The Elevation of the Venerable Cross
Type:
Icon
Period:
The middle of the
19 century
Toma Vishanov-Molera, born around 1750, painter of icons and murals, founder of the Bansko school of art. He grew up in the family of the clergyman Vishan. Around 1765 he went to Vienna, where he studied painting. It is not known who were his teachers there or when he returned to Bansko. His fellow villagers called him the Moler, Molera(from German Maler ‘painter’), whence the entire family's surname. Under the influence of the European 18th century art Toma Vishanov painted his works in a new manner, unknown until then in Orthodox art. The figures are realistic, vivid, expressive. Toma Vishanov is an innovator in the early period of Bulgarian Renaissance. His ideas on art were not understood and at first were rejected by his contemporaries. His work has not been studied extensively. He died after 1811 in Bansko.
Dimmensions (cm):
31
/ 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 on the theme. Against the background of city architecture two groups are depicted: on the left Queen Elena with her entourage and images of soldiers above them, on the right bishops, laymen and monks, and in the foreground St Tsar Constantine and St. Arch. Stephen with an incensory in his hand.
Iconographical technique: Combined
With velatures on the clothes. The wet-on-wet method is used for the carnation in the body parts. The lacquering is thin and uniform. The gilding on the saints' halos, on the characters' garments and on the soldiers' armours is made of sheet gold.
Base material: Wood
One softwood board with two keys. Plaster ground applied in a thin and uniform layer.
State, restoration traces and comments
Retouches can be seen upon slightly damaged parts and eroded areas in the layer of painting in the upper part of the icon.
