The Art of the Icon

This is not a thick book, just 96 pages. It is mainly a collection of photographs of Orthodox church icons, with explanations on the history and techniques of painting. The printing is of very high quality. Its original price is 14.99 British Pounds. But because of the subject matter, it is rarely read. I found it in a corner of the Book Fair selling at HK$20. Strangely, the cover photo is flipped. I do not know if it was a mistake or was intentional so that Mary looked to the East. Icons are mainly found in Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe. I found their architecture and the paintings inside fascinating as they reflected the creativity and ability of men. Icons are paintings of traditional religious figures dating back to the earliest days of formalized Christianity. Being more than symbols of faith and objects of worship, they are an art form in European civilization. According to Exodus, Moses came down from Mount Sinai and brought back the Ten Commandments. The second commandment was "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Thus in Judaism, and also in Islam, worship of idol in any form, including god and holy figures, was forbidden. This tradition remains the same today. The early Christians adopted many practices of worship from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans where the worship of idols was widespread. Thus Christian icons appeared in the early years of the religion. The Christian version of the Ten Commandments merged the text on forbidding idol worship in Exodus into the first commandment. In the early centuries AD, icons were said to have magical power of winning wars, healing diseases and many other miraculous properties. Those were the days of iconodules: the icon worshippers. However, believers in the older tradition of an invisible god condemned this as idolatry. They became the iconoclasts: the breakers of icons. In the sixth century, Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire ordered that all icons be removed from churches. His son Constantine V stepped up the crusade against the iconodules and banned the manufacture, possession and worship of icons. The war between iconodules and iconoclasts lasted until the ninth century when Theodora resumed the worship of icons. During this period, most of the icons were destroyed, except a few kept secretly at the Monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai, which was known as the sanctuary of icons, The golden age of Byzantine icon making started when Emperor Constantine established the East Roman Empire and made Christianity the official religion of the empire in the fourth century. However, owing to the destruction by the iconoclasts from the sixth to the ninth century, very little is known about the early work except a few salvaged. After Theodora's effort in re-establishing the icon as an object of veneration in the ninth century, there came the second g

I bought this book for the glorious photographs. I was delighted to find informative accompanying text which supplemented rather than overwhelmed the icons. The bibliography provides promise for a greater exploration of the topic in the future. For those with more detailed knowledge of religious art, I suspect there will be little new in this book. For those of us who marvel at the beauty of icons but don't understand the traditions, this book could provide a useful starting point. I bought it on impulse but I am keeping both for the intrinsic beauty of the contents as well as for the promise of new learning. Recommended for those who see beauty in religious art. Jennifer Cameron-Smith