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THE VIRGIN OF KYKKOS

31.5 x 25.4 x 1.8 cm

18th century

On the gold ground of the icon, the Virgin is depicted to the waist holding the Christ-Child right, to whom she turns in three-quarter pose. Her left arm is passed under his legs, while she clasps his fore arm with her right hand. The Virgin wears a red maphorion with gold border band and gold embroidery. Her halo bears punched decoration of broad volutes. Christ is clad in a short, blue, sleeveless chiton. Both figures are painted with strong features and dark shadows around the eyes and the outline of the face. The loosely drawn folds on the drapery hint at a Western model.
The iconographic type of the Virgin and Child in our icon corresponds to that of the famous icon of the Virgin of Kykkos, from the homonymous monastery in Cyprus.¹ It appears in icons from the twelfth century,² but is more widely diffused in late Postbyzantine icons³ as well as cighteenth- and nineteenth-century prints.⁴ In these representations the poses of the Virgin and Christ are repeated exactly as in our icon, while Christ normally holds an open scroll.⁵ Closer to our icon is one in the Kykkos Monastery, dated 1757,⁶ in which the similarity in the poses of the two figures even extends to the closed scroll held by Christ. The iconographic and stylistic traits of our icon display affinity with those of eighteenth-century works of a more popular art. The punched decoration on the halo and the gold embroidery on the Virgin’s maphorion, reminiscent of Italian models, point to an eighteenth-century island workshop.

CONDITION  Quite good. Previous conservation has damaged the modelling and the blue colour, which is much altered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY  Unpublished.

Notes
1. Tatić-Djurić 1990, 199-207 (in Greek), 209-220 (in French). Hadermann-Misguich 1991, 197-204.
2. Weitzmann 1984, 149-151. Hadermann-Misguich 1991, 197ff., pls 101-102, 106. Weyl Carr 1994, 239ff.
3. CE Gratziou 1994, 317ff.
4. Papastratou 1986, II, nos 539-543, pp. 504-509. Gratziou 1994, 317ff,, figs 3, 5, 7.
5. Gratziou 1994, figs 2-5, 7-11.
6. Gratziou 1994, fig. 1.