Tag: travel

El Greco

And the Enduring Influence of Byzantine Icon Training

Hello Fellow Iconographers:

As you probably already know, I love making connections between Byzantine iconography and modern art. I always think that icons were the contemporary art of their time, so how can we bring a contemporary approach to our icon writing? This article about the work of ElGreco shows how one iconographer of the 16th century made that transition. The approaches each iconographer takes to contemporary iconography will be as individual as the iconographers themselves, but some things will remain. Here is an account of how this issue played out in the life and work of ElGreco.

Veronica’s Veil, El Greco

Doménikos Theotokópoulos—better known as El Greco—has long fascinated scholars of Early Modern art. While his mature works in Toledo are celebrated for their dramatic elongations, expressive color, and visionary intensity, less often explored in depth is the formative influence of his early training in the Byzantine icon tradition. This article examines how the discipline of icon-painting, rooted in the post-Byzantine Cretan School, left an enduring imprint on El Greco’s aesthetic, technique, and theological vision. His icon training, I argue, was not a youthful chapter to be overcome, but a structural foundation that underlay his later innovations.

Saint Paul by El Greco

From Crete to Venice

Although he was born in Crete in 1541, after receiving icon painting training in his early life, Domenikos left Crete in 1567 for Venice. Some key characteristics Domenikos learned from the icon painters were:

A hieratic vocabulary of elongated, stylized figures and flattened pictorial space intended for devotion.

The use of traditional materials and techniques—tempera, wooden panels, and gilding.

An emphasis on spiritual vision over empirical realism.

But in Venice he was encountering the artistic milieu of the Italian Renaissance and Mannerism, absorbing the vibrant color, dynamic composition and spatial experimentation of artists such as Tintoretto and Titian.  This Western training did not supplant his icon-foundation but merged with it. One of his trademark features—elongated, upward-reaching figures, almost defying gravity—can be traced back to the hieratic verticality of icons, in which figures are often elevated beyond the earthly realm. In his mature altarpieces in Toledo, this physical stretching expresses a spiritual tension: the human yearning toward the Divine.

Annunciation by El Greco

Rome, Toledo, and the Transformation of a Style

From Venice, El Greco moved to Rome (1570–1576), where he sought patronage but struggled to achieve success amid the competitive papal art world. In 1576, he relocated to Spain, where his career flourished under the patronage of the Church and the Spanish nobility. His first major commission came from the dean of Toledo Cathedral: three altarpieces for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, works that already reveal a synthesis of iconographic form, Mannerist stylization, and Venetian color.

Even as his technique evolved, the influence of icon-painting persisted. The vertical elongation of figures—one of El Greco’s most recognizable traits—can be traced to the hieratic verticality of Byzantine icons, where figures are elevated beyond the earthly realm. In El Greco’s mature altarpieces, this elongation expresses a spiritual tension, a reaching upward toward the Divine.

Annunciation El Greco

Similarly, his treatment of space often resists Renaissance perspectival illusion. Instead of a fully realistic spatial construction, El Greco employs stacked planes and compressed layers to evoke a metaphysical dimension. Scholars have linked this to his Byzantine roots, where sacred space functions symbolically rather than empirically.

Theological Continuities: Painting as a Spiritual Act

Beneath the stylistic parallels lies a deeper continuity: El Greco’s theological conception of painting. In the icon tradition, the painter’s task is to serve as a mediator of divine light, not merely an imitator of nature. This conception of sacred art as a spiritual discipline—requiring prayer, fasting, and inner illumination—found new expression in El Greco’s Spanish works.

His figures seem animated not by physical energy but by spiritual light, glowing from within. In this, El Greco remained faithful to the iconographer’s conviction that beauty reveals the presence of God.

Pentecost, El Greco

Reception and Legacy

“El Greco is one of the few old master painters who enjoys widespread popularity,” writes Keith Christiansen of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rediscovered in the nineteenth century by collectors, critics, and artists, El Greco was hailed as both the quintessential Spaniard and a proto-modern painter of the spirit.

For members of the Blue Rider school, including Franz Marc, El Greco embodied a mystical resistance to materialism—a painter who, as Christiansen writes, “felt the mystical inner construction of life.”

Conclusion: The Icon as Foundation of Innovation

El Greco’s artistic evolution cannot be fully understood without acknowledging the foundational role of his icon-training on Crete. Far from being a mere apprenticeship, this discipline remained the structural ground of his mature art—shaping his understanding of color, form, space, and the sacred.

