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Transcript:
Dr. Steven Zucker: We are at a special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Africa and Byzantium, looking at an icon—one of the oldest surviving icons.

Dr. Beth Harris: When we use the term “icon,” we are generally referring to a sacred image. In this case, it depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child on her lap, flanked by a saint on either side, with two angels behind them and the hand of God above. Most icons were destroyed during a period known as the Byzantine Iconoclasm, when large numbers of religious images were destroyed amid debates about the appropriateness of images in worship.

Dr. Steven Zucker: This icon survives because it was kept at the Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula, far from the Byzantine capital. Today we see it under the electric lights of the Met, but originally it would have been viewed by flickering candlelight. Some of the candle soot is still visible at the bottom of the icon, and one can imagine how the gold leaf would have shimmered and come alive in that setting.

Dr. Beth Harris: It is important to place this work within the history of Christianity. Only about two centuries had passed since Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, and by the 500s we are still in an early phase of Christian image-making.

Dr. Steven Zucker: This was a synthetic moment, when elements of the antique, polytheistic tradition were still present. Images of polytheistic deities remained part of the visual culture and could still be drawn upon.

Dr. Beth Harris: There were several possible sources for images like this, including representations of polytheistic gods, portraits of Roman emperors, and Egyptian mummy portraits. Art historians often describe this period as the convergence of two styles: an illusionistic style inherited from ancient Greek and Roman art, with three-dimensional figures, foreshortening, and movement; and a more abstracted style, especially visible in the soldier saints flanking Mary.

Dr. Steven Zucker: If we look at the Virgin Mary’s body, there is a strong sense of naturalism. You can almost feel the fabric of her clothing.

Dr. Beth Harris: The drapery wraps around her shoulders and reveals the form of her legs and thighs, with the folds pulling toward her left foot. There is careful modulation of light and dark, reinforcing a sense of physical presence.

Dr. Steven Zucker: In contrast, the two soldier saints show only a remnant of the classical tradition. Their left legs are set slightly behind the right, and faint shadows appear beneath their knees.

Dr. Beth Harris: At the same time, their elongated proportions, decorative patterning, and frontal poses flatten the figures. Each saint holds a cross, and although their bodies cast shadows, they appear more abstract and less naturalistic overall.

Dr. Steven Zucker: This creates a sense of formality and otherworldliness, especially when contrasted with the animated angels above, whose craning necks suggest movement captured in a specific moment. Space opens up between the halos of the figures below, revealing energetic brushwork in the angels’ drapery and a convincing sense of depth. We see both the eternal, particularly in the soldier saints, and the animated, momentary quality of the angels.

Dr. Beth Harris: The figures are not set deep within an illusionistic space. Although there is a hint of a niche, the figures are close to us, creating the sense that we share space with them and meet their gaze directly.

Dr. Steven Zucker: Art historians believe this icon was made in Constantinople and likely commissioned by the emperor Justinian and the empress Theodora, who are known to have funded Saint Catherine’s Monastery. The work is painted in encaustic on wood, meaning pigments are suspended in wax—a technique with a long history.

Dr. Beth Harris: What we see here is Mary as the Queen of Heaven, holding the Christ child while seated on a jewel-encrusted throne. This is not an earthly scene, but a heavenly one, populated by Mary, Christ, saints, and angels.

Dr. Steven Zucker: For a sixth-century worshipper, this icon offered a way to come into the presence of the divine through these figures.

Dr. Beth Harris: Seeing this object today at the Met highlights a moment of transition—from a polytheistic Roman Empire to a Christian Byzantine Roman Empire—and underscores the continuing importance of Egypt and Africa in the development of Christianity and its earliest visual traditions.