Subjects of hand-painted sacred icons

Choosing the subject is the first act of a commission. You may start from a personal devotion (the Mother of God, the Face of Christ), from a family event (a baptism, a wedding, an ordination) or from the name of the person who will receive the icon, choosing their patron saint.

Each subject has variants codified by Tradition: the Virgin, for example, may be depicted as Hodegetria (She who shows the Way) or as Eleousa, the Mother of Tenderness. During the first conversation Concetta Basile helps identify the most fitting prototype and explains its meaning.

This list is not exhaustive: Christian iconography includes hundreds of saints, liturgical feasts and biblical scenes. You can commission icons of the great feasts (Nativity, Baptism of Christ, Transfiguration, Resurrection), icons of local saints or newly conceived compositions, provided they remain faithful to the theology of the sacred image, such as the icon of Saint Joseph the Nourisher painted for Archimandrite Father Alessio Mandanikiotis.