His work ultimately represents a synthesis of:

  • The spiritual economy of the icon,
  • The painterly brilliance of Venice and Rome, and
  • The religious fervor of Counter-Reformation Spain.

For students of sacred art and iconographers today, El Greco offers a powerful model: discipline does not restrict creativity—it frames and empowers it. His art demonstrates that fidelity to tradition can be the very source of visionary originality.

My Baptism of Jesus Icon at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, Saint Petersburg
My Baptism of Jesus Icon at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, Saint Petersburg

I hope you have enjoyed this article and that it is food for thought. The battle for art is not won or lost in an academic tradition, but in the spiritual realm where God is all powerful. God wants each of us to give glory to His name in each individual way that he has created us.

Here are some interesting links that are passed on from Dorothy Alexander, a friend and iconographer in California:

1.How Icons Are Made” is the fourth and final lecture by Aidan Hart presented at St. Julian’s Church in Shrewsbury, England. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of2eq-NiDVE&t=82s. He speaks on both the theology as well as the practical details of making an icon.

2.You can see the beauty of natural pigments as you watch how vivianite is made from the mineral. This also helps to understand why it is not cheap to buy. The example at the end shows the versatility of the color

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2QRpSG4fA&t=40s&pp=2AEokAIB

3. This slow moving video is an example of Instacoll gilding, faulting (repairing or filling in any holes) and burnishing with a cloth. https://youtu.be/bK1gKiO2sSo?si=CaLsBN_NLJbjt85g

That’s all for this month!

God bless you all,

Christine

These are my links if you’d like to see more of what I do:

LINKS For  Christine Simoneau Hales   2025

  1. https://newchristianicions.com   my main website
  2. Https://christinehalesicons.com  Prints of my Icons
  3. https://online.iconwritingclasses.com  my online pre-recorded icon writing classes
  4. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK2WoRDiPivGtz2aw61FQXA  My YouTube Channel 
  5. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristineHalesFineArt     or  https://www.facebook.com/NewChristianIcons/
  6. Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/christinehalesicons/?hl=en
  7. American Association of Iconographers:  FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/371054416651983
  8. American Association of Iconographers Website: https://americanassociationoficonographers.com

The History and Development of Christian Icons. Part III

This is the third in a four-part series of articles that examine the historical evolution of Christian icons that I have written for the Anglican Digest.  This article appears in the fall issue.  In this article we will explore the significance of a symbolic visual language of icons in contrast to a more realistic one that began to develop from the late Byzantine period through the beginnings of the Italian Renaissance paintings. 

Saint Epifani, Mosaic, 1030

This stylistic change is very important.  It helps to define the difference between holy icons and the religious painting that grew out of the Renaissance.  This difference became ever more pronounced as time went on, and the shift from symbolic to realistic imagery and storytelling can be compared to the difference between a parable and a narrative story.  The parable can have more eternal, universal and varied meanings, while realism points to a particular moment in time, a specific meaning.  Eastern church traditions preserved the integrity and spiritual function of icons, while Western Europe began to explore art’s potential to engage both the senses and the intellect.

Church Art From the 11-15th Centuries

Duccio, 1230, Maesta

From the 11th to the 15th centuries, art saw significant development, transitioning from medieval styles to the Renaissance.  The rise of Romanesque and Gothic art occurred in the Middle Ages, with Romanesque art taking shape in the eleventh century, initially developing in France then spreading to Spain, England, Flanders, Germany, Italy, and other regions. 

Annunciation, St. Sophia’s Cathedral, Kiev. 1050

One of the most spectacular achievements of medieval artists which was their desire to pursue heavenly light in their creation of the worship space.  The importance of this play of light had its beginnings in the 12th century when the heavy, dark Romanesque architecture began to be replaced by Gothic development of pointed arches, vaulted ceilings, and flying buttresses- all of which made it possible to admit more light into the sanctuary than would have been possible before.

Light for Christian culture had great significance because of the extensive Biblical associations of light with God himself, beginning with Genesis, “Let there be light”, and in the writings of Saint John the Divine.  At this point, the Bible had become an important source of ideas about beauty, both esthetically and also in a moral sense.  Illuminated Manuscripts flourished.

Icons and Art of the Eastern European Church

The developments of Church art in the East can be understood in several stages, or periods of Byzantine Culture: The Macedonian period, from 867-1056, the Komnenian period from1081-1185,and the Palaeologan Period 1259-1453.  These political and cultural periods influenced the style of icons as we will see.

Macedonian Period (867-1056)

Macedonian Workshop at Paraskevi

Macedonian art grew with advancements in learning and significant church construction and restoration following the period of Iconoclasm. (see my previous article). The artistic achievements of the Macedonian dynasty reflected grace, drawn from the fourth century, with the strength and beauty of earlier Hellenistic traditions. This blend of qualities infused religious art and icons with a distinctive dignity, refinement, and balance. These characteristics became synonymous with Byzantine design, aligning harmoniously with religious themes.

Komnenian Period (1081-1185)

Mosaïque des Comnène, Sainte-Sophie (Istambul, Turquie)

The Komnenoi were great patrons of the arts, and with their support Byzantine artists continued to move in the direction of greater humanism and emotion, of which the Virgin of Vladimir  is an important example. Ivory sculpture and other expensive mediums of art gradually gave way to frescoes and icons, gaining widespread popularity across the Empire. Although the art produced in the Byzantine Empire was marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, it was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic defined by its abstract or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more symbolic approach.

Palaeologan Period (1259-1453)

Fresco from Leshovsky Monastery, 1347

Paelogan Byzantine artists developed icons, which became a popular medium for artistic expression, and were characterized by a less austere attitude. This appreciation for purely decorative qualities of painting and meticulous attention to details is sometimes referred to a Palaeologan Mannerism. Russian icon painting began by entirely adopting and imitating Byzantine art, as did the art of other Orthodox nations, and has remained extremely conservative in iconography. 

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was a significant event in the history of the Byzantine Empire, and it had a profound impact on the art world. Many Byzantine artists migrated to Italy, where they played a vital role in shaping the  Italian Renaissance. of the Byzantine Empire in the preceding centuries.

The splendour of Byzantine art was always in the mind of early medieval Western artists and patrons, and many of the most important movements in the period were conscious attempts to produce art fit to stand next to both classical Roman and contemporary Byzantine art.

Religious Painting and Icons in the Western Church

The influence of Byzantine art on Italian art was significant, with Byzantine artists bringing their techniques and knowledge to Italy, especially the use of gold leaf and mosaics.

Three Italian painters of the 14th century, Cimabue, Duccio, and Giotto, are generally considered the link between the earlier iconic style of painting with its flattened pictorial space, and simple, abstract compositions and little if any naturalistic details, and the Renaissance.  In their work you will see that transition and the theme of the early development of naturalism that is the precursor to the Renaissance and the end of iconographic perspective.

Cimabue 1240-1302

Cimabue Maesta, di Santia Trinita

The paintings of Cimabue were heavily influenced by Byzantine iconography, and gradually they began to break away from that tradition into a more naturalistic rendering of human forms and space. His work is a transitional step in the development of western painting bridging the Medieval and Renaissance periods.  His work clearly influenced the styles of other Italian artists at the time such as Duccio di Buoninsegna and showcases the ongoing evolution of Italian art.

Duccio  1250-1391.  Sienna, Italy

Duccio, The Three Mary’s at the Tomb

 Duccio , as the founder of the Sienese school of painting,was the predominant painter of the 14th century.He ran a large workshop which shaped generations of Sienese artists.   His religious paintings brought a lyrical expressiveness and intense spiritual gravity to the Italo-Byzantine tradition.  In a small devotional panel of the Madonna and Child, Duccio bridged the gap between the spiritual world of the figures and the real world of the viewer in very much the same way that Icons do.   His holy figures were majestic, his pupils were influential in Florentine art, and his greatest work was the double-sided altarpiece, the ‘Maestà’, made between 1308-11.  Both Duccio and Cimabue began their careers producing iconic altarpiece paintings in the flat, two dimensional style of Byzantine icons, and ended their careers with more naturalistic paintings.  Both were enlivened and inspired by the Franciscan spirituality of their time.

Giotto di Bondone, Italian,   1267-1337

Giotto, The Dream of Joachim, 1330

Giotto was a Florentine painter and architect who is revered as the father of Western painting. It is believed that he was a pupil of Cimabue, and to have decorated chapels in Assisi, Rome, Padua, Florence, and Naples with frescoes and panel paintings in egg tempera. 

Giotto’s figures are volumetric rather than linear, with varied human emotions expressed in a human style rather than the stylized faces of Byzantine icons.  He also created a new kind of pictorial space with an almost measurable depth, transforming the flat world of thirteenth century painting in a more naturalistic view of the real world.  For this, he is considered the father of modern European painting.

