See the Book

THE TRANSFIGURATION

44.5 x 34.4 x 2cm

Second half of 17th century

Christ is portrayed in frontal pose and holding an open scroll, his palm outwards in a gesture of supplication. Clad in a white chiton and himation, he stands on top of a steep mountain within a light rose circular mandorla inscribed with elliptical geometric motifs and white rays (Figs 176, 177).
Two prophets, standing on separate rocky mountains at the same height as Christ, touch the edge of the mandorla with their hands. Left, Prophet Elijah, in brown chiton and greenish himation, holds his right arm with his bent left hand. Right, Moses holds a book — the tablets of the Law — in both hands, which are covered by his reddish himation. At the top, on the badly effaced gold ground, are faint capital letters, left white and right red; the original inscription in red capitals was revealed after conservation: Η ΜΕΤΑΜΟΡΦΩCIC (The Transfiguration).

On the foothills of the mountain are the three apostles, in animated poses conveying astonishment, in accordance with the narration in Matthew (17:1-6): ‘And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid’. Peter, left, half-kneeling, raises his head and gazes at Christ, making gestures of amazement; he touches his cheek with his left hand and thrusts his right upwards (Fig. 178). James, right, turns his back on the scene as he falls to the ground, hiding his face with his left hand. John, in the middle, kneels and falls prostrate on the ground with both arms outstretched, also turning his back on the Transfiguration. Peter wears a blue chiton and a red himation; John a blue chiton and a brown himation, like Moses; James a deep blue chiton and himation, like Prophet Elijah. The rocks of the mountain are painted in different colours, the central one light brown and the two lateral ones deep purple. The edges on the abrupt summits are painted with deft, broad white brushstrokes.
The icon combines two important models of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Cretan painting.¹ In the upper part, which includes Christ and two prophets, the fifteenth- century model, known in an icon of the same size from the Stathatos Collection, now in the Benaki Museum, and an icon in the Tsakyroglou Collection, is followed.² The poses, the gestures, even the arrangement of the drapery, as well as the round shape of the mandorla, are the same, while a minor divergence is observed in Christ’s right hand, which in our icon has the palm outwards instead of blessing: there are also differences in the colour of the mandorla, which is rose instead of the deep blue used in the Benaki Museum icon,³ and in the pose of Moses who is shown standing here instead of walking.

The lower part of the composition is taken from another model. There are significant differences in the attitudes and gestures of the apostles, while the episode of Christ’s arrival and departure with his disciples is omitted. The closest model for this part, as well as for Moses’s pose, is encountered in works by Theophanis. In an icon in the Lavra Monastery (1535)⁴ the poses of Peter and James are exactly the same as in our icon, whereas the pose of John is the same as in the fifteenth-century icon in the Benaki Museum. However, in the Lavra icon the arrangement of the drapery and the pose of Moses, without the tablets of the Law, are different. On the contrary, in the icon of the same subject in the Monastery of Stavronikita⁵ Moses is portrayed in similar type, with the tablets, while the poses of all the other figures differ. Affinity in the poses of the three apostles is encountered in the wall-paintings in the Stavronikita Monastery,⁶ where even the rocks of the mountain are drawn in the same way. On account of damage in the upper section of this wall-painting, where Christ and Prophet Elijah are represented, no conclusions can be drawn on the model used for them. Moses is depicted in a different pose, however, walking upon the mountain top. It seems that the painter of our icon combined the earlier fifteenth-century model for rendering Christ and Prophet Elijah, and the later models of Theophanis (1535 and 1547) for rendering the apostles and Moses. As far as the poses of the apostles are concerned, that of Peter is exactly the same, even in the gesture, as in an icon from Constantinople (circa 1600), in the Benaki Museum,⁷ while the poses of John and James are similar with minor deviations in the position of the hands. The poses and gestures of the three figures in the upper part of the icon are different. In the Velimezis icon the drapery on the garments of Christ and the prophets follows the manner of fifteenth-century Cretan painting, as does their iconography. On the contrary, the drawing on the figures of the apostles lacks the clarity and precision of fifteenth-century painters and the drapery is rendered with thicker lines, stronger white highlights and broader colour planes. The formation of the landscape with the faceted rocks is also softer and more loosely drawn, belying a later period. The icon might have been repainted some time in the past by a painter who was true to tradition. However, it is more likely that the work constitutes a synthesis of a painter who remained faithful to early models, as is usual in works by Victor, Ilias Moskos and several other good artists of the second half of the seventeenth century.
Stylistically some traits in our icon are comparable to those observed in an icon of the Nativity by Ilias Moskos, in the Benaki Museum (1658).⁸ Despite the important difference of Moskos’s Italianate composition, the likeness is apparent in the undulating planes of the steep rocks of the cave and the conservative rendering of the figure of Joseph, who resembles Peter in our icon of the Transfiguration.

CONDITION Manolis Chatzidakis, 1945: ‘The icon is of thick wood with fine gesso preparation on fine linen. The upper part of the icon has been repaired, particularly Christ’s face, while the body is untouched. There are also repairs on the prophets and the rocks. The lower part with the apostles is virtually intact. In the bottom left corner barely discernible traces of an inscription, which was erased in cleaning.’ The icon had overpaintings, mainly in the upper part, which were removed during recent cleaning. The traces of the signature discerned by Chatzidakis are just visible in the infrared photograph. Various numbers have been written in ink on the back of the icon in a recent period. See also Appendix III.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Unpublished.

NOTES
1. For the iconography see Millet 1916, 216ff. and 226ff., figs 187-197.
2. N. Chatzidakis 1983, no. 26, 36-37, with bibliography and other examples.
3. In a 1Sth-century icon in the Gonia Monastery, Crete, Christ’s palm is turned outwards;
however, there are important differences in other elements of the composition (see Icons of
Cretan Art 1993, no. 165, 519 (M. Borboudakis).
4. Chatzidakis – Babié 1982, fig. 332.
5. Chatzidakis 1969-70, fig. 72.
6. Chatzidakis 1986, fig. 87.
7. Treasures of Orthodoxy 1994, no. 64, 245-246 (A. Drandaki).
8. Xyngopoulos 1951, no. 8, 11, pl. 8. Treasures of Orthodoxy 1994, no. 67, 248-249 (A. Drandaki).