Icon, The Anastasis ['The Harrowing of Hell'], Greek School, 18th century or possibly 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 Registered 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. While this icon was not the subject of the Raman microscopy scan, icons W.4-1927 and W.5-1927 did undergo the testing and, since the three icons are clearly part of a set based on their size, style and subject matter, the results for the previously mentioned icons and icon W.6-1927 should be similar. While the pigments identified in the scans are all plausibly found in the eighteenth century, the gesso bases 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 when examined closely. Additionally, the design of the imagery appears incised into the top layer of the gesso so that scoring is visible in the substructure. The surface of the panel thus 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 icon depicts one of the dodekaorton, or great feasts of the orthodox liturgical year, and employs a typical formula for representing the Anastasis, with Christ in the centre of the panel in a mandorla. He stands above the broken gates of hell with broken locks and keys scattered in the space beneath his feet. Christ takes Adam and Eve by the hand and leads them up out of the underworld and is surrounded by mountains and the prophets of the Old Testament. The inscriptions, in red, around the icon identify the scene as the Anastasis at the top of the panel, identify Christ on his nimbus, and also identify two of the crowd surrounding Christ. To his left is King David, and to his right, St John the Forerunner. The colours employed here are more representative of later phases in Greek and Russian painting with pinks and oranges used in conjunction with wavy chrysography (gilding) and the heavy use of blue. The figures appear static and wooden and lack the dynamism of earlier Byzantine models.

W.6-1927