Αμφιπρόσωπη εικόνα του βυζαντινού μουσείου Αθηνών. Ποίημα αριστοκρατικής ζωγραφικής των Παλαιολόγων.

Abstract

The bilateral icon of the Virgin with the clild and the Crucifixion in the Byzantine Museum of Athens is among the great creations of Palaiologan painting. On the main face, the Virgin belongs to a rare variant of the Hodegetria type. On the other face, the Crucifixion, is a work by the same painter and equally unusual for its eclectic interpretation, brings together important typological characteristics, primarily relating to the slender figure of the Virgin, the surrounding landscape with its unique depiction of the city of Jerusalem, and the rare shimmering rays in the halo of Christ Crucified, which refer to the exalted Christ ‘Sun of Justice (ἥλιος τῆς δικαιοσύνης)’. The costly and superbly-processed colors, the composition, and the iconographic and stylistic details of these two representations lead us to conclude that the icon must have been created by an important painter in Constantinople, perhaps not long after the second decade of the 14th century.