Byzantine icon. 18th–19th centuries.

Byzantine icon. 18th–19th centuries.
“Pantocrator.”
Tempera on wood.
It shows areas of missing paint, craquelure, losses along the edges, and old wood-boring insect holes, all of which have been treated. It requires restoration.
Measurements: 50 x 38 cm.

Icon of Christ Pantocrator painted in tempera on wood, following the Byzantine tradition. Christ is depicted in full face, with a cruciform halo, blessing with his right hand and holding an open book with his left, in accordance with the iconographic model of Christ as judge and teacher. The gilded background and the inscription in Greek characters reinforce its Eastern origins.

The composition follows a solemn and hieratic structure, in which the frontal pose, the fixed gaze, and the gesture of blessing convey the devotional significance of the image. The rendering of the face—with its sharply defined contours and warm skin tones—has hallmarks of contrast with the intense colors of the reddish tunic and the dark blue cloak.