Virgin Mary Hodegetria - Directress - Polished 100% handpainted icon in canvas with 24K gold background on specially crafted wood - Mount Athos

This special icon is carefully handcrafted using the traditional methods of Byzantine iconography by skilled iconographers. It is created on specially crafted wood and adorned with 24K gold leaf.

The intricate carvings on the icons are entirely hand-made, ensuring that every detail showcases exceptional craftsmanship. Our gilded icons require a specialized crafting process that involves meticulous care and precision.

Before each shipment, our iconographers perform a final finish and thorough quality inspection to ensure the utmost excellence of the artwork.

All of our icons are blessed by monks from Mount Athos before being to our customers, imbuing each piece with spiritual significance.

Due to this careful process, delivery may take place within 7-15 business days. We offer the option to include a personalized short dedication on the back of the icon.

Virgin Mary Hodegetria - Directress

The icon of the Virgin Mary Directress is among the first icons of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox history elaborated by Evangelist Lucas with the "blessing" of the Virgin Mary. In the Christian tradition it is said that the hagiographer Evangelist Lucas painted the Virgin Mary on pieces of wood consigned by an angel of the Lord. On the first piece of wood Evangelist Lucas painted the Virgin Mary without Jesus whilst on the second piece of wood, Apostle Lucas, urged by the Virgin Mary, added the figure of Jesus, which was blessed by the Virgin Mary.

The icon of the Virgin Mary Directress, positioned in the Nave templo at the Holy Monastery of Stavronikita of Mount Athos is a portable icon, hagiographed in the 16th century (1545/6) by Theophanis the Cretan, one of the most important hagiographers of the Cretan school. At this particular icon, the hagiographer Theophanis gave emphasis to the shading of the faces and the bodies’ figures, a particularity being the colorful shade surrounding the body of Christ towards the side of Virgin Mary’s body, emphasizing the autonomy of the bodies. The rendering of the bodies’ mass as well as the depiction of the faces to look ahead, identify the style of Theophanis.