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83-595: America Today is a mural comprising ten canvas panels, painted with egg tempera in 1930–1931 by the American painter Thomas Hart Benton . It provides a panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, based on Benton's extensive travels in the country. Originally commissioned for The New School for Social Research , it has belonged to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , in New York , since 2012. The mural

166-554: A pagan or Gnostic context) in his Life of Alexander Severus (xxix) that formed part of the Augustan History . According to Lampridius, the emperor Alexander Severus ( r.  222–235 ), himself not a Christian, had kept a domestic chapel for the veneration of images of deified emperors, of portraits of his ancestors, and of Christ, Apollonius , Orpheus and Abraham . Saint Irenaeus , ( c.  130–202 ) in his Against Heresies (1:25;6) says scornfully of

249-471: A beardless young man. It was some time before the earliest examples of the long-haired, bearded face that was later to become standardized as the image of Jesus appeared. When they did begin to appear there was still variation. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary. However, Augustine was not a resident of the Holy Land and therefore was not familiar with

332-401: A blue undergarment with a red overgarment (representing a human who was granted gifts by God), and thus the doctrine of deification is conveyed by icons. Letters are symbols too. Most icons incorporate some calligraphic text naming the person or event depicted. Even this is often presented in a stylized manner. The historical tradition of icons used for purposes other than visual depiction are

415-408: A church and admonished the other bishop that such images are "opposed   [...] to our religion". Elsewhere in his Church History , Eusebius reports seeing what he took to be portraits of Jesus, Peter and Paul , and also mentions a bronze statue at Banias /Paneas under Mount Hermon, of which he wrote, "They say that this statue is an image of Jesus". Further, he relates that locals regarded

498-510: A few conventional poses. Archangels bear a thin staff and sometimes a mirror. Colour plays an important role as well. Gold represents the radiance of Heaven; red, divine life. Blue is the colour of human life, white is the Uncreated Light of God, only used for resurrection and transfiguration of Christ. In icons of Jesus and Mary, Jesus wears red undergarment with a blue outer garment (representing God becoming human) and Mary wears

581-530: A letter to Jesus at Jerusalem, asking Jesus to come and heal him of an illness. This version of the Abgar story does not mention an image. A later account found in the Syriac Doctrine of Addai ( c.  400? ) mentions a painted image of Jesus in the story. Even later, in the 6th-century account given by Evagrius Scholasticus , the painted image transforms into an image that miraculously appeared on

664-430: A medium for the new age artists of India. Other practicing tempera artists include Philip Aziz , Ernst Fuchs , Antonio Roybal , George Huszar, Donald Jackson , Tim Lowly , Altoon Sultan , Shaul Shats , Sandro Chia , Alex Colville , Robert Vickrey , Andrew Wyeth , Andrew Grassie , Soheila Sokhanvari , and Ganesh Pyne . Ken Danby (1940-2007) a Canadian realist artist, whose most well known works (such as: At

747-447: A miracle in which Saint Plato of Ankyra appeared to a Christian in a dream. The saint was recognized because the young man had often seen his portrait. This recognition of a religious apparition from likeness to an image was also a characteristic of pagan pious accounts of appearances of gods to humans, and was a regular topos in hagiography. One critical recipient of a vision from Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki apparently specified that

830-528: A natural progression for the image of Christ, the King of Heaven and Earth, to be paid similar veneration as that given to the earthly Roman emperor. However, the Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, and other groups insist on explicitly distinguishing the veneration of icons from the worship of idols by pagans. (See further below on the doctrine of veneration as opposed to worship.) After adoption of Christianity as

913-639: A part of church tradition. Thus accounts such as that of the miraculous "image not made by hands", and the weeping and moving "Mother of God of the Sign" of Novgorod are accepted as fact: "Church Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the 'Icon-Made-Without-Hands') and of Icons of the Most-Holy Theotokos [Mary] immediately after Him." Eastern Orthodoxy further teaches that "a clear understanding of

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996-563: A religious image or symbol on the reverse , usually an image of Christ for larger denominations, with the head of the Emperor on the obverse, reinforcing the bond of the state and the divine order. The tradition of acheiropoieta ( ἀχειροποίητα , literally 'not-made-by-hand') accrued to icons that are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not by a human painter. Such images functioned as powerful relics as well as icons, and their images were naturally seen as authoritative as to

