AN UNPUBLISHED ICON OF ST. JOHN-VLADIMIR AND A TYPOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE SAINT’S IMAGERY
Abstract
In this paper first part I present a hitherto unpublished icon of St. John
Vladimir. On the basis of the analysis if its technique, iconography and style I suggested a
late 17th-early 18th century dating and an Epirote workshop. In the paper’s second part, I
am developing an iconographic typology of St. John Vladimir’s imagery on the grounds of
four critical attributes of St. John Vladimir’s iconography. I discerned four principal
iconographic types of the saint’s iconography based on the setting in which he is
represented (Type A: On horse; Type B: On the ground; Type C: In reliquary; Type D: On
throne), some of which are divided in two sub-types depending on the saint’s
cephalophoria, i.e. on whether or not the saint bears his head. The portion of the body
portrayed (full or in-torso) was used as a criterion for an iconographic variant, while the
variety of objects borne (or not) by St. John Vladimir (various combination of the Cross, a
palm branch and/or a sword, all of which are either mentioned in the saint’s life or of
symbolical significance) became the criterion for distinguishing sub-variants.
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