15. Madre della Consolazione

Details

Veneto-Cretan, around 1600
24 x 19 cms (including frame 41 x 36.3 cms)

Provenance:
Jan Morsink Ikonen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Private collection, The Netherlands.

Literature:
K. Braamhorst, ‘Ikonen lexicon’, Warnsveld, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2004, illustrated on p. 226.

Description:
The iconography of the Madre della Consolazione is of Western origin.

The painting is an excellent example of the migration from the traditional Greek Byzantine style to the Italian Renaissance style.

The title refers to the suffering of Christ, as anticipated by his mother, as can be seen here as she gazes melancholically to the viewer. The Mother of God is wearing a dark green chiton and a deep purple mantle with a head cover and a white diaphanous kerchief underneath, which is visible around her face. The mantle is knotted at her chest with a big brooch and has a golden pseudo-kufic decoration around its edges. The young Christ child is held gently by his majestic heavenly mother. She rests her left hand on his leg. Christ blesses with his right hand and holds a sphere representing the world instead of the traditional scroll in his left hand.

The icon is framed into a modern frame.