1079-1127: A significant revival of tempera. European painters who worked with tempera include Giorgio de Chirico , Otto Dix , Eliot Hodgkin , Pyke Koch , and Pietro Annigoni , who used an emulsion of egg yolks, stand oil and varnish. Spanish surrealist painter Remedios Varo worked extensively in egg tempera. The tempera medium was used by American artists such as the Regionalists Andrew Wyeth , Thomas Hart Benton and his students James Duard Marshall and Roger Medearis ; expressionists Ben Shahn , Mitchell Siporin and John Langley Howard , magic realists George Tooker , Paul Cadmus , Jared French , Julia Thecla and Louise E. Marianetti, realist painter David Hanna ; Art Students League of New York instructors Kenneth Hayes Miller and William C. Palmer , Social Realists Kyra Markham , Isabel Bishop , Reginald Marsh , and Noel Rockmore , Edward Laning , Anton Refregier , Jacob Lawrence , Rudolph F. Zallinger , Robert Vickrey , Peter Hurd , and science fiction artist John Schoenherr , notable as

1162-429: A slight amount of oil to enhance durability within the container. Notable egg tempera artist and author Koo Schadler points out that because of this addition of oil "tubed 'egg tempera' paints are actually 'tempera grassa', an emulsion of egg yolk and a drying oil (generally with other additives, such as preservatives and stabilizers). Tempera grassa has some of the working properties of both egg tempera and oil painting and

1245-523: A towel when Christ pressed the cloth to his wet face. Further legends relate that the cloth remained in Edessa until the 10th century, when it was taken by General John Kourkouas to Constantinople . It went missing in 1204 when Crusaders sacked Constantinople, but by then numerous copies had firmly established its iconic type. The 4th-century Christian Aelius Lampridius produced the earliest known written records of Christian images treated like icons (in

1328-539: A very exact, but reverse mirror image of the original circular icon that was made in the 5th century and brought to Rome, where it has remained until the present. In later tradition the number of icons of Mary attributed to Luke greatly multiplied. The Salus Populi Romani , the Theotokos of Vladimir , the Theotokos Iverskaya of Mount Athos , the Theotokos of Tikhvin , the Theotokos of Smolensk and

1411-619: Is a perfectly viable medium – however it is not the same as pure, homemade egg tempera and behaves differently." Marc Chagall used Sennelier egg tempera tube paints extensively. Although tempera has been out of favor since the Late Renaissance and Baroque eras, it has been periodically rediscovered by later artists such as William Blake , the Nazarenes , the Pre-Raphaelites , and Joseph Southall . The 20th century saw

1494-542: Is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting , in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , and Catholic churches. The most common subjects include Jesus , Mary , saints , and angels . Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most of the religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity , including narrative scenes, usually from

1577-575: Is in a context attributed to the 5th century that the first mention of an image of Mary painted from life appears, though earlier paintings on catacomb walls bear resemblance to modern icons of Mary. Theodorus Lector , in his 6th-century History of the Church 1:1 stated that Eudokia (wife of emperor Theodosius II , d. 460) sent an image of the " Mother of God " named Icon of the Hodegetria from Jerusalem to Pulcheria , daughter of Arcadius ,

1660-403: Is no century between the fourth and the eighth in which there is not some evidence of opposition to images even within the Church". Nonetheless, popular favor for icons guaranteed their continued existence, while no systematic apologia for or against icons, or doctrinal authorization or condemnation of icons yet existed. The use of icons was seriously challenged by Byzantine Imperial authority in

1743-519: Is normally applied in thin, semi-opaque or transparent layers. Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique. When dry, it produces a smooth matte finish. Because it cannot be applied in thick layers as oil paints can, tempera paintings rarely have the deep color saturation that oil paintings can achieve because it can hold less pigment (lower pigment load). In this respect,

