St. Great Martyr George
Type:
Icon
Period:
1900 year
Dimiter Sirleshtov - born in 1838 in Bansko. He studies iconography with Simeon Molerov as a teacher. Later on he becomes a student of Mihalko Golev and starts practicing wood-carving and house constructing. In the period 1890-1898 he paints the church “Saint Mother of God” in Boboshevo. Together with his apprentice Kostadin Popov he paints another church in Boboshevo – “St. Elijah” He paints the churches of the following villages of Kyustendil Province: Dragodan, Buranovo, Tzarkvishte and Palatovo. He makes decorative wall paintings in some private homes. Despite his long experience as iconographer he has never reached the level of his teachers. One can see the lack of vivid coloring in his works. Dimitar Sirleshtov uses in his works, one particular erminia, translated by himself in Bulgarian. He dies in 1913 in Bansko. Kostadin (Kotse) Marunchev - Born in 1886 in Bansko. Had started studying iconography at first under Dimiter T. Sirleshtov, Mihalko Golev and Simeon D. Molerov. Had not been working on his own, but mostly as a helpmate to someone of the Bansko master-painters. With Dimiter Sirleshtov he had been working, in the year 1900, on the icon of "The Entry into Jerusalem" in the "Saint Dimiter" church in the village of Padesh. In that same year the two of them had been working also on another icon, dedicated to Saint Great Martyr George, for the same church, and also on the icon of "Saint Dimiter". In the last years of his life he had abandoned the icon-painting and had taken to making chests - for household needs and wedding chests, on which he used to paint various ornaments. Had won the respect of the local population. His decorations are extremely fresh, colourful, and we see everywhere the excellent feeling for ornamentation in that painter. He had died in 1932 in Bansko.
Dimmensions (cm):
99
/ 57
/ 4.5
Location
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Padesh
Church: St. Great Martyr Dimiter
Source
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Padesh
Church: St. Great Martyr Dimiter
Description
The iconography is developed in a vertical composition, in the center of which is a close-up portrayal of Saint George on horseback, taking up almost the entire surface of the icon. He is represented in the moment of his stabbing the dragon with his spear. The background is a conventional one: on the left-hand side is the tower, from which the king and the queen are watching the miracle (the killing of the dragon), and showing from the door under them is the royal princess.
Iconographical technique: Tempera
The techniques is with an additional quantity of a drying-up oil in the vehicle. The varnish cover is applied thickly and unevenly.
Base material: Wood
The icon's base is a one-piece softwood panel. The ground coat is of a plaster, laid in several layers and well-ground.
State, restoration traces and comments
There are no traces of any previous restorative intervention.The inscriptions are in the Church-Slavonic language. The donor's inscription in the lower right corner.There is a comparatively primitive and rough modelling both on the body of the horse and on the dragon.
