Icon, 'The Entry into Jerusalem', Greek School, 18th century or early 20th century?

Tempera painting

Purchased, 1927

Bought for £10. Received from J. Stuart Hay Esq, 9 Chester Place, W.2.

This icon is one of four panels which were purchased from Stuart Hay and Leonard Bower for £10 each in 1927. The transactions are well recorded in the Registration Papers of the V&A and are interesting because of the great deal of information regarding the place of origin of the icons. The panels are known to have come from the town of Gumulgina in Macedonia, (present day Komotini in Greece), and while they are often described as a set, they were purchased in two separate transactions. The first transaction consisted of three icons (The Presentation in the Temple W.4-1927, The Entry into Jerusalem W.5-1927, and The Anastasis W.6-1927) which appeared to have come from the festival tier of an iconostasis, while the second transaction included a single panel (The Baptism of Christ W.13-1927) described as coming from the same set as the first three icons, but which is of slightly larger proportions and of a different style.

Tests have been done to ascertain the chemical structure of the gesso used as the base layer for two of these icons with interesting results. This icon (W.5-1927) was one of those tested, revealing that the gesso bases of the icons of the first group from Komotini are unusual in their structures and contain a layered composition not commonly seen in other icons. The resulting finish of the base layer for the pigment is therefore very thin and appears almost like parchment. Additionally, the overall design of the icon appears incised into the top layer of the gesso so that scoring is visible which creates the outlines for the composition of the figures. The surface of the panels also appears to have been heated and the pigment layer has blistered in a manner uncommon in traditional icon painting, perhaps indicating forgery in the early twentieth century. However, the pigments employed were identified in the Raman Microscopy scan and are in keeping with the materials used in the eighteenth century.

N.B. An article by J. Stuart Hay and Leonard Bower, "Greek Icon Painting", was published in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 51, No.292 (July 1927), pages 8-14.

Historical significance: This scene depicts one of the dodekaorton or great feasts of the Orthodox liturgical calendar. Christ, followed by his apostles, is shown riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. They are met at the gate of the city by a group of its inhabitants and priests, while children throw cloaks down on the ground and chop branches from a tree to praise him. The design of the figures attempts to copy the style of the sixteenth century, but the heavy linearity of the highlights on the rocks and draperies reveals a degree of abstraction uncharacteristic of earlier representation.

W.5-1927