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The Ascension. Click the icon for bigger view

Early 19 century; the church of 55 Cyril and Methodius in the village of Gabrovnitsa, Pazardjik region; painted by Christo Dimitrov; Samokov school; tempera on wood; 43 x 31 cm., National History Museum, invt. No 4919.

The icon has a decorated frame in brick red and gilt. The background is blue.

A traditional in iconography work is rendered in a markedly sophisticated manner of painting, enriched by additional amusing details. The scaled-down figures of angels with trumpets are depicted around the ascending Christ, who is painted in full figure, seated in a bright halo. At the foreground, down at the bottom, is the group of the Apostles and the Virgin Mary among them. It was found out that the Virgin's figure is comparable to the depiction of St. Catherine in the icon of the same name - a well known work of Christo Dimitrov's-owned by Atanas Samokovliev from Plovdiv. The two figures were painted using one and the same stencil. It was found in the course of a research on some drawings from the National Revival period, conducted at the National Art Gallery by the Bulgarian art historian Atanas Sharenkov. When placed over the figure of the Virgin in the above-described icon, it is evident that the selfsame stencil was used in painting the figure of the Virgin both for the outlines and in detail.