Saint Andrew – Gold Leaf Printing with Sandblasting – Mount Athos

Description

Gold Leaf Printing with Sandblasting: Saint Andrew

Andrew, a fisherman by profession, was from Bethsaida in Galilee and was the brother of the Apostle Peter. Because he was the first among the disciples to be called by the Lord, he was named Protoclete (First Called).

Andrew (along with John the Evangelist) was initially a disciple of John the Baptist, who one day, pointing to Jesus, said to them, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The two simple fishermen were so moved that without hesitation, they immediately left their teacher and followed Jesus.

Apostle Andrew preached in Bithynia, the Black Sea region, Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus. Eventually, he ended up in Achaea, where his teachings and miraculous healings of the sick angered the governor. With the encouragement of pagan priests, Andrew was arrested and crucified on a cross in the shape of the letter X.

Gold Leaf Printing with Sandblasting: Characteristics

In the image depicting Saint Andrew, the monk iconographer used the technique of gold leaf printing to create a work of unique beauty. Gold leaf printing is a type of thermal printing technique. Thermal printing is the method by which a very thin metallic foil is bonded to surfaces such as wood, leather, cardboard, or plastic by the pressure of a heated embossed plate (a cliché) on the surface. Around the perimeter of the image, the technique of sandblasting is also used, which is a processing technique that achieves the erosion of part or all of a surface by blasting sand under pressure.

Dimensions: 14.5 x 18 x 0.5 cm
Origin: Mount Athos