Christ Pantocrator
Type:
Icon
Period:
The beginning of the
19 century
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):
46
/ 35
/ 2.5
Location
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Ognyanovo
Church: The Assumption of the Virgin
Source
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Ognyanovo
Church: The Assumption of the Virgin
Description
A traditional waist-length image of Jesus Christ, who is holding an open book in his left hand, and is blessing with his right one.
Iconographical technique: Combined
The gilding of the aureole, on the garments and on the book in the hand of Christ is with gold-leaf, and the enclosing frame is silver-plated.
Base material: Wood
The icon's base is a one-piece softwood panel, machine-made, with two inserted beams. The ground coat is of plaster, laid thinly.
State, restoration traces and comments
The ground coat is completely destroyed in the lower left corner and along the frame's lower part. The layer of the painting is destroyed in the places where the ground coat has fallen off, and also on Christ's hand. The varnish cover has grown very dark and is cracked in both the vertical and horizontal direction, with alternating deep and shallow crackings.
