Panagia Lamentation – Excavated Lithograph – Mount Athos

Description

Engraved Lithograph with the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary

Wonderful icon, with a relatively rare theme, that of the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary, when she receives the dead body of Her Only Son.

In this icon, the Virgin Mary, immediately after Jesus’ removal from the cross, holds His dead body and mourns for His death, as He sacrificed herself for the salvation of people. Here the Virgin Mary is represented as a mother, who deeply loved her only Son and mourns for his pain and death.

The Virgin Mary is depicted holding the lifeless body of Christ and supporting his head with one hand. On her face you can see the pain, the immense grief and the feeling of losing a mother who has just lost her child.

The representations of the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ in her arms are works of post-Byzantine and especially Cretan painters. They combine Byzantine and Renaissance iconographic elements.

Engraved Lithography: Features

The work is crafted entirely by hand, without machinery, in carved natural wood. It is the work of hagiographer Athanasios, a student of the Athonite Ecclesiastical Academy, who remains faithful to Byzantine art as he was taught it on Mount Athos. His works are covered with pure beeswax so that they remain unchanged over time.

In this particular icon, the hagiographer monk used the technique of lithography to create a work of unique beauty. Specifically, using a lithographed copy of Byzantine art, the monk created this work following the traditional method of artificial aging, as taught in the hagiography workshops of the Athonite State. In fact, the artificial aging of hagiography is handmade, a process to which the monks of Mount Athos pay particular attention.

As the image is handmade and the wood is processed entirely by hand, there may be slight variations in the dimensions of each image.

Image available upon request.

Origin: Mount Athos