10/18/2026
Church tradition holds that the Evangelist Luke painted the first icon from life. In the special exhibition 𝐿𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡: 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑘𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑛-𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑢𝑚 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑛, now on view, you can find two examples of icons depicting this scene.
The first image shows an icon painted around 1400, either in the imperial capital Constantinople or on the island of Crete, this icon is a masterpiece of late Byzantine iconography. The evangelist pauses, his brush hovering just above the surface of the icon. Before placing the last dab of gold on the star over Mary’s shoulder, he looks up, past the easel, out of the frame of the icon to the subject he is painting.
The second image shows a copy of the famous wonder-working icon of the Mother of God held at the Kykkos Monastery in the Troodos Mountains on Cyprus. Tradition holds that the original icon, painted by the Evangelist Luke, was held in the royal palace in Constantinople until the 11th century. According to legend, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos received a vision instructing him to build a monastery on Cyprus to serve as a new home for the miraculous icon. Soon after, copies of the Mother of God Kykkiotissa (of Kykkos) were painted throughout the Mediterranean, at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, and in the Balkans and Rus’. Indeed, one of the most famous icons of the 17th century Moscow Kremlin Armory is a copy of the Kykkiotissa.
