Back about 5 years ago I acquired an unusual (at least to me) painting. It is colorful and about 8" x 10". I didn't know much about it other than it appeared to be an Orthodox religious scene, maybe Middle Eastern in origin. It was given to my father by his brother. That was all I knew, even though I had a number of art classes in college.Only one or two were art history, though. Here it is.
I forgot about it for quite a while and when going through a box of
junk things I need to go through. The Old Curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out more about this art. The first thing I figured out was that it was a
reverse painting on glass. I asked some folks at the local art gallery if they knew anything about this and they didn't, but they knew a guy at a large Twin Cities gallery who might know something. He didn't know a lot, but said it was more of an antique/collectible thing with not a lot of monetary value. So much for early retirement. My quest continued and I finally figured out with some online assistance that it is a Romanian Icon probably from around the turn of the last century.
What seems to be in the picture is the Trinity sitting around the table, Jesus in a boat full of his "flock", two saintly bishops in front (I think St. Nicholas and maybe Saint Gregory), but I am not sure who the man and woman with halos and no wings standing behind the trinity are. I have guesses, but no sure thing answers.
How did my uncle come by this? It took me a minute to figure it out, but this is what I believe happened. He worked for UNESCO for many years in many countries around the world and in the early 90's the U.N. declared several churches and monasteries in Romania to be World Heritage Sites. He picked up the icon at that time. These icons are folk art and often are quite commonly found in peoples homes. Sometimes just a few or sometimes several dozen.
Another part of world culture I had no idea about is now a little familiar. I had to read a lot of stuff to figure out what I could about this diminutive painting so I had to learn more than I needed to know. And I'm not even religious.
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