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THE ROOM of the Icons VATICAN MUSEUMS PINACOTECA VATICANA ROOM XVIII THE ROOM OF THE ICONs The icons of the Vatican Museums are an era, the peculiar symbiosis between theological important collection of sacred images. They are doctrine and art that gave form and content to an expression of the theology, faith and aesthetic the sacred images we now call icons. canons of the Christianity of the East. The most frequent type in the collections of the The paintings forming part of the collection Vatican Museums is that of the devotional icon. entered the papal collections after 1762, as part These were images, generally of small format, of Sacred Museum, established by Pope Benedict produced for private and domestic prayer. XIV within the Vatican Library. Although they diff er in size from the larger icons The icons exhibited here are a selection of the for display in churches, they represent similar more signifi cant ones in the collection, chosen iconographic themes: images of Christ and of the on the basis of their iconographic types and Mother of God, the Saints and liturgical feasts. cultural areas. Dating from the 15th to the 19th century, they come from post-Byzantine Greece, the Balkan and Slav countries, Russia, the area formerly under Venetian rule, the Adriatic and the Near East. These territories were always linked to the world of Byzantium in which was developed, ever since the fi rst centuries of the Christian iconostasis 1 iconostasis 2 iconostasis 3 1 Saint John the Baptist “Aligero” 3 Deesis Russian Art, late 15th cent. - early 16th cent. Russian Art (Moscow), 17th cent. John, the angel of the desert, the messenger Th e Deesis (from the Greek word meaning who prepared the way of the Lord according intercession or prayer) is one of the most po- to the prophecy of Malachi (3: 1), lived in the pular images of Byzantine and Orthodox art, wilderness and preached the coming of Christ. frequent both in icons for private devotion and He is represented as an ascetic, wearing a on a more monumental scale in iconostases camel’s hair raiment with a mantle (himation) (icon screens). Christ enthroned is fl anked by draped over it. Imprisoned by Herod, he was the fi rst and most important intercessors with decapitated on Herod’s orders to please Sa- their hands opened in the gesture of suppli- lome, daughter of his concubine Herodias. cation: to his right is the Virgin Mary, to his John is shown supporting a charger containing left John the Baptist. Th e iconography is very the severed head, below which is a scroll with ancient and was varied with the addition of the quotation from John (1: 29): “Behold the other fi gures such as archangels, apostles and Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the saints. In the present icon, we see, kneeling in world”. At his feet are a tree and an axe allu- the foreground, the two “fools-for-Christ” Basil ding to the Baptist’s warning: “Repent, for the and Maximus of Moscow, two of the best loved kingdom of heaven is at hand […]. Even now saints in the capital of the Russian empire. the axe is laid to the root of the trees: every tree Th ey exemplify those ascetics who, in embra- therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut cing the “foolishness” of the Cross, voluntarily down and thrown into the fi re”. (Mt 3: 1, 10). chose a life of abnegation and prayer in a kind of martyrdom in life. 2 Virgin with Child, so-called Madonna of the Sign Russian Art, 18th cent. (?) Th e icon represents the Mother of God in the pose of the orant, arms raised, palms exposed. She bears before her a circular aureole with the image of the blessing Christ Emanuel. Th is type of Madonna is of ancient Byzanti- ne origin. It is known as the Virgin Platytera, the “Virgin more spacious than the heavens”. Th e epithet derives from the liturgy of Saint Basil; it alludes to the fact that the Virgin gave birth to the Almighty who is greater and more spacious than all the Heavens, referring to the dogma of the Incarnation of Christ. iconostasis iconostasis 4 5 iconostasis 6 iconostasis iconostasis 7 8 and the fi rst to be resurrected, drawing 4 them upwards from their tombs. Th e Kings, Christ of the Fiery Eye Russian Art, late 18th cent. Prophets and Righteous witness the Triumph over death. Th is iconography is derived not Th e icon representing the Saviour is based on from the evangelical texts, but from the apocry the dogma of the Incarnation and expresses in phal Gospel of Nicodemus and from various tangible form the union of the two natures of hymns, including the Akatisto Hymn. Christ: human and divine. Th e severity of the gaze of the