Icons for SALE

The Virgin Hodegetria. Click the icon for bigger view

1840-ies; the Church of St. George in the village of Dripchevo, Ilaskovo region; icon-painter Peter Minjov from Tryavna, Tryavna school, tempera on wood; 127 x 92 cm., National History Museum, invt. No 7416.

The icon has a frame decorated in a chessboard pattern. The background is blue. Down right at the base is the fine signature of icon-painter Minjov.

The icon was from the imperial row of the iconostasis. Its iconography follows the classical canon for the Virgin Hodegetria. The Holy Virgin is dressed in a dark blue himation and raspberry reed maphorion. She is wearing a crown. St. George and another saint, unidentifiable because of the damaged painting, are depicted in elliptical Baroque medallions. The icon shows a style of depiction similar to that of the previously described one - St. George and Scenes from his Life, which obviously was painted by the same author. The round, delicate faces and small heads practically repeat those from the icon of St. George. The coloring here, however, is very gentle and exquisite, suited to the gentleness of a woman's face. Raspberry red is juxtaposed to a contrasting dark blue. The so far neutral background is replaced by an imitation of a sky. The line carefully controls the contour; Baroque features moderately in the composition.