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1826-474: Is simple and mundane: Christians lacked land and capital. Art requires both. As soon as they began to acquire land and capital, Christians began to experiment with their own distinctive forms of art". Aside from the legend that Pilate had made an image of Christ, the 4th-century Eusebius of Caesarea , in his Church History , provides a more substantial reference to a "first" icon of Jesus. He relates that King Abgar of Edessa (died c.  50 CE ) sent

1909-421: Is susceptible to scratches during the curing process, but will become much more durable after curing. Egg tempera paintings are not normally framed behind glass, as the glass can trap moisture and lead to the growth of mold. Adding oil in no more than a 1:1 ratio with the egg yolk by volume produces a water-soluble medium with many of the color effects of oil paint, although it cannot be painted thickly. Some of

1992-407: Is the traditional medium for Orthodox icons . Tempera is traditionally created by hand-grinding dry powdered pigments into a binding agent or medium , such as egg yolk, milk (in the form of casein ) and a variety of plant gums. The most common form of classical tempera painting is "egg tempera". For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used. The white of the egg and

2075-499: The Apostle John discovers that one of his followers has had a portrait made of him, and is venerating it: [John] went into the bedchamber, and saw the portrait of an old man crowned with garlands, and lamps and altars set before it. And he called him and said: Lycomedes, what do you mean by this matter of the portrait? Can it be one of thy gods that is painted here? For I see that you are still living in heathen fashion. Later in

2158-579: The Black Madonna of Częstochowa are examples, and another is in the cathedral on St Thomas Mount , which is believed to be one of the seven painted by Luke the Evangelist and brought to India by Thomas the Apostle . Ethiopia has at least seven more. Bissera V. Pentcheva concludes, "The myth [of Luke painting an icon] was invented in order to support the legitimacy of icon veneration during

2241-452: The Fayum mummy portraits use tempera, sometimes in combination with encaustic painting with melted wax, the alternative painting technique in the ancient world. It was also used for the murals of the 3rd century Dura-Europos synagogue . A related technique has been used also in ancient and early medieval paintings found in several caves and rock-cut temples of India. High-quality art with

2324-638: The Iconoclastic controversy " (8th and 9th centuries, much later than most art historians put it). According to Reformed Baptist pastor John Carpenter, by claiming the existence of a portrait of the Theotokos painted during her lifetime by the evangelist Luke, the iconodules "fabricated evidence for the apostolic origins and divine approval of images." In the period before and during the Iconoclastic Controversy , stories attributing

2407-548: The Palladium (protective image) , the Palladium (classical antiquity) , the acheiropoieta , and various "folk" traditions associated with folk religion . Of these various forms the oldest tradition dates back to before the Christian era among the ancient Greeks. The various "folk" traditions are more poorly documented and often are associated with local folk narratives of uncertain origin. In English, since around 1600,

2490-460: The 2nd century. In the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy, and of the early Medieval West, very little room is made for artistic license. Almost everything within the image has a symbolic aspect. Christ, the saints, and the angels all have halos. Angels (and often John the Baptist ) have wings because they are messengers. Figures have consistent facial appearances, hold attributes personal to them, and use

2573-470: The 8th century identifies Luke the Evangelist as the first icon painter, but this might not reflect historical facts. A general assumption that early Christianity was generally aniconic , opposed to religious imagery in both theory and practice until about 200, has been challenged by Paul Corby Finney's analysis of early Christian writing and material remains (1994). His assumption distinguishes three different sources of attitudes affecting early Christians on

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2656-672: The 8th century. Though by this time opposition to images was strongly entrenched in Judaism and Islam, attribution of the impetus toward an iconoclastic movement in Eastern Orthodoxy to Muslims or Jews "seems to have been highly exaggerated, both by contemporaries and by modern scholars". Though significant in the history of religious doctrine, the Byzantine controversy over images is not seen as of primary importance in Byzantine history; "[f]ew historians still hold it to have been

2739-669: The Americas and installed the mural in the building's lobby. In January 2012 the mural was renovated again, and in December 2012 it was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Tempera The term tempera is derived from the Italian dipingere a tempera ("paint in distemper "), from the Late Latin distemperare ("mix thoroughly"). Tempera painting has been found on early Egyptian sarcophagus decorations. Many of

