Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

The understanding of an icon and its appropriate restoration according to its
role and spiritual meaning in the church requires not only modern conservation
training and scientific apparatus, but also a certain degree of theological
sensitivity and awareness. The symbolism with respect to the actual process
of icon painting used to have a fu ndamental significance. What was common
knowledge to contemporaries must be reinterpreted after centuries of oblivion
(19, 20). The icon cannot be understood apart from the wider cultural
and theological context to which it belongs, as local traditions differ.
With these typically Egyptian traditions in mind, the author wonders but
cannot scientifically prove, if the twin beam icons might have been made
from wood of an ancient sycamore from some sacred Coptic place, such as
Matariyya. This would perhaps explain why the quality of timber was deemed
unimportant.
The construction of panels and the use of sycamore, as well as the distinctive
Coptic iconography, all strengthen the attribution of these sacred pictures to
the Nile valley. Future comparative study of the ancient Egyptian beliefs and
technologies, and their survival through icon painting in the Nile valley, may
enrich our knowledge about one of the oldest and most conservative pictorial
traditions in the world.
Acknowledgments
The training program, "Conservation of Coptic Icons," in Egypt was made possible
by the generous support of the Netherlands Directorate General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation. The author, an art historian
specializing in the conservation and restoration of icons, has been working
since 1989 as the Field Director of the Coptic Museum in Cairo.
Notes
1. Skalova, Z. 1990. Conservation problems in Egypt: icons, preliminary classification
and some case studies. In ICOM Committee fo r COl/servation Preprints, 777-
82.
2. Skalova, Z. 1991. A little noticed thirteenth-century Byzantine icon in the
church of St. Barbara in Old Cairo, "The Virgin with Child Enthroned." Bulletin
de la Societe d'Archeologie Copte, xxx. Cairo, 93-103.
3. Butler, A. 1884. The Anciel/t Coptic Churches of Egypt, Vol I. Reprint 1970. Oxford,
104.
4. These and other medieval icons in Egypt will be studied and included in my
Ph.D. dissertation, Mediaellal lcol/s ill Egypt, at the University of Leiden.
5. I anL very indebted to Paolo and Laura Mora, who, when in Egypt as directors
of the Conservation team of the Nefertari Wall Painting Conservation Project
1986-1992, kindly shared their experience and advised me in this matter.
6. Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1986. Catalogue des bois de l'Egypte copte. Paris. See also
Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1991. Coptic Woodwork. Coptic EI/cyclopedia, Vol. 7,
2325-47. To my knowledge, the research on Coptic wood and carpentry is
limited and until recently there has been little scientific investigation on medieval
icon panels extant in the Nile valley.
7. Mouriki, D. 1990. Icons from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. In Sinai: Treasures
of the MOl/astery of St. Catherine. Ed. K. A. Manafis. Athens, 385, note 25.
8. This conclusion is based on my observations of the beam icons hanging in the
church of the Transfiguration in St. Catherine Monastery at Sinai and various
medieval icons in the European collections.
9. Lucas, A., and J. R. Harris. 1962. Allciel/t Egyptiar/ Materials and Illdustries. 4th ed.
London.
10. Sawirus Ibn al-Mukaffa. 1970. History of Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church. Translated
by A. Kather and 0. H. E. KHS-Burmester. Cairo. Vol. III, Part II.
11. [ am very grateful to Prof. dr. P Baas, Onderzoekinstituut Rijksherbariuml
Hortus Botanicus, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, fo r identifying these species.
12. Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1990. Le bois dans l'Egypte chrt:tienne. In Artistes, artisal/s
et productiol/ artistiqlle au Moyel/ Age, [I. Colloque international. 2-6 Mai 1983.
Ed. Xavier Barral I Altet. Paris: Universite de Rennes, 214-1 5. See the discussion
following her article about difficulties encountered when analysing wooden objects
from Egypt at the Louvre by the carbon-14 method and dendrochronology.
Skalova 89