1/31/2024 0 Comments Iconographer prayersBut even before this God created the first icon by making man in His own image. This image was returned to the king who was healed. The artist was unable to capture a good likeness of the Lord, so Jesus created one miraculously. The king suffered from leprosy and sought the portrait as a means of healing. An artist was sent by King Abgar of Edessa to paint a portrait of Christ. But before this, tradition says that Christ Himself created an icon by pressing his face to a cloth. Luke is said to have painted the original Hodegetria icon (She Who Shows the Way). “Thou hast illumined the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with thy Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent thy most holy Mother.” This surface is then sanded smooth so that the icon board has no texture. Several more layers are applied on top until the cloth is no longer visible. As it does, the paint will have a tendency to crack, and so the cloth gives the paint something to adhere to that has greater flexibility than bare wood. Even the best prepared panel will expand with heat and humidity, shrink in the cold and in dry conditions, and will warp a little from time to time. The cloth is not meant to give texture, but stabilizes the paint. After sealing the board, a piece of cloth is embedded between two wet layers of gesso. The board is sealed with two layers of acrylic gesso. With the plies in plywood alternating directions, ideally warping should be kept to a minimum. Slats of wood were placed in the back of the icon panel across the grain to prevent the panel from warping. Older icons were, of course, painted on solid wood. The icon begins with these raw materials, to be put together for God's glory, but long before the painting begins, the board must be prepared using a healthy portion of time and effort to produce a smooth, stable, long-lasting surface on which to produce this heavenly image.Įach board begins with 3/4” plywood. So too, any artistic skill or talent, time or energy, all find their source in him and ought to be invested, as in the Parable of the Talents, to be given back to Him with increase. The wood, cloth, pigments, and gold are meant for God's glory. Before picking up a brush, the iconographer asks God to guide the process, calling on Him as “Lord of all that exists.” All that we have has been given to us by God and rightly belongs to Him. Amen.”Īn icon is meant to be primarily the work of God rather than the work of man. This I ask, through the intercessions of Thy most holy mother, the Apostle Luke and all the Saints. Protect them from evil and instruct them with good counsel. Guide the hands of Thine unworthy servant so that I may worthily and perfectly portray Thine icon, that of Thy mother and all the Saints, for the glory, joy and adornment of Thy holy Church.įorgive my sins and the sins of those who will venerate these icons and who, kneeling devoutly before them give homage to those they represent. “O Divine Lord of all that exists, Thou hast illumined the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with Thy Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent thy most holy mother, the one who held Thee in her arms and said: “the grace of Him who was born of me is spread throughout the world.”Įnlighten and direct my soul, my heart and my spirit. “During work, pray in order to strengthen yourself physically and spiritually avoid above all useless words, and keep silence.”Īnd so, I have structured this essay around the Prayer Before Beginning an Icon, taken from Dionysius' Painter's Manual: “Before starting work, make the sign of the Cross pray in silence, and pardon your enemies” The rules for an iconographer, as handed down to me by my teacher read: If an Athonite monk was unworthy and incapable of such a task, how much less equipped am I? What is needed above all else is humility, prayer and God's guidance. Our natural artistic abilities are inadequate to the task of depicting the incarnate God, His mother, and the saints. However, in my arrogance I failed greatly, as nature did not assist me sufficiently or accompany my intentions and wishes.” “I wished to become his unworthy imitator, and started the art of painting icons, thinking that the desire to fulfill my duty to your most high and laudable magnificence was the same as the ability. In his manual for icon painters, Dionysius of Fourna, an 18 th century monk on Mount Athos speaks to the Mother of God about his desire to be an iconographer like the Apostle Luke whom tradition credits with painting the first icon of the Virgin. The following is taken from a talk given to an Episcopal Clergy Retreat in Jerome, ID recently:
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