A buyer's guide
Hand-painted or printed icon? How to tell
The market is full of icons «on wood» that are actually prints glued to a board, sometimes touched up with a little gold. Here are the concrete signs of an authentically hand-painted icon, and the questions to ask before buying or commissioning.
Seven signs to look for
1 · The surface
Under raking light, a painted icon shows brushwork, glazes and slight relief; a print is perfectly flat and uniform.
2 · The dot screen
Under a magnifying glass, a print reveals the dots of the printing screen. Tempera shows pigment laid with a brush.
3 · The gold
Gold leaf has fine seams between leaves and a depth of reflection no metallic ink can imitate.
4 · The gesso
At the edges and in the recessed field you can see the thickness of the gesso. Prints are glued to wood or MDF with no ground.
5 · The back
The back of an authentic panel is hand-worked wood, often with cross-battens; not an industrial board with a pressed-in hook.
6 · The inscriptions
In painted icons, letters and highlights are traced with a brush, with small natural irregularities.
7 · The value of time
Months of work, real gold and natural pigments cannot be improvised: a ready-made icon offered for a few euros is almost always a reproduction.
Wording that should make you think
- «Icon on wood»: describes the support, not that it is painted.
- «Screen-printed», «lithograph», «print on panel», «mounted»: these are reproductions.
- «Hand-finished» or «with applied gold»: a print with some manual touches.
- «Byzantine style»: describes the look, not the technique.
Questions to ask before you buy
Every icon by Concetta Basile answers these questions: it is painted entirely by hand in Italy, on a gessoed panel, with 23¾ karat gold and egg tempera, and is delivered with a certificate of authenticity on real parchment, photographs and recorded time of every stage of work and a booklet describing its subject and symbolism.
- Who painted it? Is there an identifiable iconographer, with training and a school?
- Which materials were used: egg tempera, gold leaf (of what karat), olifa?
- On what panel: solid wood with a gesso ground, or an industrial support?
- Does it come with documentation describing subject, technique, materials and date?
Frequently asked questions
Is a printed icon blessed like a painted one?
A reproduction can also be blessed and prayed with. The difference lies in the work: a hand-painted icon is unique, born in prayer, and has an artistic and material value that a print does not.
Do hand-painted icons gain value?
A unique work, executed with noble materials by a recognised iconographer, retains its value and is meant to be handed down; reproductions are not. Spiritual value, however, comes first.