BYZ2550

00. Icon of the Virgin Psychosostria

Byzantine (Thessalonike or Ohrid), mid-14th century

Tempera on wood, silver-gilt revetment

158 x 122 x 4 cm (621/4 x 481/8 x 15/8 in.)

INSCRIBED: Flanking the halo in the roundels, Μ(ΗΤΗ)Ρ

Θ(ΕΟ)Υ (Mother of God), in the plaques: Η ΨΥΧΟCΩ(CΤ)ΡΙΑ

(Savior of souls)

PROVENANCE: Church of the Virgin Peribleptos, Ohrid.

CONDITION: The icon was repainted in the nineteenth

century by the artist Dicho, from the village of Tresonche,

who intervened only on the Virgin's .rnaphoriion, leaving

her face and the figure of Christ intact.1 This layer was

removed several years ago.

Icon Gallery-Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia (82)

The icon corresponds closely to the icon of Christ

Pantokrator (BYZ2540) in size, treatment, and style, so it

is not difficult to hypothesize that they originated with the

same workshop or the same artist.

The background is covered with a silver-gilt revetment

composed mainly of a geometric pattern of interlacing

circles, framed by foliate decoration and relief figures.

Busts of Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin and the

archangels Michael and Gabriel adorn the frame along the

top, and a relief plaque of the Virgin Episkepsis (Shelter)

supplants the missing bust of Christ in the center. Along

the sides, the frame contains busts of the prophets Moses,

Aaron, Zechariah, Isaiah, and Habakkuk and the figure of

Nicholas, archbishop of Ohrid. The presence of

the image of this archbishop and the inscription are a

reliable reference for a more precise dating of this icon.2

MG

1. Balabanov 1973, p. 17.2. Ivanov 1931, pp. 36-37.

REFERENCES: Kondakov 1909, p. 248; Ivanov 1931,

pp. 36-37; Kasanin 1943, pp. 84-85; Ljubinkovic and

Corovic-LJubmkovic 1961, pp. 131-32; Djuric 1961, no. 17,

p.86, pl. XXVII; Balabanov 1969, p.(page) XVIII,

fig. 6; Paris 1971, no. 282; Sarajevo 1971, no. 292;

Balabanov 1973, p. 17; Kavkaleski 1974, pp. 79-82, figs. 1-2:

Balabanov 1983, p. 127: Balabanov 1995, pp. 201-2, no. 31:

Georgievski 1999, p. 9, no. 24; Paris 1999b, no. 32; Rome

1999b, no. 32.