The Virgin Portaitissa (The Virgin-of-the-Gate)
Type:
Icon
Period:
1837 year
Dimmensions (cm):
71
/ 47
/ 3.5
Location
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Osenovo
Church: St. Archangel Michael
Source
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Village: Osenovo
Church: St. Archangel Michael
Description
A traditional waist-length portrayal of the Holy Mother of God who is holding with her left arm the child Christ and with her right hand is pointing at him. He is seated, holding in his left hand a closed book and blessing with his right one. The graphic line-up and the colouring show an unskilled hand of an iconographer. The images are painted rather naively, which fact speaks for a self-taught painter.
Iconographical technique: Tempera
The varnish cover is applied in a thin and even layer. The gilding on the aureoles and on the crown is with gold-leaf, on the aureoles with engraving.
Base material: Wood
The icon's base is a one-piece softwood panel, reinforced with two inserted beams. The ground coat is of plaster, laid thinly.
State, restoration traces and comments
There are in the icon's lower part destructions on the painting layer, which has fallen off as deep as to the icon's base. There are traces of previous restorative intervention. Inscribed on the left-hand side of the Mother of God, is the year of the icon'painting and the name of Zograph Serafim.
