| The Virgin Eleousa | |
|---|---|
| Greek: Παναγία Ελεούσα, Italian: La Madonna Eleusa | |
 | |
| Artist | Angelos Akotantos |
| Year | c. 1425–1457 |
| Medium | tempera on wood |
| Movement | Cretan School |
| Subject | Virgin and Child in the Eleousa Position |
| Dimensions | 96 cm × 70 cm (37.7 in × 27.5 in) |
| Location | Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH |
| Owner | Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund |
| Website | The Virgin Eleousa |
The Virgin Eleousa is a tempera painting attributed to Angelos Akotantos. Angelos Akotantos was a Greek painter active on the island of Crete during the first half of the 15th century. He is considered one of the founding members of the Cretan School along with Andreas Pavias, Andreas Ritzos, and Nikolaos Tzafouris. Over fifty paintings are attributed to Angelos Akotantos. His works served as a prototype for Greek paintings for over five hundred years. Angelos Akotantos was active in Heraklion. He was very wealthy. Much of the information about his life was drawn from a will written in 1436. Historians consider him to have been active between 1425 and 1457. Angelos Akotantos completed many icons of the Virgin and Child in the Eleousa position.[1]
The Eleousa position was drawn from Byzantine prototypes. The style was used by both Greek and Italian painters during the period predating the Italian and Cretan Renaissance. The Greek painters continued the tradition of emulating the Byzantine masters while Italian painters adopted oil painting as opposed to egg tempera. Giorgio Vasari commented on the technique in his famous book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. In his book, Vasari coined the phrase maniera greca. By the 1500s, Angelos Akotantos and his contemporaries painted in the maniera greca. Many of the icon painters chose to emulate Angelos Akotantos, strictly adhering to the traditional maniera greca painting style. Angelos's The Virgin Eleousa and Saint Anne with the Virgin were the most copied paintings. The original Virgin Eleousa is at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.[2][3]
- ^ Richardson, Carol M. (2007). Locating Renaissance Art. United Kingdom: Yale University Press. p. 200.
- ^ Staff Writers (November 4, 2021). "Icon of the Mother of God and Infant Christ (Virgin Eleousa)". Cleveland Museum of Art. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
- ^ Groppe, Elizabeth T. (2020). Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart Cultivating a Sacramental Imagination in an Age of Pornography. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America. p. 316. ISBN 9780813232898.