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The shaping of an icon: St Luke, the artist*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2016

Rebecca Raynor
Rebecca Raynor*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Abstract

This paper addresses why, in legends concerning portraits of Christ and the Virgin painted from life, Saint Luke the Evangelist is named as the artist. The paper focuses on the perceived identity of Luke in early Byzantium, arguing that his status as a Christian, Evangelist and doctor made him the most credible figure as the artist in the story and the person most likely to be accepted into the Church's history as a painter.

Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , 2015 , pp. 161 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 2015 

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Footnotes

*

The present article derives largely from my doctoral thesis, ‘In the image of Saint Luke: The Artist in Early Byzantium’ (University of Sussex 2013). I am especially grateful to Liz James, Leslie Brubaker and Michelle O'Malley for their critical discussions and support, and to the anonymous reviewers of the article for sharing their insights with me.

References

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28 Krueger, D., Writing and Holiness: The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East(Philadelphia 2004) 36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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30 On the concept of imagination in Byzantium, see L. James, ‘Art and lies: text, image and imagination in the medieval world', in A. Eastmond and L. James (eds), Icon and Word. The Power of Images in Byzantium: Studies presented to Robin Cormack (Aldershot 2003) 59–72.

31 I John 1.1. John 1.14. John 1.29.

32 For example, John 1.34.

33 A Lexicon, Abridged from Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon(Oxford 1891) 145, 196, 299. Bacci, ‘With the paintbrush of the Evangelist Luke', in Vassilaki (ed.), Mother of God ,81.

34 Andrew of Crete, De Sanctarum lmaginum Veneratione: Migne, PG 97 ,808B.

35 Andrew of Crete, Migne, PG 97 ,1301D.

36 Luke 1.1-4.

37 For example, it means ‘from above’ in: John 3.31, James 3.17.

38 Luke 1.1—4,12,29. 2.15,17, 30,48. 3.6.4.20. 5.2, 8,20,26-27. 6.20,41-42. 7.3,22,25-26,39. 8.10, 16, 20, 28, 34-36, 47. 9.9, 27, 32, 36, 49, 54. 10.22-23, 31, 33. 11.33-34, 38. 12.54-55. 13.12, 28, 34. 14.18. 15.20. 16.23. 17.14-15, 22-23. 18.13-15, 24, 43. 19.3-7, 37. 20.13-14, 20, 27, 30-31, 42. 21.1- 2. 22.49, 58. 23.8, 40, 47. 24.16, 23-24, 31, 37, 39.

39 Discourse on the authority of the two senses preceded Iconoclasm. Sight was the primary sense for Plato and Aristotle: Plato, Republic,vn, 514–20, ed. Shorey, P. (London 1930-35).Google Scholar Aristotle, Metaphysics,I, 1, ed. Tredennick, H. (London 1933).Google Scholar Byzantine sources on the hierarchy of the senses include Basil the Great, Homilia 17 In Barlaam Martyrem: Migne, PG 31, 489; Vita S. Spyridon ,20, by Theodoras, ed. P. van den Ven, La legende de S. Spyridon eveque de Trimithonte (Louvain 1953); Miracula S. Demetrios: Migne, PG 116, 1265; Anastasios Sinaitos, Hodegos ,11: Migne, PG 89, 198.

40 John of Damascus, Contra Imaginum Calumniators Orationes Tres ,I, 22: MIGNE, PG 94, 1341.

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42 Colossians 4.14.

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44 See, for an overview, J. Haldon, ‘Supplementary essay', in The Miracles of St. Artemios ,ed. Crisafulli and Nesbitt, 33-75, here at 44-5.

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47 Prokopios, De Aedificiis ,I, 7, ed. H. B. Dewing (London 1940).

48 Pliny, Natural History,ed. Rackman, H. (London 1963) xxxv, 16Google Scholar (Cleanthes invented drawing an outline) 42 (Mico I invented black ink) 122 (Aristides invented encaustic technique). See Kris, E. and O., Kurz, Legend, myth, and magic in the image of the artist(New Haven 1979) 22Google Scholar.

49 Acts 4.3. Homilies on John 2.1.

50 Eusebios, Ecclesiastical History ,in, 24.2.

51 Exodus 34.

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54 Schibille, N., ‘The profession of the architect in Late Antique Byzantium’, B 79 (2009) 360–79.Google Scholar

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