Editing Icon (section)

==Icon painting tradition by region==
===Byzantine Empire===
{{see also|Byzantine art}}
[[File:Ohrid annunciation icon.jpg|thumb|A key piece of [[Palaiologan era|Palaiologan-era]] [[mannerism]]—the [[Annunciation]] icon from [[Ohrid]] in [[North Macedonia]]]]

Of the icon painting tradition that developed in Byzantium, with Constantinople as the chief city, we have only a few icons from the 11th century and none preceding them, in part because of the Iconoclastic reforms during which many were destroyed or lost, and also because of plundering by the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1204 during the [[Fourth Crusade]], and finally the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453.

It was only in the [[Komnenian period]] (1081–1185) that the cult of the icon became widespread in the Byzantine world, partly on account of the dearth of richer materials (such as mosaics, [[ivory]], and [[vitreous enamel]]s), but also because an ''[[iconostasis]]'' a special screen for icons was introduced then in ecclesiastical practice. The style of the time was severe, hieratic and distant.

In the late Comnenian period this severity softened, and emotion, formerly avoided, entered icon painting. Major monuments for this change include the murals at [[Daphni Monastery]] ({{c.|1100}}) and the [[Church of St. Panteleimon (Gorno Nerezi)|Church of St. Panteleimon]] near [[Skopje]] (1164). The [[Theotokos of Vladimir]] ({{c.|1115}}) is probably the most representative example of the new trend towards spirituality and emotion.

The tendency toward emotionalism in icons continued in the [[Palaiologos|Paleologan period]], which began in 1261. Palaiologan art reached its pinnacle in mosaics such as those of [[Chora Church]]. In the last half of the 14th century, Palaiologan saints were painted in an exaggerated manner, very slim and in contorted positions – a style known as the Palaiologan Mannerism, of which [[:File:Ohrid annunciation icon.jpg|Ochrid's Annunciation]] is a superb example.

After 1453, the Byzantine tradition was carried on in regions previously influenced by its religion and culture—in the Balkans, Russia, and other Slavic countries, [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Armenia]] in the Caucasus, and among Eastern Orthodox minorities in the Islamic world. In the Greek-speaking world [[Crete]], ruled by [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] until the mid-17th century, was an important centre of painted icons, as home of the [[Cretan School]], exporting many to Europe.

===Crete===
{{main|Cretan school}}

Crete was under Venetian control from 1204 and became a thriving center of art with eventually a {{lang|it|Scuola di San Luca}}, or organized painter's guild, the [[Guild of Saint Luke]], on Western lines. Cretan painting was heavily patronized both by Catholics of Venetian territories and by Eastern Orthodox. For ease of transport, Cretan painters specialized in panel paintings, and developed the ability to work in many styles to fit the taste of various patrons. [[El Greco]], who moved to [[Venice]] after establishing his reputation in Crete, is the most famous artist of the school, who continued to use many Byzantine conventions in his works. In 1669 the city of Heraklion, on Crete, which at one time boasted at least 120 painters, fell to the Turks. From that time Greek icon painting went into a decline, with a revival attempted in the 20th century by art reformers such as [[Photis Kontoglou]], who emphasized a return to earlier styles.

===Russia===
{{main|Russian icons|List of oldest Russian icons}}
{{see also|Novgorod school|Moscow school|Stroganov school}}

Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the {{transliteration|ru|krasny ugol}}—the "red" corner (see [[Icon corner]]). There is a rich history and elaborate [[religious symbolism]] associated with icons. In Russian churches, the [[nave]] is typically separated from the [[sanctuary]] by an ''[[iconostasis]]'', a wall of icons.

The use and making of icons entered [[Kievan Rus']] following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by usage, some of which had originated in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians—notably [[Andrei Rublev]] and [[Dionisius]]—widened the vocabulary of iconic types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere. The personal, improvisatory and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Russia before the 17th century, when [[Simon Ushakov]]'s painting became strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Protestant as well as Catholic Europe.

