112. Icon on wood, "Saint John the Baptist - Angel of the Desert", painter Stefan, era of Constantin Cantemir (father of Dimitrie Cantemir), May 5, 1685, extremely rare collection piece

Saint John the Baptist is depicted standing, winged, in his capacity of "Angel of the Desert", on a golden background, at the top of the icon, and with a landscape formed by hills with leafy trees at his feet. With his right hand he makes the gesture of speech, and with his left hand, bent at the elbow, he holds the chalice with his severed head - the symbol of his martyrdom. He is dressed in the traditional goatskin coat, over which he wears a brown cloak, draped in angular folds, made in darker shades for shadows and brighter for the illuminated parts. The golden wings have the plumage made with red in many shades. The typology of his face respects the line of tradition, but the modeling of the face is created with abrupt transitions from the dark areas towards the light. Above, in the corners, in the open sky, appears the hand of Jesus Christ blessing him. Around, the scene is delimited, like a frame, by a thick red line. At a later date than the painting, a few beautifully decorated silver curls were applied to the icon (halos, hands, chalice, clouds) - a votive gesture for the fulfillment of a prayer addressed to the saint. On the bottom side, on a red background, there is an inscription in black, in Cyrillic characters: "1685 May 5 by Stefan Zugrav".

Dimensions

width 26 cm, height 31 cm

Description

tempera and gold foil on wood, 800 silver

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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