SAINTS THEODORE OF TIRON AND THEODORE STRATILATES

Details

SAINTS THEODORE OF TIRON AND THEODORE STRATILATES

PROBABLY SYRIA/LEBANON, POSSIBLY 13TH CENTURY

The two warrior saints depicted as bearded young men, on an olive-green ground, Theodore Tiron with a yellow halo, on a grey horse, Theodore Stratilates with a red halo, on a chestnut, each mount with an elaborate equipage, both with carefully combed manes the grey with a knotted tail, they trot towards the right, each saint holding a lance with fluttering red pennant, their crimson cloaks with distinctive geometric decoration, billowing behind them, Saint Theodore Tiron's armour revealing an elaborate blue tunic beneath, his crimson saddle edged with white dots, a white inscription in Greek between the horses hooves, 'in prayer from Dimitrios ...', painted on thick linen canvas applied to a later panel
32¼ x 17¾in. (82 x 45cm.)

Lot Essay

The offered icon displays elements which are foreign to the Byzantine tradition and which correspond more closely to a group of 13th Century 'Crusader School' icons of mounted warrior saints at Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. (See K. Weitzmann, Studies in the Arts of Sinai, (Princeton, 1982), pp.291-387). The iconography would also appear to be derived from an icon of Saints Sergios and Bacchos. (See also K. Manafis, Sinai: Treasures of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, (Athens, 1990), No.66, p.192.)

The distinctive colourful decoration of the saints' cloaks has parellels in the ornamental details of the diptych of Saint Procopios and the Virgin Kykkotissa, dated to the last quarter of the 13th Century. In particular the decoration within the halo of the infant Christ and the hem of the Virgin's maphorion. (See K. Manafis, Sinai: Treasures of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, (Athens, 1990), No.65, pp.190-1.)

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