2822-468: The Bible or the lives of saints. Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with egg tempera , but they may also be cast in metal or carved in stone or embroidered on cloth or done in mosaic or fresco work or printed on paper or metal, etc. Comparable images from Western Christianity may be classified as "icons", although "iconic" may also be used to describe the static style of a devotional image. In

2905-569: The Christ child and it is this composite icon that became the one historically known as the Hodegetria. She further states another tradition that when the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II , fled Constantinople in 1261 he took this original circular portion of the icon with him. This remained in the possession of the Angevin dynasty who had it inserted into a much larger image of Mary and

2988-485: The Christ child, which is presently enshrined above the high altar of the Benedictine Abbey church of Montevergine . This icon was subjected to repeated repainting over the subsequent centuries, so that it is difficult to determine what the original image of Mary's face would have looked like. Guarducci states that in 1950 an ancient image of Mary at the Church of Santa Francesca Romana was determined to be

3071-720: The Crease, Lacing up, and Pancho) were completed using egg tempera. Robert Clinch (1957-) is an Australian realist painter who, thanks to the 1993 Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship , was able to conduct extensive research into egg tempera and has since completed multiple works in the medium. Icons Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: An icon (from Ancient Greek εἰκών ( eikṓn )  'image, resemblance')

3154-483: The Gnostic Carpocratians : They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and

3237-488: The Greek god of healing, but the description of the standing figure and the woman kneeling in supplication precisely matches images found on coins depicting the bearded emperor Hadrian ( r.  117–138 ) reaching out to a female figure—symbolizing a province —kneeling before him. When asked by Constantia (Emperor Constantine 's half-sister) for an image of Jesus, Eusebius denied the request, replying: "To depict purely

3320-425: The Greek language, the term for icon painting uses the same word as for "writing", and Orthodox sources often translate it into English as icon writing . Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the production of Christian images dates back to the very early days of Christianity , and that it has been a continuous tradition since then. Modern academic art history considers that, while images may have existed earlier,

3403-766: The Middle Ages eventually superseded tempera. Oil replaced tempera as the principal medium used for creating artwork during the 15th century in Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe. Around 1500, oil paint replaced tempera in Italy. In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were intermittent revivals of tempera technique in Western art, among the Pre-Raphaelites , Social Realists , and others. Tempera painting continues to be used in Greece and Russia where it

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3486-636: The Roman Empire probably saw the use of Christian images become very widespread among the faithful, though with great differences from pagan habits. Robin Lane Fox states "By the early fifth century, we know of the ownership of private icons of saints; by c.  480–500 , we can be sure that the inside of a saint's shrine would be adorned with images and votive portraits, a practice which had probably begun earlier." When Constantine himself ( r.  306–337 ) apparently converted to Christianity,

3569-558: The Western church. Palladia were processed around the walls of besieged cities and sometimes carried into battle. The Eastern Orthodox view of the origin of icons is generally quite different from that of most secular scholars and from some in contemporary Roman Catholic circles: "The Orthodox Church maintains and teaches that the sacred image has existed from the beginning of Christianity", Léonid Ouspensky has written. Accounts that some non-Orthodox writers consider legendary are accepted as history within Eastern Orthodoxy, because they are

3652-420: The colors of an unvarnished tempera painting resemble a pastel , although the color deepens if a varnish is applied. On the other hand, tempera colors do not change over time, whereas oil paints darken, yellow, and become transparent with age. Tempera adheres best to an absorbent ground that has a lower oil content than the tempera binder used (the traditional rule of thumb is " fat over lean " , and never

3735-492: The cover artist of Dune . In the early part of the 20th century, a large number of Indian artists, notably of the Bengal school took up tempera as one of their primary media of expression. Artists such as Gaganendranath Tagore , Asit Kumar Haldar , Abanindranath Tagore , Nandalal Bose , Kalipada Ghoshal and Sughra Rababi were foremost. After the 1950s, artists such as Jamini Roy and Ganesh Pyne established tempera as

3818-593: The creation of icons to the New Testament period greatly increased, with several apostles and even Mary herself believed to have acted as the artist or commissioner of images (also embroidered in the case of Mary). There was a continuing opposition to images and their misuse within Christianity from very early times. "Whenever images threatened to gain undue influence within the church, theologians have sought to strip them of their power". Further, "there

