Alfredo Tradigo

Initial impressions:

What an excellent resource on the art of Eastern iconography! I looked for a book to deepen my knowledge of the artwork in my church (Saint Constantine's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis, MN).

I remember a day (I must have been 14 or 15 years old - a *very* long time ago), when my friends and I were waiting to go to confession - one kid (a keen observer and a quick wit) asked me if I ever wondered why the infant Jesus was about to lose his sandal in the show more icon of the Virgin Mary at the side altar of the church.

Well, I wondered about it on and off over the years, especially when I saw the same icon (with the "slipping sandal") in other churches. I had pretty much forgotten this detail until last month, when I had the opportunity to give a brief tour of the artwork in our church to a group of visitors. I took a look at the icon, and realized to my sudden panic that I still didn't know the answer to this. Mercifully, none of the people on the tour noticed this (or at least, none asked about it). I resolved to find out, and settled on this book as a likely source of wisdom. It did not disappoint on this detail.

I still have a bunch to learn: for instance, the examples of this icon (The Virgin of the Passion) provided in the book all show Mary clothe in red; the icon in our church shows her in blue. What is the significance of the difference? By the way - the cover image of the book is an example of this very icon (though you can't see the sandal slipping from Jesus's foot).

As you can see, I'm really a novice in this area. Any additional resources you can suggest would be greatly appreciated!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in this particular area of art history. show less

Very nice "field guide" style book, with hundreds of images annotated with varying degrees of explanation.

The one thing I was looking for & couldn't find was a concise guide to the symbolism of colored clothing in icons and perhaps a few other common iconographical conventions, gathered in a few pages.

Tons of pictures of beautiful icons with very insightful notes for each. My only complaint is that I wish the book would have included at least one section on very early Christian art, as most of the iconography in the book is from the late Middle Ages and later.

Very comprehensive introduction to various icon styles, their features, and famous iconographers. This book is a must have introduction and source for those interested in this art form.