Icon of The Virgin with the Playing Child
Oil on wood panel
6.5" x 6.5" x .75"

What, in short, is purity? It's a heart with compassion for all of creation. And what is a compassionate heart? It is a heart that burns for all of creation." (Isaac of Nineveh)

This variation of the Icon of the Virgin Eleousa developed in the twelfth and thirteenth century at the borders of the Byzantine empire. Under western influence Iconography was changing - static figures were now being replaced by movement and dramatic emotion. Christ Child is restless in his Mother's arms, as he throws his head back, hands stretched grasping his Mother's clothing. This Icon became very popular in Russia, Syria, and Armenia where faith at the time was putting a great emphasis on Passion. Jesus stirs up in Mary's arms not out of child's playfulness, but as in the Garden of Gethsemane, he has a foreboding of the Passion and feels anxious and afraid. Normal solemnity of the Byzantine Icon is interrupted through this movement. Theotokos' eyes are focused on the viewer in infinite sadness. Alfredo Tradigo's "Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church (Translated by Stephen Sartarelli)