St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Type:
Icon
Period:
1834 year
Dimiter T. Molerov, born in 1780 in Bansko, son of Toma Vishanov the Moler. One of the best-known painters, a representative of the Bansko school of art, a disciple of his father, influenced by the art of Athos. Author of the murals of the naos in the St Archangels' paraclete in the Rila monastery, the murals in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Pchelino dependance. In 1840 and 1841 together with his son Simeon Molerov he paints the murals and the sponsors' portraits in St. Nicholas' and St. John of Rila's paracletes in the principal church in the Rila monastery. Among D. Molerov's major achievements in iconography are the following icons: St. Nicholas (1816) from St. Archangel Michael's church in the village of Leshko, Christ All-triumphant with Angels and Cherubim (1833), The Nativity and a Crucifixion from St Elijah the Prophet's church in the village of Usenovo. He has also worked in Belgrade on an invitation by Prince Milosh Obrenovich of Serbia. He died in 1870 in Bansko.
Dimmensions (cm):
82
/ 40
/ 2
Location
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Gostun
Church: St. Prophet Elijah
Source
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Gostun
Church: St. Prophet Elijah
Description
A down-to-the-waist portrait of Saint Nicholas in archieratical vestments and with a mitre on his head. He is blessing with his right hand and in his left hand he holds a closed book. The painting in the composition is made with a professional skill and betrays the hand of a gifted iconographer.
Iconographical technique: Combined
AN egg-and-oil technique, with velaturas and gilding. The varnish cover is laid unevenly and is broken as the result of a previous cleansing.
Base material: Wood
The icon's base is a one-piece wooden panel, with strips of canvas, with two reinforcing beams on its back. The ground coat is of chalk, laid in several layers.
State, restoration traces and comments
There are no traces of any previous restorative intervention. There are damages to the right of the book, along the gilding of the vestment under the beard, on the medallion and on the lower part of the saint's right hand. The layer of the painting is damaged mostly in the golden decoration, has fallen off in the icon's lower right side, next to the book and in some other places as well. There are soiled areas on the saint's red vestment and on the blue background.
