Back to Art and Religion index


The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt and the Practice of Painting

Article originally published in Janet Rutherford (ed): The Beauty of God's Presence in the Fathers of the Church (Proceedings of the eighth International Patristic Conference, Maynooth, 2012), Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2014.

Republished in the online Orthodox Arts Journal, 16th July, 2017


Icon of the 
Seventh Ecumenical Council , Seventeenth Century, Novodevichy Convent, Moscow

Three orders of reality
East and West - a political difference
A cultural difference
The principle of classical art - likeness
The principle of 'insular' art - rhythm
Theodulf and a non-insular western art
Conclusion: Veneration and [or?] contemplation