Icon with St Alypios (01565)
Exhibition room: IV.1β Painting in Ionian Islands: a justifiable hybrid
Date: 1661
Dimensions (cm): 44x29,5
Creator: Emmanuel Tzanes
Atop a column and behind a low, marble parapet the stylite Saint Alypios is depicted in bust form. He is wearing a red monastic habit and holds his hands up in front of his chest, with the palms facing out, in a prayer gesture. To the left a cross has been fixed to the parapet, which he set up himself, having first destroyed the idolatrous statue of ?a lion attacking a bull which had formerly stood on top of the column. To right and left of him, standing on clouds, two full-length angels are approaching with wings outspread, holding scrolls with passages from the liturgy of saints, while at the foot of the column stands his mother. She holds a string of prayer beads, indicating that she has entered the monastic life. In the background, in a landscape with uneven ground and hills beyond, are depicted the two monasteries which the saint founded near his column. At the foot of the column is inscribed the date α.χ.ξ.α. (= 1661) and the artist's signature: ΧΕΙΡ ΕΜΜΑΝΟΥΛ ΙΕΡΕΩC ΤΟΥ ΤΖΑΝΕ (by the hand of the Priest Emmanuel Tzanes).