorified the icon. This icon was done in a way that saved the iconographer a lot of work. He just did an outline of the whole scene but painted the exposed areas in detail. Look at the two images to see what I mean.

Only the barest outline drawing was done on the board. The mystery and miracle of this icon is that the gilded faces fit the openings in the cover perfectly. So which was done first, the icon or the cover? It seems to have been a near-impossible task no matter in what order it was completed.

This is a Palekh (a village renowned for lacquer boxes) festival icon. The Four Evangelists are at the outer corners. On the inside, starting from the top left and going clockwise, we have the Birth of Mary, the Presentation of Mary, the Annunciation, the Nativity of Jesus, the Baptism, the Transfiguration, the Dormition of Mary, the Exaltation of the Cross, the Old Testament Trinity, the Ascension, Entering into Jerusalem, and the Presentation of Jesus to Simeon. In the center is another multi-scene icon known as the Resurrection and Judgement. It shows various events that occurred during Jesus' passion and resurrection. For example, the resurrected Jesus walks along the shoreline and tells the disciples to fish on the other side of the boat. After they catch a bunch of fish, Peter recognizes him, and jumps into the water (bottom right).

And here is one from the Ural Mountains region of Russia. Let's look at the scenes individually.

The birth or nativity of Mary

the Presentation of Mary in the Temple

The Annunciation (Gabriel speaking to Mary; there is some minor damage to this scene)

The Nativity of Christ and also the Visitation of the Wise Men

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

The Baptism and Epiphany

Entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

The Transfiguration of Jesus and his meeting with Elijah and Moses

Pentecost (Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles and Mary)

The Old Testament Trinity (visit of 3 angelic beings to Abram and Sarah at the oak of Mamre)

The Dormition (falling asleep) or Assumption (being carried up) of Mary

The Exaltation of the True Cross

The Resurrection of Jesus
(notice Peter again, coming out of the lake)

Christ Glorified in the Highest Heavens

This tiny scene is repeated in much larger scale and detail on another icon we own: