Author: Dimisca Laurentiu

Title: Mother of God with the Child

Dimensions: 100x130 cm
Byzantine technique, with patinated copper sheet on pressed wood, with
applied textile pattern
Year: 2022
"Rejoice that you are full of gifts, Mary, the Lord is with you. Blessed are
you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, that you gave
birth to the Savior of our souls."

I started studying the techniques of Byzantine iconography in the first

year of college and I have been painting icons for 26 years.

In the years 96-97, you could only document yourself from the Russian
School (Andrei Rubliov) and the Greek School (Theophanes the Greek
and Theophanes the Cretan).

Over time I discovered that there are more than 50 prototypes of the
iconographic representation of the Mother of God with the Child,
researching other schools of icon painting from different centuries: the
Yugoslav, Polish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Coptic, Venetian, Romanian,
Brancove school.

Prototypes of the "Mother of God with the Child" icon that I made:
- Mother of God Eleusa (the Comforter);
- Mother of God Odighitria
(Guide);
- Mother of God Oranta (The Prayer);
- Sweet Kiss;
- Our Lady weeping;
- Mother of God with three hands;
- Mother of God nursing;
- Mother of God the Guide;
- Our Lady the Great Empress, etc.

When I discovered the Byzantine Erminia I realized that within the

canon, even if you have to strictly follow the rules, you can innovate and
create your own style of icons.

E.g:

- in the background (timeless) they use textile application techniques with

gold leaf, which is reminiscent of the iconographers of the past who used
rope and flour glue relief primer for the background;

- for the halo of the Mother of God, I use floral embroidery with gold
leaf;
The vestments in the icon of the Mother of God with the Child are
geometrically stylized and completed by me with personalized patterns,
geometric, floral modules, stamped with gold.
The idea came to me from the history of art, from the time when the
iconographic painters were forced after the Great Schism to self-exile in
Florence and Venice, being here influenced by the Baroque and
Renaissance styles.

"Let the icon be man's salvation instead of food, drink and clothes, that
divine fire" (St. Macarius the Egyptian)

Laurentiu Dimisca, PhD

Plastic artist, icon painter,

God help and Praised be Jesus!