The Mother of God in icons

The gospel of Luke is the gospel in which we especially read about the life of Mary, the Mother of God, as she is called in the Orthodox Church. In the first centuries of Christianity already Mary had a special place in de hearts of people. This veneration was even stimulated by the Council of Ephesus. During this meeting in 431 Mary received the honorary title of Theotokos: she who gave birth to God.

In icons Mary mostly wears a blue undergarment. Blue is the colour of what is human. Her upper garment is red/purple/brown. Red is the colour of what is divine. As a human being Mary is clothed with divineness. In icons representing Christ this is just the other way round.

The icons of the Mother of God are divided into seven main types. The first four main types could be named the parent types. They depict in a very special way Mary’s motherhood. One of these four parent types, to which the Korsanskaja also belongs, is: The Mother of God Eleousa, the Gentle One, the Merciful One

The Eleousa type represents the child sitting on one of Mary’s arms. The child puts his arm around her neck, pressing his face against her cheek. Mary inclines her head towards the child. She mostly has a sorrowful look as if she knows what is going to happen to her child.

The Eleousa type radiates an atmosphere of intimacy. These icons show how joy and happiness, sadness and compassion go with mother and child. Not any icon depicts this relation so forcefully as this type of icons. This special atmosphere makes the Eleousa icons very popular.

The Mother of God of Korsun

According to legend this icon was painted by the evangelist Luke and was for a long time preserved at Ephesus. Some 600 Marian icons are claimed to have been painted by the evangelist Luke. This legend arose in the 6th century, but the oldest documents about this date from the 8th century. The first time that mention is made of the Mother of God of Korsun is 1239, in the cathedral of Toropec near Pskow.

The Emperor Manuël I (1143 _ 1180) gave the icon to the Princess Eufrosyne of Polozk. When in 1230 her daughter married Aleksander Newski, she was given this icon as a dowry. As the icon had come to the north of Russia from the port of Cerson (= Korsun) in the Crimean, close to Sebastopol, it received the name "Mother of God of Korsun"

The oldest icon of this type that has been preserved from the 13th century, is to be admired in the museum at Wologda. The museum of Recklinghausen too preserves an icon of this type. Especially in the 16th-18th centuries the tender image of the Mother of God of Korsun is highly venerated all over Russia. In the West this lovely icon is also venerated.

Iconography

This icon depicts not much more than the heads and the hands of Mother and Child. The Mother holds the Child’s head enclosing it from below with both her hands, pressing it against her, while with his left hand the Child reaches for Mary’s head scarf, which also covers the shoulders, and with his right hand holds up a scroll, pressing it against the chin of his mother. Doing this, Jesus nestles his cheek against his mother’s. The striking thing in the icons of the Mother of God of Korsun is the bent little finger of the Mother of God. However, there are several variants of this icon: the little finger of the Mother of God is not always bent, and instead of holding a scroll the Child will make a gesture of blessing. This is the variant that has been painted here. Many of these icons have got lost, however.

The features of Mother and Child are particularly beautiful, tender and very expressive; they are realistically painted and have a very shapely form. The face of the Child has a childlike expression, different from most icons of the Mother of God and Child. The white of the Mother’s eyes makes her clear look very beautiful.

The meaning of the letters above is: "Mother of God" (meter theou) and on the right "Jesus Christ".

Source: Fascinatie & Werkelijkheid - ICONEN - Konrad Onasch, Annemarie Schnieper - Lannoo Kok.

The contemporary icon was written in 2000 with egg tempera and pigment powder by Ank Ank Landwier-Boonekamp on a line wood panel measuring 16,3 x 21 x 2,6, covered with piovoloka and levkas.