3901-537: The earliest depictions of Christ, Mary and saints therefore comes from wall-paintings, mosaics and some carvings. They are realistic in appearance, in contrast to the later stylization. They are broadly similar in style, though often much superior in quality, to the mummy portraits done in wax ( encaustic ) and found at Fayyum in Egypt. As can be judged from such items, the first depictions of Jesus were generic, rather than portrait images, generally representing him as

3984-517: The elements a few Christian writers criticized in pagan art—the ability to imitate life. The writers mostly criticized pagan works of art for pointing to false gods, thus encouraging idolatry. Statues in the round were avoided as being too close to the principal artistic focus of pagan cult practices, as they have continued to be (with some small-scale exceptions) throughout the history of Eastern Christianity . Nilus of Sinai ( d. c.  430 ), in his Letter to Heliodorus Silentiarius , records

4067-546: The former emperor and father of Theodosius II. The image was specified to have been "painted by the Apostle Luke ." Margherita Guarducci relates a tradition that the original icon of Mary attributed to Luke, sent by Eudokia to Pulcheria from Palestine, was a large circular icon only of her head. When the icon arrived in Constantinople it was fitted in as the head into a very large rectangular icon of her holding

4150-532: The greatest issue of the period". The Iconoclastic period began when images were banned by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian sometime between 726 and 730. Under his son Constantine V , a council forbidding image veneration was held at Hieria near Constantinople in 754. Image veneration was later reinstated by the Empress Regent Irene , under whom another council was held reversing the decisions of

4233-614: The help of tempera was created in Bagh Caves between the late 4th and 10th centuries and in the 7th century in Ravan Chhaya rock shelter, Odisha. The art technique was known from the classical world, where it appears to have taken over from encaustic painting and was the main medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and Medieval and Early Renaissance Europe. Tempera painting

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4316-480: The human form of Christ before its transformation, on the other hand, is to break the commandment of God and to fall into pagan error." Hence Jaroslav Pelikan calls Eusebius "the father of iconoclasm". After the emperor Constantine I extended official toleration of Christianity within the Roman Empire in 313, huge numbers of pagans became converts. This period of the Historiography of Christianization of

4399-555: The illiterate faithful during most of the history of Christendom . Thus, icons are words in painting; they refer to the history of salvation and to its manifestation in concrete persons. In the Orthodox Church, "icons have always been understood as a visible gospel, as a testimony to the great things given man by God the incarnate Logos". In the Council of 860 it was stated that "all that is uttered in words written in syllables

4482-444: The image as a memorial of the healing of the woman with an issue of blood by Jesus (Luke 8:43–48), because it depicted a standing man wearing a double cloak and with arm outstretched, and a woman kneeling before him with arms reaching out as if in supplication. John Francis Wilson suggests the possibility that this refers to a pagan bronze statue whose true identity had been forgotten. Some have thought it to represent Aesculapius ,

4565-526: The importance of Icons" was part of the church from its very beginning, and has never changed, although explanations of their importance may have developed over time. This is because icon painting is rooted in the theology of the Incarnation (Christ being the eikon of God) which did not change, though its subsequent clarification within the Church occurred over the period of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. Icons also served as tools of edification for

4648-515: The issue: "first that humans could have a direct vision of God; second that they could not; and, third, that although humans could see God they were best advised not to look, and were strictly forbidden to represent what they had seen". These derived respectively from Greek and Near Eastern pagan religions, from Ancient Greek philosophy, and from the Jewish tradition and the Old Testament. Of

4731-403: The local populations and their oral traditions. Gradually, paintings of Jesus took on characteristics of portrait images. At this time the manner of depicting Jesus was not yet uniform, and there was some controversy over which of the two most common icons was to be favored. The first or "Semitic" form showed Jesus with short and "frizzy" hair; the second showed a bearded Jesus with hair parted in

4814-406: The majority of his subjects remained pagans. The Roman Imperial cult of the divinity of the emperor, expressed through the traditional burning of candles and the offering of incense to the emperor's image, was tolerated for a period because it would have been politically dangerous to attempt to suppress it. In the 5th century the courts of justice and municipal buildings of the empire still honoured

