The Technique of Icon Painting

by Guillem Ramos-Poqui

Presented as a step-by-step practical course, this book brings to life the sacred and beautiful art of Byzantine icon painting with many examples, all illustrated in colour. It discusses initial composition, preparation of a panel, oil and water gilding and egg tempera technique.

Genres: Art

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Louise]

This book gives a brief overview of icon painting, including some (somewhat) detailed instructions about mixing gelatin (which he uses in place of rabbit-skin glue), paint, and varnish; as well as brief instructions on oil and water gilding. He also covers perspective and proportion. The book is illustrated throughout with colour images of both old and new icons, and some full-page line drawings of a few of the icons.

I thought this book was a good overview, and it was refreshing that he was able to cover the material without taking a dig at “the West” like so many Orthodox iconography resources do – in fact, he even includes images of one or two Italian icons (e.g. Duccio), a couple Roman Catholic icon blessing prayers, and talks about how icons are used in the West as well as in the East. Overall I felt like this was a good place to start if you’re learning to write icons. It isn’t super in-depth though, so for someone serious about icons, this probably shouldn’t be the only resource on hand. But it's still a great place to start.