Icons for St. Anthony's Dome, Part 10

Sunday and Monday were days off for everyone. Tuesday, some of the scaffolding was taken down. That gave the iconographers more room to work. Here's what we saw when we entered the church:

One painter working on the drum, the other working on preparing lunch. They soon broke for a meal and we were able to climb up and take some photos of the dome.

They are putting colored marble-look paints on the area between the drum and the pendentives.

There are some questions about how to disguise the speaker grill, lights and air conditioning vent.

At this point it is also difficult to get a good color balance on the photographs, so you will have to rely on our assurance that the paintings look great. 

Here are two different images of the dome and Pantocrator icon. The color is slightly different but I think we will see those variations in reality because the light coming through the windows is constantly changing. In addition, the chandelier will occupy some of the space that is now open.

The figures and evangelists will be much more detailed, very soon. Come back again to see!

Icons for St. Anthony's Dome, Part 09

The intrusive scaffolding is still in place Saturday afternoon. The iconographers are off for the weekend, and we are left with this hint of what has been done.

By carefully walking around and sighting up through the pipes, you can see the four evangelists have been roughly painted. There is still much detail to be added.

Perhaps more interesting are the four beasts which also represent those evangelists. The tradition of using animal figures is an ancient one.  Read more about them here. This icon was done by British iconographer Aidan Hart, and has the four beasts surrounding Christ, representing the spread of the gospel to the four corners of the universe.

If you look in the four corners you can see them here too, in this 19th century icon depicting heaven.

And here's a fabulous icon, where in each corner you can see one of the evangelists, seated at a desk and accompanied by his representative beast.

The four beasts (as a group) may also be referred to using the term Tetramorph, meaning four shapes. Read more about that here.

Returning to the new St. Anthony's icons, we can begin to see the four beasts represented on the pendentive surfaces, in between the icon representations of the four men.

The ox

The eagle

The man

The lion

As we look at the ceiling we can catch glimpses of Christ looking at us.

If you could climb up into the drum, you could see the Old Testament prophets appear in completed form. These were painted on canvas and then affixed to the walls with special adhesive.

The largest one is Elijah. He is positioned directly across from Christ.

This final painting is not yet completed, but you can see it in the bright light cast through the dome's windows.

While high above all the other details and images, the Pantocrator on the dome raises His hand in blessing.

Icons for St. Anthony's Dome, Part 08

There's more action in the church today - the pendentives are being decorated with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

You can see these "sketches" coming to life behind the scaffolding. After this phase more details will be added and the colors will go on.

Notice the progress made on the main figures ... this is John the Evangelist.

There are also preliminary sketches for the 4 beasts which represent the evangelists, but so lightly done that I cannot catch them with my camera.

Nicholas is doing the figures while Alexander continues to decorate the dome and the drum. Dmitri is working on the lettering and another image of Christ, to go in the drum looking out at us.

You can see that the medallions (done on painter's canvas) have been attached to the plaster. They've used an extremely strong and permanent adhesive.

The whole scheme is taking on color and life

The artists are moving back and forth between background decoration (the floral treatments around the windows).

Here's a picture of the center of the dome...

and the work that's in progress on the fine details.

It should look nice this Sunday morning - I can tell you it's extremely hot if the A/C is not on, and very smelly as various types of paints and varnishes are drying quickly in the heat.

Icons for St. Anthony's Dome, Part 07

We discovered dramatic color as we entered the church today. The framing of the pendentives was in place.

A new medallion of Christ was drying in the back room. 

The Old Testament saints were set in the sunlight so the color and shading could be compared and touched up. 

In the meantime, painting was going on in the pendentives. The four evangelists were sketched out in paint, by eye, in five minutes or less. Here's the Saint on the left coming into focus. 

The second Saint appears on the right side within minutes. 

Here's a closeup of David. 

Soon we expect to see the top level of scaffolding removed, and these Saints on the ceiling rather than the floor. 

Icons for St. Anthony's Dome, Part 06

Today we find that the top level of the scaffolding had been removed. But the remaining levels still impede the painters, so they are working around the top level of pipes. They are beginning to work on another medallion, or face, that will fit inside the "drum" and look out at the congregation.

Here is the current state of the Pantocrator icon on the dome. The degree of intensity of the colors, the gold and the surrounding images will depend on the amount of light coming from around (through the windows) or from below (chandelier).

And in case you are wondering, yes, that is real gold leaf on the dome.

This shows a wider view of the dome. The scaffolding precludes seeing all of it at once - I had to lay my camera on its back to get this shot.

There are six cherubim up there,  on the inside of the drum, and they have almost exactly the same expression on their faces. I couldn't tell the difference between them.

Here is a second example of the six. The wings are cleverly done as well. I got dizzy just trying to count and follow the brush strokes.

Here is a closer photo of Jesus, from a different angle.

and a closeup of his hand holding the Gospel book or Bible.

He awaits.