Icons (Big Sirrocco Collection)

This handsome oversize volume (9.5 x 12.5 inches)features hundreds of full-color reproductions (many full-page) of classic Christian icons from the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The most famous icons are included, but also many rarely if ever seen in books. The selection is heavy on Russian icons, but icons of several other countries are well represented. The text by the Russian iconologist Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov analyzes the evolution of the thematic subjects of painters beginning in the early Christian and Byzantine periods, through the Principality of Kiev, until its completion in the Russian Empire. Also treats techniques and materials used, such as wood, gold, egg tempera paint, and mosaics, as well as the ancient canons of iconography. Helpful additions include an extensive glossary, a time-line of icon painting, a lengthy bibiliography of iconology books in both English and Russian, 209 footnotes, and a list of illustrations. ---Randall Mark Trainer