Lord of the Universe, who is both 7 Sacred Calendar or Menology Creator and Judge, cannot be divorced from Russian Art, 17th cent. His mercy to man. Th is “calendar of sainthood” presents, round 5 Dormition of the Virgin (Koimesis) and the the central nucleus with Christ in Glory, the Sacrilege of Jephronias feast-days of the Saints, as established in the Russian Art (Novgorod?), c. 1500 Orthodox calendar, which begins on the fi rst of September. Called menologion, meaning annual Th e Western feast of the Assumption was calendar (but there also exists the synaxarion recognized in the Eastern Church as early as or monthly calendar), these icons derived their the 6th century and called Koimesis, meaning iconography from the miniatures that illustrated Dormition (“Falling Asleep”). For the Ortho- the texts containing the fi rst collections of lives dox believe that Mary, assumed body and soul of the saints. Th ey were displayed in churches into heaven, did not die but fell asleep. In this on a special lectern called analogion. icon we see, at the centre, Christ welcoming the soul of his Mother, portrayed as an infant 8 Saint Nicholas and stories of his life in swaddling clothes. Th e sleeping body of Russian Art (Novgorod?), Mary lies prostrate on its bier. To its sides are early 16th cent. the weeping and praying Apostles. Th e buil- dings shown on both sides in the background Saint Nicholas is highly venerated both in represent the points of departure and arrival of Western Europe and in the Slav Greek Ortho- the funeral procession: the house of Mary and dox world. Born in Patara in c. 270, he was the Temple of Jerusalem. In the foreground, Bishop of Myra in Lycia where he died betwe- in smaller scale, is represented the episode of en 345 and 352. Defender of orthodoxy at the non-believer Jephronias who, in the act of the Council of Nicaea, where he opposed the desecrating the holy bier, has his hands cut off heretic Arius, he was imprisoned and deprived by the sword of an angel. of sacred insignia. Th anks to the miraculous apparition of Christ and the Virgin Mary, he 6 Descent of Christ into Hell (Anastasis) regained his freedom and was restored to his Slav Art, 18th cent. episcopal rank. In contrast to the earlier Byzan- tine icons, the Russian ones are enriched with It is the icon of Easter. Th e image corresponds biographical episodes and the miracles worked to that of the Resurrection of Christ in the by the Saint. Th e image of the Saint is imme- West. He is victorious and resplendent not so diately recognizable: that of an elderly man in much over His empty tomb as over the king- episcopal vestments, severe in expression, his dom of hell. Th e gates of hell are fl ung to the high forehead furrowed, his beard short. With ground: Christ rises over them. He grasps by one hand he makes the gesture of blessing, the hand Adam and Eve, the fi rst to live with the other he holds the Gospel. iconostasis 9 iconostasis 10 iconostasis iconostasis 11 12 9 Th e other two panels present both the scene Death of Saint Ephrem the Syrian Emmanuel Zanfurnari of the Last Judgement proper, with Christ as (doc. 1595 -1631) Judge and the angels casting out the damned, and that of the saved: the hosts of the Blessed Ephrem the Syrian, Doctor of the Church, the- in the heavenly Jerusalem, in the act of adoring ologian and poet (born at Nisibis in 306-307, the Almighty. died at Edessa in 373), was a prolifi c author 11 of religious hymns and commentaries on Saint Titus Bishop Scriptures, and was also the fi rst to introduce Georgios Klontzas female liturgical chant; he was nicknamed the (Candia [Heraklion], doc. 1562 -1608) “harp of God”. He affi rmed that three harps had been ordained by God to make us hear Titus, Archbishop of Crete, as the inscription His voice: the harp of Moses, that of Christ informs us, is shown wearing Latin liturgical and that of Nature. Th e most frequent repre- vestments (cope and mitre). He is the patron sentation of Ephrem describes the scene of his saint of the island and much venerated also funeral in the desert of Th ebes and the many in Dalmatia. His biography tells us that he ascetics who fl ock to attend the ceremony. was a disciple of Saint Paul and helped him Th e old and the sick are transported by young to establish the fi rst Christian communities companions. Th e arid rocky landscape is pitted in Corinth and Jerusalem. His relics were with the caves which the monks have turned preserved at Gortyn (in Crete) down to 1669, into their cells and where they perform their when they were transferred to Saint Mark’s daily activities of prayer and work.
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