ICONS - Tradition and Diversity in the Legacy of D. Teodoro de Faria
MASF opened to the public, on January 6th, a new exhibition center located in the Tower of the Museum building, as a result of the donation to the Diocese of Funchal of a private collection made up of around 100 paintings (icons), constituted by the bishop emeritus of Funchal, D. Teodoro de Faria, throughout his life.
This is a collection with a historical, iconographic, artistic and religious context that is distinctly different from the rest of the MASF collection, and it is worth discovering.
The exhibition highlights some of the historical-artistic aspects of the icons which, as sacred images, are symbols of the revelation of the invisible, covered with deep spirituality, poetic and liturgical meaning, which appeal to the experience of contemplation.
An exhibition in two sections
The exhibition currently features around 50 works, organized into two main groups.
The first, entitled "How is an Icon made?", seeks to show how the order of construction of an icon is simultaneously a technical and spiritual exercise, rooted in a traditional and ancient repetition of rules and in codified composition processes, which assumes the act of painting a sacred image, in itself, as a religious practice.
The second nucleus is subdivided into three groups comprising the Iconography associated with the Virgin Mary; Christ and the Saints and Menologia, respectively.
The entire set of works on display can be dated between the 18th and 20th centuries and follows the figurative and thematic tradition of Eastern icons that, from Byzantium, spread to other latitudes – Greece, Crete, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and Slavic world – arriving in Russia in the 10th century where, with the initial commitment of King Vladimir, it remained until today.
The exhibition was curated by Martinho Mendes (CEHA-AV) and included scientific collaboration by researcher and iconographer Irina Curto.
This is a collection with a historical, iconographic, artistic and religious context that is distinctly different from the rest of the MASF collection, and it is worth discovering.
The exhibition highlights some of the historical-artistic aspects of the icons which, as sacred images, are symbols of the revelation of the invisible, covered with deep spirituality, poetic and liturgical meaning, which appeal to the experience of contemplation.
An exhibition in two sections
The exhibition currently features around 50 works, organized into two main groups.
The first, entitled "How is an Icon made?", seeks to show how the order of construction of an icon is simultaneously a technical and spiritual exercise, rooted in a traditional and ancient repetition of rules and in codified composition processes, which assumes the act of painting a sacred image, in itself, as a religious practice.
The second nucleus is subdivided into three groups comprising the Iconography associated with the Virgin Mary; Christ and the Saints and Menologia, respectively.
The entire set of works on display can be dated between the 18th and 20th centuries and follows the figurative and thematic tradition of Eastern icons that, from Byzantium, spread to other latitudes – Greece, Crete, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and Slavic world – arriving in Russia in the 10th century where, with the initial commitment of King Vladimir, it remained until today.
The exhibition was curated by Martinho Mendes (CEHA-AV) and included scientific collaboration by researcher and iconographer Irina Curto.