Panagia Eptapathi – Gold Leaf with Sandblasting – Mount Athos

Description

Gold Leaf with Sandblasting featuring Panagia Eptapathi

An impressive gold leaf representation of Panagia Eptapathi.

In this highly unusual icon, the Virgin Mary is depicted with her heart pierced by seven swords. In the more common iconographic type, we see four swords on her left side and three on her right.

Because Catholics have adopted the veneration of “the heart of the Theotokos,” many consider the Panagia Eptapathi icon to have Catholic origins. However, in reality, the icon is connected to the prophecy of Saint Simeon the God-Receiver, recorded by the Evangelist Luke: “And a sword will pierce your own soul also…” (Luke 2:35).

This passage refers to the pain the Virgin Mary would feel at the moment of separation from her beloved Son when He would be led to His crucifixion before her eyes.

Panagia Eptapathi is also known as “The Prophecy of the Righteous Simeon.” It is commemorated by the Church on August 13th.

Gold Leaf with Sandblasting: Characteristics

In the image with the Vine, the iconographer monk used the technique of gold leafing to create a work of unique beauty. Gold leafing is a type of thermographic technique. Thermography is the method in which a very thin gold leaf is applied to surfaces such as wood, leather, cardboard, or plastic by pressing a heated embossed plate (cliché) onto the surface. Around the icon, the technique of sandblasting is also used. Sandblasting is a process 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