Juliet Venter's Icons | Meaning and Technique

About my icons

Some time around the sixth century AD Christian artists switched from painting their sacred images in encaustic (wax) to egg tempera. No one knows why this happened, but the humble egg proved to be an immensely versatile and durable medium. The method of making an authentic icon has not changed much in the succeeding centuries. Strictly speaking an icon can be made in any worthy medium - fresco, carving, metalwork, illumination, even embroidery - since the word 'icon' just means 'image' in Greek. St Paul speaks of Jesus Christ being the true 'icon' of the invisible God (Colossians I, 15). In the Eastern Orthodox church icons are venerated as proxy for the saint depicted, and the place of images in liturgical ritual has been understood and fought for since earliest times. In the Western churches, Christians of all denominations are reaching a renewed understanding of the place sacred images have in personal devotions and public worship. In a word, the sacred images manifest to us the unseen presence of the company of heaven.

I don't care to talk a great deal about the devotional aspects of icon painting as it is easy to sound falsely pious, and I think that an icon, even more than a decorative painting, should do its own talking. Many people simply appreciate the intense colours and unsentimental aesthetic of this hagiographic art form. I research and plan my icons with great consideration, and study as many prototypes of different periods and in different media as possible, but to my mind icon painting is not about turning out accomplished copies of famous originals. It is more like writing a sonnet: there is freedom of expression to be found in the strict discipline of the established form.

Every process involved in the actual making of an icon has both a practical and a symbolical purpose. For example, the effect of the central recess is both to protect the paint surface from wear and also to create an 'ark', or reserved space, for the sacred image. The egg used to bind the pigments is symbolic of new life, the transformative potential of life in the spirit and of the resurrection. Gold, the immortal metal, has a special significance expressing the radiance of God's uncreated light. Burnished gilding gives an icon a special radiance, especially in candlelight or when the sun catches it: a visual enactment of spiritual transfiguration. The systematic approach to painting the flesh, starting with the darkest tones and moving though the tones to purest white, mirrors the spiritual journey of the Christian from darkness into light. The choice of pigments also has symbolical meaning, whether one is choosing earth pigments such as umber and terre verte for the robes of a humble ascetic or vermillion and lapis lazuli with their esoteric significance. These are things for private meditation and I don't send my icons out with an explanatory essay: an icon speaks directly to the eye of the heart. Many things in iconographic art which seem unnatural - the stylisation, odd perspective, internal geometry, ritual gestures and stylisation - are devices to jolt us into a deeper reading of the piece, and to portray the transfigured existence of the holy person.

How an icon is painted

Various equipment for gilding

Egg tempera and gilding are not techniques which really allow for afterthoughts and alterations, so I first work up a complete design which I copy onto tracing paper. The advantage of making my own gesso panels is that my design does not have to be dictated by the size and proportions of something commercially produced: standard metric proportions do not work well for traditional iconography which draws on Pythagorean principles of geometry inherited from classical art. After the drawing, there are many laborious stages to complete before getting out the paint brushes. I begin with my power tools, cutting boards to the right size and sanding them smooth. Medieval panels were made from solid wood - linden or poplar - with a central recess routed out with mallet and chisel and braced on the back. For larger commissions, boards of this kind can be ordered specially from a craftsman with the proper tools and supply of seasoned wood. For smaller icons I use suitable wood without bracing (when I can obtain it), or a first grade birch laminate which obviates problems of warping. After routing and sanding the recess, the surface has to be prepared with size (animal glue) and a layer of muslin to receive the gesso. The gesso, a mixture of animal glue and chalk whiting, has to be applied carefully in many thin layers, as the smallest crack or bubble in the surface ruins the paint surface. Each layer has to dry sufficiently before the next is applied, so when the weather is damp the process can take me from early morning till late at night. Once the gesso has dried, itis smoothed and sanded with successive grades of emery paper to an eggshell-smooth finish. I can than transfer my drawing to board, marking the main outlines and important details. The pictures below show some of the stages of the process. The first set of pictures shows a Sienese-style icon, involving ornate tooling in the halo and other effects with gilded detailing. Generally speaking the gilded parts of the design must be completed first. Gilding involves painting on a layer of clay and glue mix, adhering gold leaf to the dampened clay, and then polishing the surface of the gold with an agate burnisher. This is not as easy as it sounds, and many factors such as faults in the gesso, atmospheric humidity or the mood of the artist can adversely affect the quality of the finish. After the gold comes the painting, starting with the background and scenery (if any), then the garments, and ending with the flesh and highlights of the face. The flesh parts are first modelled in a sepia tone and then the flesh colours are built up in successive transparent layers. The faces in the first little icon illustrated below received a pale green layer before the flesh tones were applied, as was the style in Italianate icons. The second series of pictures shows an icon with mordant (oil) gilding and assiste (gold applied on top of the painting).