The great accomplishment of Giotto’s painting was to make the events of the Gospel and the lives of the holy saints both credible, beautiful, and appealing to the ordinary people of his day.

Conclusion

These artists were followed by the Renaissance in the 14th-16th centuries. Renaissance art, particularly in Italy, focused on realism, classical themes, and a renewed interest in the human form. It moved away from symbolism and abstraction in favor of naturalistic rendering of light, form and nature. In the next and final article in this series, I will explain the effect this development has had on religious painting and contrast Renaissance painting with Icons.  Why is the Renaissance such a strong dividing line in religious art? Because it ushered in a humanistic world view as opposed to the theocratic world view prevalent before. The focus of our culture has gradually progressed from honoring God as creator to revering man’s creations, the truth of science over religious principles, and eventually to a nihilism in our culture that doesn’t recognize any power greater than ourselves.  And that is why as an artist, I have chosen Icons as my art form, desiring to promote and demonstrate visually, God’s universe over man’s universe! 

I hope you have enjoyed this article! Perfect for an end of summer, beginning of fall reading!

Here is a lovely video that talks about Siennese Icon Painting

May God continue to bless the work of your hands. Please join with me in prayer for the world :

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…..”Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in all the earth.” Psalm 46:1-3, 10.

Christine Simoneau Hales

https://newchristianicons.com

How Important Is Drawing?

Often when I teach icon writing classes, I am asked to critique students’ previous icons, and almost always, my comments revolve around drawing more.  Re-draw the composition, or the faces, or the figures. And so, for this blog post I am including some random ideas for improving your icon drawing.  

Drawing by Nun Juliana

First, I’d like to share about an iconographer whose drawings I particularly admire- Nun Juliana. Mother Juliana was a Russian icon painter who was a prominent figure in the renewal of sacred arts in Russia during the second half of the 20th century. 

Drawing by Nun Juliana

She was also a teacher of iconography, discussing the meaning of the subject matter, technique, materials, and style. Mother Juliana’s work was part of a rediscovery and renewal of sacred arts that has reached world wide proportions.

Today Mother Juliana is considered a saint by the Orthodox Church and is credited with preserving the tradition of icon painting in Russia and beyond through her work and those she taught. 

During the first decades of Soviet rule in Russia holy images, especially icons, were subjected to harsh persecution. It was a period of unrestrained, militant atheism during which, together with the closing of churches and monasteries, great numbers of icons were destroyed. From this it is easy to comprehend the difficulties faced by those who wished to preserve the traditions of Russian icon painting. 

Drawing by Nun Juliana

The nun Juliana, known to the world as Maria Nikolajevna Sokolova, preserved the living tradition of ancient Russian icon painting, transmitting it to her successors during one of the most difficult periods in the history of the Russian Church. This is the basis of her significance for modern icon painters.

Drawing by Christine Hales

Egon Sendler’s states in his foundational book, “The Icon, Images of the Invisible”, that “The drawing is of great importance because it gives structure and movement to the icon and determines the surfaces to be painted.  The ancient iconographers religiously kept the sketches of their icons so they could use them again in their later works.  These collections of drawings were called podlinik, pattern books.”

We know that in the Byzantine method, a relational system of proportions was employed, thus giving a consistency to the visual images that allow the viewer to concentrate on the meanings of the icon. This system of relational proportions was probably inherited by Egyptian artists who also used a simple grid system to standardize proportions of figures.

Egyptian Grid Drawing

Byzantine compositional drawing develops a relationship with rhythm and space in the icon that enables the viewer and the icon to meet- the dynamic elements of the icon are intentionally created to engage the viewer and bring them into a relational experience with the subject of the icon.

Without depth, the vertical method of composition is used in Byzantine compositional drawing, for example, objects which are behind in the icon are placed above in the composition, and those in front are placed on the lower section of the composition. The Nativity icon is a very good example of this principle.

Nativity Icon by Christine Hales

The last set of ideas I wish to share with you derive from Iconographer George Kordis in his book, “Icon as Communion”.  In speaking of the artistic principles of Byzantine art this is what he says, “This is what we recognize as Byzantine art, and it bears the following characteristic features:  

  1. The absence of artistic depth (there is no movement behind the artistic surface.)
  2. The essential role and fundamental importance of color in rendering form: forms are defined through color and not through the use of black or shadow..
  3. The essential role and fundamental importance of line, which determines how color is applied…
  4. The plasticity of artistic form (the juxtaposition of light and dark) in order to give the feeling of movement outward from the artistic surface toward the beholder.
  5. The pursuit of rhythm (the sense of movement that relates the figure to the viewer, uniting the two.)
Archangel Michael Drawing in Moscow

Obviously this article is presenting the tip of the iceberg!  Hopefully these thoughts stimulate your creative process and help your icons become the best representation of God’s kingdom possible.   Although I am familiar with all of these principles, I find that I need to read them often to keep them constantly in mind when I draw.

