mother of god pelagonitissa
The fifteenth century icon of 'Mother of God Pelagonitissa' is one of the highlights of the exhibition 'Unimagined Beauty' in the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, which shows icons and other religious art from Macedonia.
Since antiquity Macedonia has been at a crosscroads of cultures and religions - literally, as the Via Egnatia, connecting Rome and Constantinopel, ran through the area. Long on the border between the realms of Western and Eastern Christianity, until conquered by the Ottomans in the fourteenth century, all these influences left traces in its artistic heritage.
Named after the region Pelagonia, the icon depicts Mary, or the Theotokos (Mother of God) as she is commonly called in the Eastern-Orthodox Church, with the child Jesus. The child's playfully contortionistic pose creates a dramatic contrast with the stillness and tenderly sad face of the mother, who, we readily interpret, anxiously foresees her son's fate. The drama is echoed in the colors, with bright vermilion highlights on browns and gold.
It is one of many Theotokos icons in the exhibition, with others including the 'Mother of God Hodegetria' and 'Mother of God Pantonchara' - all part of the rich Orthodox tradition of iconography with its particular conventions and pre-perspective aesthetics.
Unfortunately few decent images can be found online, but here are some resources on Macedonian icons. (It's not like digital images do much justice to this kind of centuries-old art anyway.)
On a different level the exhibition also shows a young nation (the Republic of Macedonia celebrates its 20th anniversary this year) claiming its own past. It makes for an enthusiastic, though somewhat selective presentation, which invites Wikipedia use afterwards.