Mother of God
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (Ostra Brama)
- date
- 2013
- time taken
- About a month
- place
- Częstochowa
- technique
- Lime-wood panel, levkas (gesso ground), imitation gold leaf (Schlagmetall), egg tempera.
description
The original of this icon is in Vilnius, in the Gate of Dawn (Ostra Brama). The painter of the image is unknown. Some attribute it to Łukasz, a Kraków artist who painted a similar picture in 1624 for the Corpus Christi Church in Kraków. According to legend, the Mother of God has the features of Barbara Radziwiłł. Today the figure of Mary is covered by a cover (sukienka) gleaming with gold. Only the expressive face and the hands crossed on the breast are visible.
Under the metal cover, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn is dressed in a red tunic with rolled-up sleeves. Her neck is wrapped in a scarf and her head in a white veil. The whole figure is enveloped in a greenish-blue mantle thrown over her head and shoulders. The background of the picture is a shade of brown.
how it was made
Icon written for Nina and Jacek, who were expecting the birth of Kuba.