Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Abstract
Icons preserved in the Nile valley
are the least known of Egypt's antiquities.
In the gap between the early
Coptic icons from the fourth to
sixth centuries and those of the second
half of the eighteenth century, a
recently discovered group of medieval
icons that are difficult to date
and attribute has assumed prominence.
Two beam icons, painted on
similarly made panels of sycamore
timber, were selected to describe in
detail. Even preliminary research on
their technology has resulted in new
material for the study of icon painting
and the continuity of historical
Egyptian techniques, materials, and
mythology into Christian times.
Figure 1. Detail of the reverse side if beam
B. Photograph by Z. Skalova.
New Evidence for the Medieval Production of Icons
in the Nile Valley
Zuzana Skalova
Foundation for the Preservation of Icons in the Middle East
Conservation of Coptic Art Project
12 Tolombat Street, Apt. 17
Garden City, Cairo
Egypt
Introduction
Even the earliest preserved Coptic icons demonstrate that they were created
for monastic circles. They repeatedly portray local saints (often monks) or
they express the doctrines of Coptic religious thought. This monastic patronage
remained constant.
Many Coptic icons were until recently in a poor state of preservation. Today,
only a small number of icons in the Nile valley are restored to their full
advantage (1). Consequently, few art historians have looked for old icons or
recognized them (2) . However, important medieval icons hanging in the
church of St. Mercurius Abu's-Saifain in Old Cairo were admired and quite
correctly assessed by Alfred Butler during the 1870s. Although they were
"dim with age and indistinguishable," he concluded that "the icons generally
speaking are ancient and well executed." Butler's comments on the disfIgurement
of the pictures caused by remarkably careless technology, when compared
with Italian panels, can serve as the point of departure fo r this study
(3) .
During the last five years, the author has fo und, studied, and in some cases
restored, some twenty medieval icons, which can be preliminarily dated between
the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries. They are nearly all large
icons, clearly made for public veneration in Eastern churches. Some of these
reflect distinct Coptic patronage through their iconography (4).
In assembling and attributing the group, the author relied primarily on technical
aspects emphasizing the icons' kinship, which clearly shows that they
emerged from the same local tradition of workmanship. Common features
include the use of indigenous wood (usually sycamore), the awkward construction
of the panels, a ground layer containing anhydrite, a limited range
of pigments, the use oflow-quality azurite blue, an unburnished golden background,
and a thin gray layer of varnish (5).
Stylistic and iconographic aspects are more hybrid, but also reflect a rather
peripheral and culturally mixed background. This suggests that local craftsmen
and foreign painters were working together in Egypt. Thus, though these
paintings are varied in style, the panels have such consistent parallels in the
choice of wood and peculiar carpentry, that they can be classified together.
They are manufactured from narrow, roughly assembled planks held together
with huge traverses and narrow boards, and nailed with big iron nails driven
in from the front. The rifts between the planks are filled on both sides with
plaster and covered with palm bark fiber, and sometimes textiles, to smoothen
the surface (Fig.1). When compared with panels attributed to the Greek icon
workshops, they appear clumsy and extremely heavy to transport, a fact that
would additionally testifY to local provenance. The choice of omnipresent
sycamore wood might have been dictated by scarcity and the costs of more
suitable material in the Nile valley (6) .
The finish of the back sides of these paintings is also characteristic for the
group. They were invariably covered with a thick layer of plaster, decorated
with alternating lines of wavy pink-brown and gray-blue brush strokes. This
is a rare feature in icon painting, and it may suggest the formula of a work-
Skalova 85