An excerpt
from the book “Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting, Pt. 3” by Aidan Hart.
It may be impossible for you to find any icons of the
saint. Perhaps they are obscure saints, or are well known but for some reason
not recorded in icons. This is very often the case with early saints of the
West, such as the early saints of Britain or Gaul. In this case, assuming you
are experienced enough to attempt such a thing, you will need to design the
very first icon of that saint. And for this more research is required. Having
studied the saint’s life, you will need to become acquainted with the dress and
even the hairstyles of the age, and if they were clerics, what tonsures were
used at the time.
I have listed below a few of the key things you will
need to investigate.
Vestments
and tonsures
What sort of garments is the saint likely to have
worn? Personally I don’t believe that it is true to the icon tradition to dress
all saints in some standardized clothing, Byzantine or otherwise. An Irish
bishop of the ninth century did not for example wear what was worn by a contemporary
bishop of Constantinople.
A good source of information on the history of vestments
is the New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia. Probably the best book printed on the
history of church vestments is “Church Vestments: Their Origin and Development”
by Herbert Norris (London, Dent and Sons, 1949). For early British saints a
helpful reference book is The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church by F.E.
Warren.
Illuminated manuscripts and stone carvings
contemporary to the saint are a good source of information. There are also
reference books intended for costumers to the theatre. More rarely there are
literary descriptions. The venerable Bede and other writers, for example, make
it clear than the pallium – the rough equivalent of the eastern omorphorion –
was not given to all bishops, as it came to be in the East, but only to certain
bishops at the pope’s discretion.
If you know from your knowledge of ecclesiastical
history that one regional church was greatly influenced by another, you can
often assume that their ecclesiastical vestments were similar. In this case if
you are unclear what vestments were worn by your saint, you can refer to this other
better documented church.
One example of this concerns the vestments worn by
Celtic clerics up to at least the early fifth century in Romanized areas of
Britain, such as the present-day areas of south Wales and England. Since early
Christianity came to Britain through the Roman empire, clerical vestments could
well have been like those depicted in the mosaics of Ravenna, dating from the
fifth to the sixth centuries. For this reason and just for the high standard of
the works themselves, it is well worthwhile purchasing a book with illustrations
of Ravenna mosaics.
Early
Western clerical vestments
The vestments of the early Western Church were as
follows, from the inside out in order:
Alb. This ample white undergarment was invariably
white, and is worn loose. Its origins seem to be in the long tunic worn by the
Romans. Until about the ninth century this was the outer garment for deacons in
western Europe outside of Rome and environs
Dalmatic. So named because it was traditionally made
of wool from Dalmatia, this had very full sleeves and was full-length. It often
had two stripes running from shoulder to hem, derived from the clavi found on the old Roman tunic. Initially its
use was only allowed by Roman clergy and those granted permission by the pope,
but in the ninth century was almost universally used by bishops and deacons in
western Europe. It was the outer garment for deacons and was worn under the
chasuble by bishops. This garment can be seen in the sixth century mosaics at
San Vitale, Ravenna, worn by Bishop Maximian under his chasuble, and as the
outer garment by his attendant deacons.
This is the equivalent of the sticharion used in
contemporary practice in the Orthodox Church where it is the undermost garment
used by bishops and priests, when it is usually white or gold, and is the
outermost garment of deacons and subdeacons, where it can be more decorated and
may vary in colour according to the celebration of the day. It is also worn by
servers (acolytes).
Chasuble. This was a large circular or square vestment
with a hole for the head and ran to just above the feet. This was derived from
the Roman casula, which means little house. Interestingly, almost its oldest
reference in literature is Muirchu’s late seventh century Life of St Patrick.
Some sources say that in the very early centuries it was worn by all the ranks
of the clergy, and only later by only priests and bishops. By the time of the
mosaics of San Vitale in Ravenna the two deacons shown with Archbishop
Maximus wear the dalmatic but not the
chasuble. A distinguishing feature of this vestment, both for bishops and
priests, seems to be that it had a line down the middle, another at right
angles across the shoulders, and sometimes a third forming a V, parting to pass
around the neck This feature may have
been derived from the seams needed to turn a square woven cloth into a circular
one.
Pallium. This was a strip of cloth hung over the
shoulders of some bishops, especially metropolitans or archbishops. According to the Liber Pontificalis this article was
introduced in the first half of the fourth century. It appears that the Pope of
Rome was the only one who could wear it by right, but he could bestow it on
certain bishops of his choice. For this reason, if an icon is to be
historically accurate this pallium will not be included on all bishops per se.
Its equivalent in the Eastern Church, but made somewhat wider, is the
omorphorion, which by contrast was and still is worn by all bishops .
Tonsure
and beard
There are variant monastic tonsures and wherever it
can be ascertained it is important to depict the saint with the one they would
have worn.
From some unknown time until around the seventh
century Celtic monastics in Britain had a tonsure variously described as: “from
ear to ear”; a crescent of hair shaved from the front of the head; and as
Muirchu’s Life of St Patrickhas it, the “adze-head” tonsure. Scholars are not
in agreement as to what this tonsure actually was, but it was probably either a
strip cut from ear to ear over the skull, or all the hair cut forward from this
line, this latter I think being the most likely
Western European tonsures were invariably all the head
shaved except for a crown of hair – the so-called Roman tonsure.
Concerning beards, it seems that Eastern monks from
early times have let their beards grow long. In western Europe there was no
single tradition for the first centuries, but by the sixth century absence of
beards or very minimal length is the norm
(as in the icon of St Gerard). Canon 44 of the Fourth Council of Carthage, representing an earlier
synodal decree of around 503 A.D., states that clerics ought not let their hair
or beard grow freely. This does not imply a complete shave, but legislates
against excessive length. In England for example under King Edgar in the mid
tenth century we have a canon: “Let no man in holy orders conceal his tonsure,
nor let himself be misshaven nor keep his beard for any time.”
In Celtic lands, however, some carved images show
monks with beards, sometimes cloven. The life of the Irish St Columbanus (c.
540 – 615), written soon after his repose, tells us that the crowds who came to
hear him preach in Bobbio, Italy, were moved at the sight of his long white
hair and beard.
Source: http://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/designing-icons-pt-3-new-icons/
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