Heritage: Bulgarian

Original: 1607/124,5 x 87,5 cm

Now in: Crypt Al. Nevski, Sofia

Replica: 2005/80 x 59,5 cm

Christ is shown half-length and full-face in the customary pose, making the gesture of benediction with his right hand, the arm hidden by the himation down to the wrist, his left hand holding a Gospel open at the text: “I am the light of the world (John VIII. 12); he that believed in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoso ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die (John XI.25,26). While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” (John XII.36). He wears the traditional dark red chiton (with a vermilion clavus and gold hatching) and a dark blue himation. The characteristic monograms on the cross behind his head “I AM THAT I AM “ (the Ever-existing) as Christ called himself when Moses asked him for the name of the Lord (Exodus III.14).

The stylization which is obvious in the garments is even more clearly expressed in the hair arrangement, done in parallel schematized tufts.

The face is painted on an ochre-olive green foundation, and the cheeks, the chin, the forehead and the nose are modelled in pink ochre, pink being the predominant colour. The inscription is in red letters, arranged on both sides of the figure. A donor’s inscription is in the lower part of the frame, also in red letters upon the gold back-ground: “Prayer of the Lord’s slave Mano Julianou, together with his wife and children, 1607.“

Cat. No 1.2004