PICTORIAL WORK: “ARCHANGEL GABRIELE”
TECHNIQUE:
Acrylic paint on pinstripe board (1.8 cm thick multilayer).
Frame carved in solid wood, pinstripe and covered with orion leaf.
TOTAL DIMENSIONS:
65 cm X 38 cm
ICON READING GUIDE:
The Archangel Gabriel is God’s messenger par excellence, the one who brings the Lord’s messages to mankind.
“Gabriel” from the Greek Γαβριήλ meaning “strength of God” or “strong man of God”.
He represents the guardian of creativity expressed in all fields of knowledge.
He is the one who opens the human mind to the understanding of genius and beauty.
At the top of the icon, there are the Greek letters O APX (left) and TABPiHA (right), which translated mean ‘Archangel’ and ‘Gabriel’.
As per tradition, the Archangel is depicted as a young winged androgynous figure placed frontally half-length; he wears a soft of ribbon in his hair, a symbol of the divine messages that archangels bring to men.
He has in left hand a transparent globe bearing the monogram of Christ (two large overlapping letters, “X” and “P”).
They represent the celestial sphere and the cosmos in general.
In his right hand he is holding a stick (hostiary wand), a sign of authority designating the divine messenger.
The colours of the garments are the same as those worn by Christ, the red tunic (symbol of the Divine) and the blue cloak (symbol of humanity).
