Eastern Christian Tag

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1281982147' post='2158276']
maybe it was once red, but over time took on a yellowish sunshiny glow?
[/quote]
It does appear to be very faded.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1281982094' post='2158275']
You're right.
That appears to be a rather different style of icon. I don't know as much as I would like about Eastern Iconography.
[/quote]

The following is another icon of the Theotokos that does not follow the color scheme outlined in your quotation.

[img]http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-3245887692-image.jpg[/img]

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Apotheoun' timestamp='1281982167' post='2158278']
Many colors can be used when depicting the Theotokos in an icon, but - as Nihil pointed out - according to Byzantine tradition when red and blue are used for her garments the inner layer should be blue and her outer layer should be red. Can examples be found that break with tradition? Sure, but that does not alter the canonical tradition.
[/quote]
When one finds an icon that seems to break with tradition, like the one Rexi posted, would it be for a specific theological reason, or just because the iconographer wasn't very good?

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1281982271' post='2158282']
When one finds an icon that seems to break with tradition, like the one Rexi posted, would it be for a specific theological reason, or just because the iconographer wasn't very good?
[/quote]
maybe he took an off day and his wife filled in for him. (get it? filled in! hahaha)

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1281982384' post='2158286']
maybe he took an off day and his wife filled in for him. (get it? filled in! hahaha)
[/quote]

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1281982271' post='2158282']
When one finds an icon that seems to break with tradition, like the one Rexi posted, would it be for a specific theological reason, or just because the iconographer wasn't very good?
[/quote]

Seeing as both of the icons I posted above are important historical examples of iconography, I doubt that the iconographers were not good. This is especially so in the case of the latter icon, a mosaic in Hagia Sophia, since the some of the best iconographers in the Byzantine Empire probably would have been commissioned to create the work.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Resurrexi

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1281982271' post='2158282']
When one finds an icon that seems to break with tradition, like the one Rexi posted, would it be for a specific theological reason, or just because the iconographer wasn't very good?
[/quote]
The icon Rexi posted is traditional, because many colors can be used when depicting the Theotokos in an icon. That said, when red and blue are used in an icon of the Theotokos, the blue layer of clothing should be on the inside, and the red on the outside.

[Nihil Obstat]

Ok, I understand.

[Resurrexi]

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Medieval Byzantine icon:

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ysbqAK-74JE/RoMi1W63bKI/AAAAAAAAAZs/i0Imc3471iQ/s400/300px-Our_Mother_of_Perpetual_Help.jpg[/img]

[Apotheoun]

Below is an image of the Theotokos as found on the iconostasis at St. George the Victorious (Edmonton, Canada), a Church Temple commissioned and built specifically to highlight the canonical iconographic tradition of the East.

[img]http://www.edmontoneparchy.com/images/icons/St.%20George%20Parish/Ic%203.JPG[/img]

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1281981227' post='2158259']
Icons of Christ will show him with Blue outer clothing and red inner clothing.
[/quote]

Again, not always.

Pantocrator of Sinai:
[img]http://www.americanchurch.org/Christ_Pantacrator.gif[/img]

Pantocrator at Hagia Sophia
[img]http://www.stmarymagdalenechurch.org/uploads/icons/Christ1.hagia-sophia.deisis.2.jpg[/img]

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Resurrexi' timestamp='1281982673' post='2158295']
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Medieval Byzantine icon:

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ysbqAK-74JE/RoMi1W63bKI/AAAAAAAAAZs/i0Imc3471iQ/s400/300px-Our_Mother_of_Perpetual_Help.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
Rexi,

As I said in an earlier post, I am sure you can find many images that are not traditional in every detail of their depiction of the Theotokos, but the canonical iconographic tradition remains the norm.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Resurrexi' timestamp='1281982923' post='2158303']
Again, not always.

Pantocrator of Sinai:
[img]http://www.americanchurch.org/Christ_Pantacrator.gif[/img]

Pantocrator at Hagia Sophia
[img]http://www.stmarymagdalenechurch.org/uploads/icons/Christ1.hagia-sophia.deisis.2.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
I'm just posting from the article. You don't need to convince me.

[Tridenteen]

JMJ
We had a hideous statue of Mary in our church. She was wearing bright orange, burgandy, mauve, and brown. Oh, and someone gave her lipstick and nail polish. My brother had to fix it....

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Apotheoun' timestamp='1281982924' post='2158304']
Rexi,

As I said in an earlier post, I am sure you can find many images that are not traditional in every detail of their depiction of the Theotokos, but the canonical iconographic tradition remains the norm.
[/quote]

I have no compelling reason to think that the red outer garments and blue inner garments depiction is traditional, especially since most of the more ancient icons that I have seen to not follow that color scheme.