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| THE VIRGIN ELEUSA Late 15th - early 16th century 106 x 79. Egg tempera on lime wood. From the Church of St. Luke in the village of Dorosyni, Volhynia region. Lviv Picture Gallery (the Castle of Olesko). # m-3745 163k, jpeg. The icon depicts the Virgin Mary admiring the Child who usually, in Eleusa icons, is seen with His cheek pressed to His mother's, and embracing her. The popularity of this type in Rus'-Ukraine was promoted by a miracle-working Eleusa icon brought from Constantinople to Vyshgorod near Kyiv in the early 12th century. In 1155 Prince Andriy Bogolyubsky transferred it to Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma and the icon eventually came to be known as the Virgin of Vladimir. Due to its outstanding artistic merits it became a palladium of the Russian state, and legends concerning its miracles were widespread. Many copies of it were made. Though the Ukrainian icon from the village of Dorosyni belongs to the same Eleusa type it has nevertheless a number of significant original features: the Child is painted in the right part of the composition (while in the Virgin of Vladimir, He is on the left) and corners of the icon present the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, as in Hodigitria type icons. The gestures of the hands of Mary and the Child differ as well, while the position of their legs is analogous. The artist also created an unusual image of the Mother of God. Her face has an air of artless innocence and bears an expression of defenselessness, deeply moving in the light of the sufferings in store for her and her Child. The decorative aspect of the icon is based on a restrained colour scheme with occasional bright yellow flash-like tones. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/lviv/Gallery/Room4.html |