Две житийни икони на св. Георги от Църковния музей в София
Two Hagiographical Icons of St. George at the National Church Museum of History and Archaeology, Sofia

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the hagiographical cycles of St George in the popular icon of St George and St Demetrius (NCMHA, Inv. No. 3140), found at the Church of the Virgin in Sozopol and in the icon of St George (NCMHA, Inv. No. 3919), signed by iconpainter Constantine. A comparative analysis of the iconography and the manners as well as the almost identical content of the hagiographical cycles of St George proved that both monuments had been made by the same painter, Constantine or at least by masters from the same workshop. The icon of the Virgin Kecharitomeni from Nessebar, also bearing the signature of the icon-painter and commissioned by Agalou (or Pagalou) also belongs to Constantine’s works. This donor could possibly be linked to the one, who donated some of the murals at the Church of St John the Baptist in Nessebar, partially over-painted at the onset of the seventeenth century. Judging by the analysis and the known information of the hagiographical cycles under consideration of St George at the National Church Museum of History and Archaeology (NCMHA), it could be confirmed that these have been made in the region of Nessebar dating to the last decades of the sixteenth century or to the early seventeenth century at the latest. It is unknown from where icon-painte Constantine came to Nessebar or was he a local, adhering to the noteworthy works by the icon-painters from Northern Greece, yet the painting created by his workshop renders an ingenious reading of Cretan art, which fits in the ‘classicizing’ trend in the art of the second half of the sixteenth century.

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