The icon of Panagia Iberitissa faithfully copies the type of the most ancient miraculous icon of Mount Athos, the icon of Panagia Portaitissa of the Holy Monastery of Iviron, which tradition attributes to the paintbrush of the evangelist Luke himself. The icon of Portaitissa, a supreme religious work of piety and artistic quality of the Macedonian Renaissance of Byzantium, probably of the end of the 10th or the first half of the 11th century, It was a model source of inspiration for many hagiographers throughout the Orthodox world, but also attracted famous travellers from the holy monastic state of Athos, including the Russian traveller Basil Barskij (1701-1747).
The Virgin Mary Iberitissa, which comes from the Monastery of St. Nektarios of Aegina , was sculpted in 1906 by by the hagiographer monk Panaretos, according to the small print in the bottom right-hand corner of the image. The artist belongs to the well-known brotherhood of the Ioasafaians who lived in the 19th century in Kausokalivia and were the bearers of a new art that renewed the expressive means of the Orthodox tradition.
The iconography of Panagia Iberitissa is in essence a variant of Panagia Hodegetria with the Virgin represented up to the loins and holding the infant Christ in her left arm, while carrying her metal-clad (perhaps from a vow) right hand in a prayer posture. She wears a light red maforium with a gold-embossed border that clearly imitates the decoration of the metal covering of the original icon of Panagia Portaitissa. However, the strict composition that characterizes the iconography of the Hodegetria is noticeably tempered in the icon of Iberitissa with the tender inclination of the Virgin’s head, her melancholic and melancholic gaze, and the slight turn of the body of the little Christ towards His mother’s side. Thus, this composition, which focuses on the mother-child relationship, is fully compatible with the original name of the icon as Panagia Eleousa.
The little Christ blesses with His right hand and rests decisively on His knee with His left hand, with a closed scroll. The cool colours of His blue tunic and white robe are emphasized more emphatically as they are projected onto the all-warmed by the purple mantle embrace of the Virgin Mary.
Finally, the golden halos with the pearl-encrusted edges combined with the golden crown of the Virgin, as the Queen of Heaven, and the inscriptions left in gold on the blue celestial background increase the decorativeness of the icon. Its configuration with the painted arched frame indicates the adaptation of the icon to a wooden shrine, enjoying the special honour and veneration of its miraculous model by the faithful Christians.
Athanasios Semoglou
Professor of Byzantine Archaeology and Art
Department of History – Archaeology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
