Alfredo Tradigo

Initial impressions:

What an excellent resource on the art of Eastern iconography! I looked for a book to deepen my knowledge of the artwork in my church (Saint Constantine's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis, MN).

I remember a day (I must have been 14 or 15 years old - a *very* long time ago), when my friends and I were waiting to go to confession - one kid (a keen observer and a quick wit) asked me if I ever wondered why the infant Jesus was about to lose his sandal in the icon of the Virgin Mary at the side altar of the church.

Well, I wondered about it on and off over the years, especially when I saw the same icon (with the "slipping sandal") in other churches. I had pretty much forgotten this detail until last month, when I had the opportunity to give a brief tour of the artwork in our church to a group of visitors. I took a look at the icon, and realized to my sudden panic that I still didn't know the answer to this. Mercifully, none of the people on the tour noticed this (or at least, none asked about it). I resolved to find out, and settled on this book as a likely source of wisdom. It did not disappoint on this detail.

I still have a bunch to learn: for instance, the examples of this icon (The Virgin of the Passion) provided in the book all show Mary clothe in red; the icon in our church shows her in blue. What is the significance of the difference? By the way - the cover image of the book is an example of this very icon (though you can't see the sandal slipping from Jesus's foot).

As you can see, I'm really a novice in this area. Any additional resources you can suggest would be greatly appreciated!

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in this particular area of art history.… (meer)