ICONS

From the Snite Museum of Art

University of Notre Dame

A Brief Introduction to the Icon

Theotokos Eleousa. 1957.52
Divine Liturgy. 1958.20
Vita Icon of Euthymios of Sardis. 1924.139
Quadripartite Icon. 1965.023
Ten Saints Icon. 24.1.47





These first icons mark the beginning of a process, namely the publication of the Snite Museum of Art's extensive holdings of Greek, Russian, and Balkan icons. Most of these entered the University of Notre Dame's art collection as part of the donation made by Charles Wightman in 1924. Beyond brief catalogue notes and some student papers, little has been done to publicize these holdings, and for many years only one icon has been on display in the Museum's main galleries. (1)

Generous support for this project has been forthcoming from the Snite Museum of Art and from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts in the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame. Particular thanks are owed to Chuck Loving, Dean Porter, and Julia Douthwaite. Bayne Brush and the students of two graduate seminars are owed a debt of thanks for their work with these icons. For advice and assistance in a variety of matters I would also like to thank: Stefanos Alexopoulos, Michael Andrianakis, Phaidra Kalafati, Xavier Lequeux, Athena Levantinou, Denise J. Massa, Athanasios Papageorgiou, and Maria Vassilaki. All errors remain my own.

Charles Barber, October 2001 (updated September 2006)
Professor of Byzantine and Medieval Art
Department of Art, Art History and Design
Please send any comments to: E-mail: cbarber@nd.edu

1. Gregory Gerrer, Catalogue of the Wightman Memorial Art Gallery in the Library of the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1925); Maurice Goldblatt and Gregory Gerrer, Catalogue of the Wightman Memorial Art Gallery in the Library of the University of Notre Dame in the Bulletin of the University of Notre Dame 29,4 (1934); Pola Pawlowski, An in-depth study of icons in the Notre Dame Collection and related practical matters, unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Notre Dame, 1977

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