St. Demetrius
Type:
Icon
Period:
10.
09.
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):
100
/ 65
/ 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
Object identification notes
Conspicuous is a certain mannerism.
Description
Saint Dimiter is riding a reddish-brown reared-up horse, and is facing rightwards. Painted in the upper right corner is the hand of God, crowning the saint's head with a laurel wreath. Saint Dimiter is stabbing with his spear a warrior, painted in the composition's lower part.
Iconographical technique: Semi-oil
The technique is combined with engraved gilding and velaturas. The figures are painted with a wider brush, lacking is the traditional detailed elaboration of the forms.
Base material: Wood
The icon's base is a one-piece, 53 cm wide, softwood panel. Joined on its two sides are additional laths, the left one 3 cm and the right one 6 cm wide. It is reinforced with two inserted beams. The ground coat is of plaster, about 1 mm thick.
State, restoration traces and comments
A part of the icon, in the places under the legs of the horse, had been overpainted with the figure of a dragon, stabbed by Saint Dimiter, which was covering up the original figure of the warrior. There is in the lower left corner an inscription, which reads the data and names of the icon-painters.