Below are some interesting links from Iconographer Dorothy Alexander:

Here is a link to the Icon retreats I am teaching this year: Icon Retreats

And here is link describing the Artist in Residence program I am participating in at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Until next month,

Blessings,

Christine Simoneau Hales

New Christian Icons

Coptic Icons

Coptic Icon of Saint Michael
Archangel Ethiopian Icon, C. 19th century

Recently, while teaching an online icon writing class on the Transfiguration, the subject of Coptic icons came up.  Each of us spoke admiringly about them, the color schemes, the simplified human forms, and the fact that they are  attractive in many ways.  But we soon realized that we didn’t really know much about them.

Coptic Ethiopian Icon

So, here I have done some research that I now share, and I hope that many of you  with more knowledge will share your thoughts and Coptic icon images on the FB (American Association of Iconographers FB group) page too.

Here’s what I have been able to discover:

In 30 BC, Egypt became a Roman province, and over the next several years, immigrants from Greece, Rome, Libya, and Syria brought their artmaking traditions  and methods to apply to the  art of this time.  According to tradition, the Coptic Church was founded by Mark the Evangelist c. AD 42, and regards itself as the subject of many prophecies in the Old Testament. The first Christians in Egypt were common people who spoke Egyptian Coptic.

Saint Anthony and Saint Paul the Hermit c. 14th C.

The Church of Alexandria was the first Church of Africa, and through it, the  influence of Coptic art spread to Sudan and Ethiopia. Some forms of the Coptic cross are known as the Ethiopian cross and many Churches in Ethiopia show the influence of the Coptic art.

Coptic Cross
Coptic Cross

The early Coptic icons of the third century Egypt, used encaustic paints and later, influenced by the Byzantine tradition, egg tempera.  The Coptic style favors enlarged eyes, frontal figures, and an under emphasis of natural proportions in figures. The figures of saints display eyes and ears larger in proportion to the rest of the face and a smaller mouth, as well as enlarged heads, signifying a spiritual relationship with God and devotion to prayer. Martyrs’ faces were peaceful. Early Coptic icons were influenced in style of painting by the Egyptian Fayum memorial portraits used on Egyptian sarcophagi.

Fayum Portrait

These Fayum portraits from the Egyptian Sarcophagi were painted in the Greco-Roman style of painting and became the basis of both Coptic and Byzantine iconography. Beautiful portraits, they have simple, graceful forms, and employ a simple color palette, using what we now refer to as the Greek Palette- mixtures of red ochre, yellow ochre, white and black.  Although the same painting style was used on each portrait, artists were able to achieve a great variety of resemblances to the persons being depicted.

John the Baptist Coptic Icon
John the Baptist Before the 19th C.

In 641 Muslims conquered Egypt and made it a province of an Islamic Empire whose capital was Damascus.  The religious history that followed is a complicated mixture of acceptance for Christians, and then later in the 9th century, relations were more difficult. The period from the 7th to 13 century was more promising, allowing for Christian Coptic art to flourish once again and to further develop the Coptic style. There was even something of a Renaissance of Coptic art in the 13th century with many Coptic illustrated manuscripts, much like the illuminated manuscripts of the western Church.

After this, for political reasons, there was a sharp decline in productivity of Coptic Art,until the 18th century  when the West re-discovered the attraction of Coptic Icons.

In today’s world there are several Coptic Iconographers who are continuing to develop the Coptic style of iconography.  I am including here links to Dr. Stephan Rene’s website from which a much more nuanced understanding of Coptic iconography can be found, and two other links that may be useful for a more complete perspective.

Saint Paul Icon, 17th C.

Again, please do add to the FB group page more information or images if you would like to share your experience with Coptic Icons with others. I hope this has inspired you to think about different styles of icon writing and how culture and politics can affect the art of their time.

Dr. Stephan Rene’s Website: https://copticiconography.com/2019/12/24/reflections-on-discipleship-and-coptic-iconography/

UK Coptic Icons. https://www.ukcopticicons.com

Until next month,

My very best wishes for God to continue to bless the work of your hands, 

Always,

Christine Simoneau Hales

https://newchristianicons.com