Donors In The Frames Of Icon Summary

In the article, “Donors in the Frames of Icons: Living in the Borders of Byzantine Art” by Annemarie Weyl Carr, describes the figures of donors being added into the frame of portraits of an icon. She refers to multiple works of art as evidence of donors having their portraits put inside the frame of the works of art created in the image of an original icon. Carr’s thesis is that the portraits in the frames are recognition of an icon of that figure in which its power resides. She first goes into describing the term “donors” and what it means in the sense that she uses it in the article. “Donors” means people who had the artist add them into the portrait somewhere of the icon. She tells that there is no proof that the icons were given away but that the term is correct in the sense that it is a gift to God. The icon in which they have themselves added into the portrait with is, Mary, the Mother of God. The donor’s portraits were embedded in the frame
She goes into telling how the half-length icons such as the Hodegtria, have no place among the full-length icons. That they do not “offer an organically plausible place for a portrait of the donor”. The icon of Constantine Akropolites and Maria Akropolitissa remedies the dilemma because the Hodegtria panel was believed to be painted by St. Luke the Evangelist in Mary’s presence, blessed by her hands. Their portraits take place in the silver frame that covers the background of the figures Mary and the Child. Carr explains why this solves the dilemma, “The silver, gives the donors a place in which to claim their gift. Within the aura but not within the icon, it is a place in the frame, but a frame that rather than marginalizing or separating, draws them in. The capacity both to be in and claim, but also to stand outside and respect the integrity of the icon within their icon, is the particular gift of the precious metal