Icons: Sacred heritage with a market value

Czy sztuka sakralna to obecnie przeżytek? Dla wielu odpowiedź na to pytanie jest zdecydowanie twierdząca. Co prawda, dzieła podejmujące tematy religijne nieustannie powstają, jednak dziś mają zupełnie inną i nowoczesną formę, a dodatkowo samemu przedstawieniu często towarzyszy ujęcie problemu społecznego lub wyznaniowego. Współcześni artyści odchodzą od tworzenia obiektów mających wspomóc w modlitwie na rzecz sztuki umożliwiającej krytyczne spojrzenie na aktualnie problematyczne kwestie religijne. Działanie to jest dekonstrukcją kanonu reprezentacji postaci i scen biblijnych, który europejscy mistrzowie klarowali przez wieki. Aktualnie na rynku sztuki odnajdziemy zarówno prace nowatorsko przedstawiające temat wiary, jak i tradycyjne ikony sakralne o starodawnym charakterze. Konwencjonalne portrety świętych i klasyczne kadry ze scen ewangelicznych mają silne powiązanie z wieloletnią, historyczną ewolucją sposobu ukazywania motywów religijnych. Jedną z tych metod jest pisanie ikon, czyli tworzenie wizerunków figur sakralnych w specyficznym stylu i technice. 

What is an icon, and what is its history? 

An icon in the Eastern Christian tradition, and particularly in the Orthodox Church, is an image with a sacred function that depicts a figure of a saint, a biblical scene or an event related to Christianity. The exact beginning of the creation of icons is not known. Some date their debut to apostolic times, believing that the first author of such images was Luke the Evangelist. According to this theory, Rogier van der Weyden painted the famous picture 'St. Luke Painting the Madonna' (1532), in which the apostle immortalizes the Virgin Mary with the Child, thus creating the first icon. Historical confirmation was found in the fact that in the 4th century there were already representations of Christian saints in this type, while the oldest surviving icon dates from the 6th century. Icon painting developed in Byzantium and in areas influenced by this culture (Russia, Greece, Serbia, the Balkans). The aesthetic origins of icons can be traced back to Phaumite sepulchral portraits (dated between the 1st and 4th centuries AD) or to early Christian catacomb painting. Alongside the growing popularity of icons was the development of iconoclasm, an iconoclastic movement determined to generally ban the portrayal and immortalization of sacred figures in order to prevent worshipping and praying to effigies. Despite long and vociferous objections to the creation of religious representations, icons continued to be creating a canon of how to portray specific sacred figures. Icon painting remains one of the most important testimonies and artistic legacies of the early Middle Ages, which shaped later forms of representation of sacred subjects. 

The making and use of icons

Icons are primarily created on a wooden base. They used to be painted in encaustic, then tempera, and nowadays in very different ways. Newer works may be decorated with gold or silver, which add to the decorativeness and nobility of the saints depicted. According to Christian beliefs, the artist who undertakes to paint an icon acts under divine inspiration, which guides him or her in the creation of the image. The painter becomes an intermediary between the spheres of the sacred and the profane, and the final result of his work is due to spiritual enlightenment. The scene or figure depicted should be easily recognizable to the viewer, which is why ways of depicting specific saints and their attributes, developed over the years, constantly accompany icons. The main purpose of the image is to support individual prayer by depicting a religious scene or figure, which is only possible by including symbolic elements in the painting that characterize and identify the chosen moment or person. Despite the original sacred purpose of icons, they remain in the category of works of art and can be objects of interest to collectors. 

Icons in the contemporary art market

Icons circulating on the contemporary art market are unlikely to date from the Middle Ages. They are later works, often from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, less marked by the historical, momentous tradition of icon writing and more reproducing the developed and described canon of depicting religious themes. Artbidy's offerings include the icon of Christ Pantocrator, which cultivates one of the most popular ways of depicting Jesus as omnipotent and judge of the Universe, as well as the icon of Our Lady and Child from 1889, showing a couple in the type known iconographically as Eleus, in which the hugged Mary and Child meet cheek to cheek. We invite you to have a look at the other icons available at Artbidy and advise you to pay particular attention to their exceptionally decorative gold and silver facings.