Icon Madonna with child Odigitria

Icon Madonna with child Odigitria

AFI-IC-11608
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€150.00

Icon Madonna with child Odigitria hand painted in Russia. 

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Icon Madonna with child Odigitria hand painted in Russia. "Odigitria" in Greek (odigos) means "Guide", "She who points the way". This typology is particularly venerated in Russia: the Mother of God becomes the guide of the Christian people to the Son, who is indicated with the right hand.According to tradition, the Mother of God Odigitria is one of the three icons painted by the evangelist Luke when the Virgin was still alive, then brought from Eudosia, wife of the emperor Theodosius the Younger, from the Holy Land to the monastery of Odegon (according to some instead to the church of the Blacherne) in Constantinople (fifth century). From this first icon spread then countless variations, which were distinguished by some iconographic details, linked to miracles and local traditions. The icon depicted here is called "Smolenskaya" in reference to the miraculous icon venerated in the city of Smolensk. The iconographic type of the Odigitria always represents a frontal representation of the Madonna, with the Child on her left arm. The Virgin indicates with the gesture of the hand the Son, represented in the attitude of Merciful Judge, in fact the Child has in his left hand a closed roll (the roll of the law), while with the right blesses (in accordance with the canonical type of Christ Pantocrator. The robes of the Mother of God are the canonical ones: the blue tunic (which can be glimpsed under the mantle), a sign of humanity, and the purple mando, a sign of royalty, a royalty with which all of us, as children of God, are clothed. The three stars on the mantle (on the head and shoulders of the Mother) are an ancient symbol of her virginity: before, during and after the birth. The face of the Child expresses seriousness and maturity, typical of adults. Christ the Child is therefore represented as God-Man, the symbols are evident in the gesture of the hand and in the nimbus, in which the cross looms, sign of the Passion. The presence of the divine is also indicated by the web of the assist on the garments of the Virgin and Jesus: gold indicates, as it is a color that does not exist in nature, the glory of God. The legible inscriptions on the golden background are the initials that distinguish the Mother of God, who humbly indicates the Son she generated, as if to emphasize that she is only the intermediary between mankind and God.

Material
wood
Painted icon sizes
10X14 cm
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