Download: Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul - Dumbarton Oaks

Plate 4
Reproduction of St. Ignatios Theophoros
Egg tempera on blueprint backed with canvas
Byzantine Institute, A. A. Green, ca. 1940
Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, acc. nos. F2543,
F2542, F2544
The panel of St. Ignatios Theophoros was discovered by the Byzantine
Institute in 1935 and dates to the end of the ninth century. It is located in the third
lunette from the east in the north tympanum. St. Ignatios, a bishop of Antioch
(martyred during the reign of Trajan [78-117]), is shown with short hair and long
beard. His name is inscribed vertically on both sides of his figure. He wears a white
sticharion, white phelonion, and an omophorion decorated with crosses made of two
stripes of purple and blue tesserae. His right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing,
and with his left he clasps a Gospel Book. Placed against a gold background, he
stands on a dark blue ground between two diamonds with circle insets.
The background of the panel contains numerous shades of gold tesserae
mixed with silver, terracotta, dark red, and green, which create a radiant effect. On
the lower left side of the figure are the fragmentary remains of a Greek cross
outlined with a single row of dark red tesserae. Since this cross is the only such
example found among the panels of the church fathers, it is possible that the
mosaicist installed it for his own protection.
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