See the Book

TΗΕ VIRGIN HODEGETRIA

Imprinted cartoon. Black and red ink.
(In the imprinted anthivolon or drawing the representation is in reverse in relation to the work that was the model.)
58.5 x 38.5 cm.
19th century
Industrial paper

The imprinted representation on a single sheet of industrial paper, glued to later handmade paper and card, is in quite good condition.

The Virgin in the type of the Hodegetria holds the Christ-Child comfortably on her left arm and intercedes, inclining gracefully to- wards her Son. The Child, torso erect, blesses and holds a closed scroll. The particular type of the Virgin, principal characteristics of which are the inclination of the head, the gentle youthful face executed with a single brushstroke, the slanting eyes and slender neck, the soft overfold of the maphorion on the chest and the diffuse sorrow in the expression are the outcome of a harmonious merging of Byzantine and Western artistic modes. They are encountered in diverse iconographic types of the Virgin and Child from the fifteenth century onward, such as the Virgin Lactans (Galaktotrophousa) from Siphnos, in the Byzantine Museum (circa 1400),¹ and the Virgin Hodegetria in the Velimezis Collection (mid-15th century)² The same physiognomy, presented with the expressive means of the art of mainland Greece, is seen in works by Frangos Katelanos,³ and in a host of icons from North Greek workshops, such as the Galaktotrophousa by the monk Makarios from Galatista (1784).⁴ In the area of Ioannina it occurs in the monumental decoration of the church of St George at Negades and in two icons, the first in the Ano Panagia at Tsepelovo and the second in the church of Christ the Saviour at Ano Pedina, work of the painter Anastasios from Chioniades (1884).⁵

Similar but freer artistic manners are identified in a drawing of the head of a Virgin in deesis (19th century), in the Giannoulis Collection.6 The common provenance of both drawings from the Marinas Archive advocates their attribution to the same workshop, possibly that of the Marinas family, and the dating of the drawing in the Makris-Margaritis Collection also the nineteenth century.

A. Katselaki

1 Κατσελάκη 2005, 163-170,  figs‚  1,2.
2 N. Chatzidakis 1998, no. I. Βοκοτόπουλος 1990, no. 6. Δρανδάκη 2002, nos 6, 16.
3 Acheimastou-Potamianou 1998b, no. 1. Τούρτα 2002, 292-294, fig. 5. Ιεροτελεστία και Πίστη 1999, no. 11 (E.N Tsigaridas). Μπαλτογιάννη 1986, no. 91. Καρακατσάνη 1980, nos 259, 261, 263, 264. Τσιγάρας 2005, 153, fig. 52.
4 Ikonen Bilder in Gold 1993, no. 60 (Chr. Baltoyanni).
5 Unpublished.
6 Εκ Χιονιάδων 2004, no. 65 (M. Nanou).