Schools and styles
Byzantine, Russian and Greek icons: schools and styles
«Byzantine icon», «Russian icon», «Greek icon»: these phrases are often heard, but they do not denote three different arts. They are branches of the same tree, born in Constantinople, which took on its own accent in every land.
Byzantine art
In Constantinople and the territories of the empire, between the 6th and 15th centuries, the language and models of the icon took shape. After the iconoclast crisis, the Macedonian period (9th-11th century) combined theological rigour with the classical heritage; the Palaiologan period (13th-15th century) brought livelier figures, luminous drapery and an intense spirituality, the same as in the frescoes of Mystras and the Chora church in Istanbul.
Russian icons
- Russia received Christianity from Byzantium in 988, and with it the icon.
- The Novgorod school: pure, bright colours, dominant cinnabar red, clear compositions.
- The Moscow school: Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev and Dionisius, with their harmony of proportion and luminous colour.
- The Stroganov school (late 16th-17th century): small icons of miniature-like refinement, rich in gold.
- From the 18th century, the influence of Western painting; from the 20th century, the rediscovery of ancient models.
Greek and Cretan icons
After the fall of Constantinople (1453), the island of Crete, then Venetian, became the great centre of icon painting: the Cretan school combined the Palaiologan tradition with extraordinary technical skill and worked for both Orthodox and Catholic patrons. From Crete icons went to Venice and throughout the Mediterranean; from Crete also came Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco, who began as an icon painter. Mount Athos and the monasteries of Greece carry on this tradition to this day.
The Balkans and other traditions
Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania developed their own schools, such as that of Ohrid; Ethiopia and Coptic Egypt have a very ancient iconography in a very different style. Concetta Basile trained in the traditional school of iconography: her icons show the proportions and light of this tradition, together with a dialogue with Italian art. Like every icon by Concetta Basile, it is fully gilded with 23¾ karat gold, with inscriptions in Greek or Latin, and is commissioned with an offering proportionate to the time and materials of the work.
Frequently asked questions
How can you tell a Russian icon from a Greek one?
In general Russian icons have lighter, brighter colours, elongated figures and a more linear drawing; Greek and Cretan icons have darker, more modelled flesh tones, denser drapery and a stronger classical heritage. But there are many exceptions, and only the analysis of a specific work allows an attribution.
Can I choose the style of my icon?
Yes: during the conversation you can ask for the icon to be inspired by a specific model, for example Rublev or the Cretan school, always within the tradition in which the iconographer works.