Icon with Theotokos and Child, Mount Sinai
Type:
Icons
Date:
ca. 600
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Egypt
Medium:
Tempera
Dimensions:
65 × 40.5 cm
Description:
The Orthodox monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai (later renamed in honor of the fourth-century martyr St. Catherine) contains more than half of all surviving Byzantine icons, a Greek word that means images in general but especially panels that depict holy figures. In this remote location they were preserved from the destruction of images during the two periods of Byzantine iconoclasm. The earliest icons date to about 600. The icon reproduced here shows the Theotokos and Child flanked by martyr saints (who hold crosses) and angels. Like the Sinai Christ icon and St. Peter icon, the figures appear within an illusionistic architectural setting.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
3
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the icons at Mount Sinai on the Princeton University website.
Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons
