Inscriptions: H CΤΑΥΡΩCΗ TȢ IC XȢ, Crucifixion; H ΑΝΑCΤΑCΗ, Resurrection; H ΑΝΑΛΗΨΗ, Ascension; ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙCΜΟC, Annunciation; ΓΕΝΝΗCΗ,Nativity; ΒΑΠΤΙCΜΑ, Baptism

This icon may have once been one of a pair that illustrated the twelve ‘Great Feasts’ of the Orthodox Church such as would be needed in a small, perhaps very small, church or chapel together with images of Christ, the Mother of God, Old Testament Prophets and Church Fathers.

The great icon painting traditions of Byzantium continued in Crete after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Crete had been under Venetian rule since the 13th century and it was there that the greatest masters such as Angelos Akotantos had established themselves and where the Cretan School, soon to become highly admired throughout Italy, developed. With the fall of Candia (today Heraklion) to the Ottoman Empire in 1669 painters of the Cretan School relocated to the Ionian Islands.

The style shows the end of the gradual transition over three hundred years from the abstract severity of medieval Constantinople to the baroque exuberance of 18th century Venice. However the techniques of wood panel, gesso, gold ground, tempera paints and inscriptions in Greek remained unchanged. The result is an intriguing and highly decorative fusion of cultures and styles.