4897-470: The membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside). The egg yolk is diluted with water and used with pigment. Some kind of remedy is always added in different proportions. One recipe uses vinegar as a preservative, but only in small quantities. A few drops of vinegar will keep the solution for a week. Some egg tempera schools use different mixtures of egg yolk and water, usually

4980-411: The middle, the manner in which the god Zeus was depicted. Theodorus Lector remarked that of the two, the one with short and frizzy hair was "more authentic". To support his assertion, he relates a story (excerpted by John of Damascus) that a pagan commissioned to paint an image of Jesus used the "Zeus" form instead of the "Semitic" form, and that as punishment his hands withered. Though their development

5063-480: The only permissible Roman state religion under Theodosius I , Christian art began to change not only in quality and sophistication, but also in nature. This was in no small part due to Christians being free for the first time to express their faith openly without persecution from the state, in addition to the faith spreading to the non-poor segments of society. Paintings of martyrs and their feats began to appear, and early writers commented on their lifelike effect, one of

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5146-500: The other way around). The ground traditionally used is inflexible Italian gesso , and the substrate is usually rigid as well. Historically wood panels were used as the substrate, and more recently un-tempered masonite or medium density fiberboard (MDF) have been employed; heavy paper is also used. Apart from the traditional process of mixing pigment with egg yolk, new methods include egg tempera sold in tubes by manufacturers such as Sennelier and Daler-Rowney. These paints do contain

5229-401: The paint a pleasing odor, particularly as worshippers may find the egg tempera somewhat pungent for quite some time after completion. The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a "greasy" and "watery" consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk. As tempera dries, the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of

5312-646: The passage John says, "But this that you have now done is childish and imperfect: you have drawn a dead likeness of the dead." At least some of the hierarchy of the Christian churches still strictly opposed icons in the early 4th century. At the Spanish non-ecumenical Synod of Elvira ( c.  305 ) bishops concluded, "Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration". Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis , wrote his letter 51 to John, Bishop of Jerusalem ( c.  394 ) in which he recounted how he tore down an image in

5395-400: The performance of miracles". Cyril Mango writes, "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes". However, the earlier references by Eusebius and Irenaeus indicate veneration of images and reported miracles associated with them as early as

5478-502: The pigments used by medieval painters, such as cinnabar (contains mercury), orpiment (contains arsenic), or lead white (contains lead) are highly toxic. Most artists today use modern synthetic pigments, which are less toxic but have similar color properties to the older pigments. Even so, many (if not most) modern pigments are still dangerous unless certain precautions are taken; these include keeping pigments wet in storage to avoid breathing their dust. Tempera paint dries rapidly. It

5561-579: The portrait of the reigning emperor in this way. In 425 Philostorgius , an allegedly Arian Christian, charged the Orthodox Christians in Constantinople with idolatry because they still honored the image of the emperor Constantine the Great in this way. Dix notes that this occurred more than a century before the first extant reference to a similar honouring of the image of Jesus or of his apostles or saints known today, but that it would seem

5644-470: The previous iconoclast council and taking its title as Seventh Ecumenical Council . The council anathemized all who hold to iconoclasm, i.e. those who held that veneration of images constitutes idolatry. Then the ban was enforced again by Leo V in 815. Finally, icon veneration was decisively restored by Empress Regent Theodora in 843 at the Council of Constantinople . From then on all Byzantine coins had

5727-517: The question of the appropriateness of images. Since then, icons have had a great continuity of style and subject, far greater than in the icons of the Western church . At the same time there have been change and development. Pre-Christian religions had produced and used art works. Statues and paintings of various gods and deities were regularly worshiped and venerated. It is unclear when Christians took up such activities. Christian tradition dating from

5810-417: The ratio of yolk to water is 1:3; other recipes offer white wine (1 part yolk, 2 parts wine). Powdered pigment, or pigment that has been ground in distilled water, is placed onto a palette or bowl and mixed with a roughly equal volume of the binder. Some pigments require slightly more binder, some require less. When used to paint icons on church walls, liquid myrrh is sometimes added to the mixture to give

