That's great. I wish I knew that. It doesn't change my opinion at all, but it makes me want to listen more to what you have to say.
i never assume anyone is an iconographer, anymore than I assum they are a trained linguist or fluent in Aramaic.
So, seeing as you are trained, can you offer your thoughts on expression in icons and where and if that appears in past traditions of iconography? it's not a trick question, but I would rwally like to hear your thoughts.
Xpy
[Just by the way, before I'm accused of judging converts, and having a biased point of view, I'm not Greek, I was born in South Africa, my family converted when I was a child, I was brought up in the Russian (OCA!) tradition in a parish that had an American,then a Romanian priest, I've been living/studying/working in Greece for 11 years and sing in the choir at the Russian Church!]
Expression in icons is most certainly not something new in iconography. It was particularly common in the Macedonian school of iconography.This was the "golden age" of Byzantine iconography.
The Macedonian School
The Macedonian School had its centre in Thessaloniki and flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Its hallmarks are realism in the depiction of the figures, not only in their external features but also in the rendering of their inner world, particularly their pathos. The compositions are crowded, with all the figures moving in the space, which is extensive and rendered in striking depth.
St Theodore Stratelates, Karyes, Protaton. Fresco by Manuel Panselinos, 14th c.
Painters from Thessaloniki were invited to paint Athonite foundations, and they frescoed the Protaton, the katholika of the Great Lavra, Vatopedi, Chelandari, and Pantokrator, and the refectory and cemetery church of Pantokrator. There were many famous ateliers of the Macedonian School, but head and shoulders above the rest stood the atelier of Manuel Panselinos.
Sts Merkourios and Arsenios, Karyes, Protaton. Fresco by Manuel Panselinos, 14th c.
All our information about Panselinos come from the
Painters Manual, which was written in the early 18th century by an ordained monk and painter named Dionysios, a native of Fourna in Evrytania who lived on Mount Athos in the first half of the 18th century. Dionysios attributed to Manuel Panselinos the frescoes in the Protaton at Karyes, in the outer narthex of the katholikon of Vatopedi, and in the katholika of Pantokrator and the Great Lavra, and a large number of portable icons in monasteries on Mount Athos and elsewhere.
The Presentation of the Virgin, Karyes, Protaton. Fresco by Manuel Panselinos, 14th c.
Scientific research has shown a number of paintings on Athos to be genuine works of Manuel Panselinos: the frescoes in the Protaton and the outer narthex of the katholikon of Vatopedi, a head of St Nicholas in the katholikon of the Great Lavra (the rest of the composition has been retouched), a portable icon of St Demetrios in the Great Lavra, and two icons of St Demetrios and St George in Vatopedi. Works of his have been located in monuments in Thessaloniki and other cities in Macedonia. Manuels frescoes are distinctive for their luminous colours, the consummate rendering of the figures, their welling spirituality, and the grandeur of the compositions.
Apart from Manuel Panselinoss paintings, works of the Macedonian School may also be admired in Chelandari Monastery, where the entire katholikon was frescoed by the renowned atelier of Michael Astrapas and Eutychios.
The characteristics of the Macedonian School remained apparent in all the frescoes and portable icons on Mount Athos until the beginning of the 16th century, when there was a gradual decline in the quality of the painting. Examples include the frescoes in the Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Protaton, which were painted in 1526.
As I have mentioned, I am certainly not the biggest fan of Fr Stamatis choice in colour, but the THEOLOGY of his icons is perfectly ORTHODOX. Unfortunately, I don't have time to go into more depth at this moment as I must be off to vespers!
There is a very good article about it the Theological Basis of Fr Stamatis Skliris Icons, which unfortunately is only in Greek and also a article in English by Fr Stamatis on The Person of Christ and the Style of Icons
God bless!