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THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN IN THE TEMPLE AND SAINT CATHERINE

37.8 x 47.8 x 2.6 cm

18th century

The Presentation of the Virgin is depicted in front of a building denoting the interior of a temple. At the centre is the sanctuary with the ciborium supported by four high, slim columns. The young Mary is accompanied by Anne and Joachim, and girls with lighted candles. Zacharias welcomes her with open arms. In a separate two-storey building to the left the Virgin, seated on a low throne beneath a ciborium, receives the angel approaching from the right. On the left behind Zacharias is the full-bodied, frontal figure of Saint Catherine, completely unconnected with the scene. Her presence is probably linked with the name of the icon’s dedicator. The representation is painted on the now badly damaged gold ground; above the ciborium is a long inscription in red capital letters: H EN TΩ ΝΑΩ ΕΙCOΔΟC THC Θ(ΕΟΤΟ)ΚΟΥ. The figures of the saints are accompanied by inscriptions in white capitals: Η ΑΓΙΑ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ, Ο ΖΑΧΑΡΙΑC, ANNA, ΙΩΑΚΕΙΜ. The composition follows the model of fifteenth-century Cretan painting,¹ which is widely diffused in icons and wall-paintings. Here the conservative painter has copied it with careful drawing, harsh modelling of the flesh with deep shadows, restrained rendering of the drapery and diligent attention to detail. These traits, together with a pronounced ineptness in the composition, indicate that the icon was produced in a provincial Helladic workshop in the eighteenth century.

CONDITION Quite good with damage to the gold ground and the building on the right.

Bibliography Unpublished.

NOTES
1. N. Chatzidakis 1983, no. 3, 18-19 with further examples.