LOT 0382

Veneto-Cretan Icon with Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

17TH CENTURY A.D.

11 3/4 x 8 7/8 in. (810 grams, 30 x 22.5 cm).

Depicting the martyrs freezing to death in a lake in Cappadocia, clad only in their undergarments (esophoria); Jesus above, dressed in gold and red, offering the crowns of martyrdom as a sign of reward; a tower to the side of the martyrs; Greek inscriptions: inside the gold nimbus 'O ѾN' (= The Only One who always exists), the inscription above the martyrs reading: 'Οι Άγιοι Τεσσαράκοντα Μάρτυρες = The Saint Holy 40 Martyrs'.

Acquired on the European art market.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13063-249294.

Cf. Various, Trésors médiévaux de la République de Macédoine, Paris, 1999, cat.10, pp.44-45, for a prototype icon of 11th century A.D.; cf. Matthieson, S., Morrison, G., Heavenly Beings, Icons of the Christian Orthodox World, Auckland, 2022, pp.121-122, for similar icons of 17th century.

The icon depicts the martyrdom of the 40 soldiers of the Legio XII Fulminata, who died in a frozen lake in Cappadocia in 320 AD. The drama experienced by these courageous men, nourished by their faith in Christ, is evocatively expressed. Their frozen bodies are painted in ochre and olive green, reflecting the stages of their agony. Christ is offering them crowns of glory from heaven as a sign of reward. The cult of the 40 Martyrs spread rapidly, first in Constantinople, where several churches were dedicated to them, then in the Balkans and Russia.