Bulgarian Handpainted Icon of Virgin Mary Eleousa and Child

Size: 15 X 20 cm
Artist: E. Granovski, a qualified painter
The Orthodox Church holds Saint Mary in greatest respect and veneration. In total, over 700 references to the icons of Our Lady are known, among which as most popular rank the following iconographic types: Hodegetria (guiding), Eleousa (compassionate/ the caressing), Theotokos (Mother of God).
We offer you a hand painted icon of Virgin Mary Eleousa (Compassionate) and Jesus as child. The icon is made in Bulgaria, according to the Bulgarian orthodox painting traditions of 16th c. This icon is also referred to as Saint Mary of Rila Monastery, for the image of Mary painted this way was found there.
Typically, Virgin Mary is veiled in red, but in this icon her garments are covered in gold. Gold is to symbolize power of spirit, which Saint Mary is going to need in sacrificing her dearest son, Jesus Christ, the son of God.
For the make of the icon was used dark stained wood. The icon is tempera painted, and Saint Mary is pressing her cheek against baby ChristÂ’s face.
The icon we offer you makes an excellent gift for your friends and family and it will remind you of the intransient values we, human beings, have a tendency to forget about now and then.

General information In 865 the Bulgarians were THE FIRST Slavonic people to adopt Christianity from Byzantium as its official religion.
Since then the icon, venerated as an especially sacred object of cult and rite, has developed as a fundamental part of the Bulgarian art from the ninth century until present days.
The Bulgarian icon painters had left their deep mark in the overall development of Christian Orthodox Art. Their trail can be seen in the monasteries of Mount Athos and the south-west Balkans, or in Wallachia, Moldavia and Russia, whose icon masters had followed the Bulgarian canonical pattern.
The rich historical background of the Bulgarian icon and the fact that it is a result of the efforts of a small but gifted nation makes it an inseparable element of European cultural history.