Angel and a labyrinth

[Stephanos]

When I was in Madrid in 2003, I saw an exhibition of Byzantine art in the local Archeological Museum. One of the objects on display was a fragment of a fresco (from Crete?) showing an angel beside a labyrinth. I would like to find its photograph, either in a book/catalog, or on the Internet, can anybody help me, please?

Best regards,

Mariusz

[Olga]

Is it possible for you to provide more details of the composition? e.g. is the angel seated or standing, and what colour/s are his robes? or possibly which century it was painted? What did the labyrinth look like? This would help a lot in identifying the image, and therefore tracking down a picture of it. If it is part of an icon, it's possible it might be part of an icon of the Myrrh-bearing Women, where the angel is seated at the empty tomb of the resurrected Christ, pointing to it, while the women look on in fear and awe. One of the most famous frescoes of this subject is at the Serbian monastery of Mileseva, and is popularly known as "the White Angel". The other (remote) possibility is that it is part of an icon known as the Miracle at Chonae (or Colossae), which depicts a miracle of the Archangel Michael striking the ground with his staff, which restored the flow of a river which had, with evil intent, been diverted away from the town of Chonae many centuries ago. This is a quite rare iconographic subject, but it might help.

[Stephanos]

Dear Olga,

Thank you kindly for your willingness to help. Unfortunately, I remember for sure only a few details. The image was an oblong fragment of a wall fresco, rather large (I would say 1.5 by 4 feet), painted in earthly colors. The angel, shown from about the waist up, therefore probably standing) was to the left, and the labyrinth was to the right, slightly higher. As far as I can remember, the maze resembled in a general outline the famous labyrinth in the Chartres cathedral. That's all I can recall, and some of it may be not quite accurate.

I just checked my travel journal - the exhibition was called "Byzantium en Espana" (Byzantium in Spain), therefore the Cretan provenance of the fresco may be incorrect. But I also wrote that the fresco was from the 12th or the 13th century, which is very late for anything truly Byzantine to be created in Spain. In this case, the image may not be even Orthodox...

Best regards,

Mariusz

[Olga]

Dear Mariusz

I've trawled through my sources, and it would appear that the fresco you describe is unlikely to be an icon, particularly if the figures are painted in a realistic, naturalistic style. It may well be an example of conventional Western-style religious art. The infiltration of "naturalism" and linear perspective did not really begin to influence iconography until about the 17th century (such as the works of Constantine Tzanes, and others, of the later Veneto-Cretan school, where much of this kind of work is little different from Baroque art). Conversely, much of the religious art of the very early Renaissance (c. 1280-1320) such as that by Giotto and Cimabue, looks very similar to iconography in style, before their artistic development led to more "natural" portrayals.

There is also a fair amount of surviving secular Byzantine art, which looks quite realistic, and very different to iconography.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help in your search.

[Stephanos]

Dear Olga,

Thank you very much for all your trouble. The reason for my interest in this particular fresco is the presence in it of a labyrinth. I don't think it is a common symbol in the Byzantine or Orthodox art. Do you have any information on this subject?

Best regards,

Mariusz

[Olga]

Of the hundreds (thousands?) of icons I have seen over the years, of any provenance or period in history, I cannot recall seeing a labyrinth in any of them. The closest would be the empty tomb of Christ (as mentioned in my earlier post), the dark hole representing Hades in icons of the Resurrection, or the gaping mouth of the monster swallowing the sinful in the Last Judgement, and also in the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St John Climacus. But no labyrinth... http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/sad.gif Without having an image of the fresco to refer to, I still suspect it is a Western image, rather than an Eastern one. I'll stilll keep an eye out for it, though, I often bump into things online when I'm looking for something else.

[Paul Cowan]

Paschal dance (http://www1.georgetown.edu/centers/liturgy/envisionchurch/38143.html)?

I also found this book from St. Vlad's library. "The Living labyrinth: exploring universal themes in myths, dreams, and the symbolism of waking life". Explores archetypal symbols in myths and dreams and explains how these have structured people's spiritual lives.

I also found references to many new age or old pagan symbolism "taken over" by christians to "overwrite" the negativism of this art form. Seems most anything bad can be turned to mean something good if enough imagination is put into it.

Paul