Venetian Cretan School Artist, Madonna of Kazan with Child, 1600, Oil on Board

Details

Description

This icon depicts the Madonna Hodegetria, a Byzantine iconographic type in which the Virgin Mary indicates the Christ Child as … Read more This icon depicts the Madonna Hodegetria, a Byzantine iconographic type in which the Virgin Mary indicates the Christ Child as "the way". She is dressed in a red cloak decorated with stylised golden motifs, a symbol of royalty and purity. The Child Jesus, seated on his mother's left arm, blesses with his right hand and holds a cruciferous globe in his left, a symbol of his divine power over the world.
Two archangels (probably Gabriel and Michael) appear in the upper part, suspended among the clouds. The style of the figures, elongated and solemn, and the use of a dark background are typical of the Cretan school of the late Renaissance, which blends Byzantine tradition with Western (especially Venetian) influences.
The visible inscriptions (including “IΣ XΣ”, a Greek abbreviation for "Jesus Christ") confirm the Orthodox authenticity of the work. See less