5893-459: The rest. They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles [pagans]. On the other hand, Irenaeus does not speak critically of icons or portraits in a general sense—only of certain gnostic sectarians' use of icons. Another criticism of image veneration appears in the non-canonical 2nd-century Acts of John (generally considered a gnostic work), in which

5976-556: The saint resembled the "more ancient" images of him—presumably the 7th-century mosaics still in Hagios Demetrios . Another, an African bishop, had been rescued from Arab slavery by a young soldier called Demetrios, who told him to go to his house in Thessaloniki. Having discovered that most young soldiers in the city seemed to be called Demetrios, he gave up and went to the largest church in the city, to find his rescuer on

6059-575: The three, Finney concludes that "overall, Israel's aversion to sacred images influenced early Christianity considerably less than the Greek philosophical tradition of invisible deity apophatically defined", so placing less emphasis on the Jewish background of most of the first Christians than most traditional accounts. Finney suggests that "the reasons for the non-appearance of Christian art before 200 have nothing to do with principled aversion to art, with other-worldliness, or with anti-materialism. The truth

6142-492: The tradition can be traced back only as far as the 3rd century, and that the images which survive from Early Christian art often differ greatly from later ones. The icons of later centuries can be linked, often closely, to images from the 5th century onwards, though very few of these survive. Widespread destruction of images occurred during the Byzantine Iconoclasm of 726–842, although this did settle permanently

6225-431: The true appearance of the subject: naturally and especially because of the reluctance to accept mere human productions as embodying anything of the divine, a commonplace of Christian deprecation of man-made " idols ". Like icons believed to be painted directly from the live subject, they therefore acted as important references for other images in the tradition. Beside the developed legend of the mandylion or Image of Edessa

6308-413: The wall. During this period the church began to discourage all non-religious human images—the Emperor and donor figures counting as religious. This became largely effective, so that most of the population would only ever see religious images and those of the ruling class. The word icon referred to any and all images, not just religious ones, but there was barely a need for a separate word for these. It

6391-563: The word palladium has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety, and in particular in Christian contexts a sacred relic or icon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city, people or nation. Such beliefs first become prominent in the Eastern Churches in the period after the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I , and later spread to

6474-473: The work: "Every detail of every picture is a thing I myself have seen and known. Every head is a real person drawn from life." The mural was painted with egg tempera on linen canvases. The mural was acquired by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in 1984. After two years of renovation it was installed at AXA's headquarters at 787 Seventh Avenue in New York City. In 1996 AXA moved to 1290 Avenue of

6557-506: The yolk on contact with air. Once prepared, the paint cannot be stored. Egg tempera is water-resistant, but not waterproof. Different preparations use the egg white or the whole egg for a different effect. Other additives such as oil and wax emulsions can modify the medium. Egg tempera is not a flexible paint and requires stiff boards; painting on canvas will cause cracks to form and chips of paint to fall off. Egg tempera paint should be cured for at least 3 months, up to 6 months. The surface

6640-548: Was commissioned in 1929 by Alvin Saunders Johnson , director of The New School for Social Research in New York City, for the school's boardroom. Benton was not offered any payment beyond material costs. Instead, he saw the work as an opportunity to make a name for himself and thereby get more commissions in the future. The subjects were based on Benton's extensive travels in the United States. Benton said about

6723-447: Was gradual, it is possible to date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes, "we first hear of the church's use of religious images". "As we reach the second half of the sixth century, we find that images are attracting direct veneration and some of them are credited with

6806-552: Was the primary panel painting medium for nearly every painter in the European Medieval and Early renaissance period up to 1500. For example, most surviving panel paintings attributed to Michelangelo are executed in egg tempera, an exception being his Doni Tondo which uses both tempera and oil paint. Oil paint , which may have originated in Afghanistan between the 5th and 9th centuries and migrated westward in

6889-668: Was the tale of the Veil of Veronica , whose very name signifies "true icon" or "true image", the fear of a "false image" remaining strong. Although there are earlier records of their use, no panel icons earlier than the few from the 6th century preserved at the Greek Orthodox Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt survive, as the other examples in Rome have all been drastically over-painted. The surviving evidence for

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