In the mid-17th century, changes in liturgy and practice instituted by [[Patriarch Nikon of Moscow]] resulted in a split in the [[Russian Orthodox Church]]. The traditionalists, the persecuted "Old Ritualists" or "[[Old Believers]]", continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice. From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The [[Stroganov school]] and the icons from [[Nevyansk]] rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.

<gallery widths="155px" heights="200px">
File:Descent into Hell by Dionisius and workshop (Ferapontov monastery).jpg|Muscovite Mannerism: ''[[Harrowing of Hell]]'', by [[Dionisius]] and his workshop.
File:rublev's saviour.jpg|[[Christ the Redeemer (icon)|Christ the Redeemer]] (1410s, by [[Andrei Rublev]])
</gallery>

=== Romania ===
{{main|Romanian Orthodox icons}}

In [[Romania]], icons painted as reversed images behind glass and set in frames were common in the 19th century and are still made. The process is known as [[reverse glass painting]]. "In the Transylvanian countryside, the expensive icons on panels imported from Moldavia, Wallachia, and Mt. Athos were gradually replaced by small, locally produced icons on glass, which were much less expensive and thus accessible to the Transylvanian peasants".<ref>Dancu, Juliana and Dumitru Dancu, ''Romanian Icons on Glass'', [[Wayne State University Press]], 1982.</ref>

===Serbia===
[[File:VergineTricherusa.jpg|thumb|right|[[Trojeručica]] meaning "Three-handed Theotokos", the most important Serb icon]]
The earliest historical records about icons in Serbia dates back to the period of [[Nemanjić dynasty]]. One of the notable schools of [[Serbian art|Serb]] icons was active in the [[Bay of Kotor]] from the 17th century to the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=[Projekat Rastko - Boka] Ikone bokokotorske skole|url=https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-bo/umetnost/bokokotorske_ikone.html|website=www.rastko.rs|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref>

[[Trojeručica]] meaning "Three-handed Theotokos" is the most important icon of the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] and main icon of [[Mount Athos]].

===Egypt and Ethiopia===
{{main|Coptic art}}
[[File:Virgin Mary nursing the infant Christ.jpg|thumb|Ethiopian Orthodox painting of the [[Virgin Mary]] nursing the infant Christ]]
The [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] and [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] also have distinctive, living icon painting traditions. Coptic icons have their origin in the Hellenistic art of Egyptian Late Antiquity, as exemplified by the [[Fayum mummy portraits]]. Beginning in the 4th century, churches painted their walls and made icons to reflect an authentic expression of their faith.

===Aleppo===
{{main|Aleppo school}}
[[File:Forty Martyrs Cathedral of Aleppo, the Last Judgement.jpg|thumb|''The Last Judgement'' by [[Nehmatallah Hovsep]] (1703), one of the most famous icons of the [[Aleppo School]]<ref>[http://digitool.rpi.edu:8881/R/N8528GC7E21FNNIF84NBC5NH4V5A7KIFB8I15TXRSVYSDBHTSY-00188?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=27944&local_base=GEN01&pds_handle=GUEST 	Cathedral of the Forty Martyrs: fresco of the Last Judgement] (Rensselaer Digital Collections).</ref>]]

The Aleppo School was a school of icon-painting, founded by the priest [[Yusuf al-Musawwir]] (also known as Joseph the Painter) and active in [[Aleppo]], which was then a part of the [[Ottoman Empire]], between at least 1645<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Lyster |editor-first=William |title=The Cave Church of Paul the Hermit at the Monastery of St. Paul in Egypt |date=2008 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dismAQAAMAAJ |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |page=267|isbn=9780300118476 }}</ref> and 1777.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Immerzeel |first=Mat |title=The Wall Paintings in the Church of Mar Elian at Homs: A 'Restoration Project' of a Nineteenth-century Palestinian Master |journal=Eastern Christian Art |date=2005 |volume=2 |url= https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/secure/POJ/downloadpdf.php?ticket_id=5d1096e7c2dca |page=157|doi=10.2143/ECA.2.0.2004557 }}</ref>