Structure of the vita icon

Abstract

In this paper a vita (living) icon is considered in terms of composition structure which contributes to the content and idea of an image. We propose some sources of origin of this type of icon first appeared in Byzantium in late XIIth-beginning of the XIIIth century. Cases genetically and typologically related to vita icon’s structure such as a templon or a “decorated” icon reveal the principles of vita icon’s composition. Following the ideas of P.A.Florensky and of Paroma Chatterjee the author of this article analyzes the formal juxtaposition of the ways a saint is presented in “srednik” (central part) as an eternal image with no connection with physical being and in the narrative cycle in “klejma” (on the edge) in which a saint takes part in the life events. The semantics of this composition form is revealed as a result of this comparison. We study such compositional techniques as a repetition of a saint as a protagonist both in “srednik” and in “klejma”, vita cycle in “klejma” as a frame for the central figure. Despite the linear composition of the narrative cycle the “reading” of the vita icon correlates the simultaneous perception of the image as a whole. Therefore, the vita icon is a well-thought-out composition system which expresses a saint’s manifestation throughout the living cycle.