The Nativity of the Virgin
Type:
Icon
Period:
From
the beginning of the
19 century
to
the end of the
19 century
Dimmensions (cm):
32
/ 22.5
/ 2
Location
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Town: Bansko
Church: St. Trinity
Source
Country: Bulgaria
Province: Blagoevgrad
Town: Bansko
Church: St. Trinity
Description
A traditional iconographic composition of this theme. Saint Anne is lying on a bed, surrounded by maidservants, serving her food and drinks. Down below, on the left-hand side of the pictorial field, is another maidservant, who is spinning, squatting at the cradle of the newly-born. Peeping out from behind a pleated and decorated canopy is the righteous Joachim with eyes and arms thrown up in a thanksgiving gesture. The entire scene is set against the background of a rich interior, typical of the house of the 19th-century Revival Period in Bulgaria.
Iconographical technique: Combined
The technique of painting is a combined one, with velaturas. The layer of the painting is thin. The varnish cover is applied thinly and unevenly. The gilding on the aureoles is with gold-leaf.
Base material: Wood
The base is a softwood panel, without any beams. The ground coat is of plaster, laid thinly and evenly.
State, restoration traces and comments
There are traces of an unskillful restoration in the places of the destroyed to the ground coat layer of the painting in the icon's lower part and on the figures, owing to which the icon is placed in a specially-made glass frame.
