Icon of the Mother of God and Infant Christ (Virgin Eleousa)

c. 1425–50

attributed to Angelos Akotantos

(Cretan, died 1450)

Culture

Republic of Venice, Kingdom of Candia, Candia (Heraklion, Crete, Greece) or Byzantine Empire, Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey)

Medium

tempera and gold on wood

Measurements

Unframed: 96 x 70 cm (37 13/16 x 27 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.154

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Location

105 Byzantine

Did You Know?

This is the only known work by Angelos Akotantos in the United States.

Description

This large icon of a tender embrace between the Virgin Mary and Christ likely hung on a Greek Orthodox church’s iconostasis, a screen separating the congregation from the altar-containing sanctuary, which only clergy could enter. A skilled painter of faces and draperies, Angelos Akotantos was among Crete’s most sought-after artists. Based in Byzantium’s artistic center in his hometown of Candia, he painted for imperial clients and beyond. Despite theological differences, Cretan icons of Mary were popular in Ethiopia. In the early 1500s, Emperor Lebna Dengel sent monks Zekre and Pawli to acquire Cretan icons for him. Twenty-nine Cretan icons are still venerated (honored) in Ethiopian churches.