How to make icons and frescoes (Byzantine Icons by Subject

How to paint icons
and frescoes
Updated: 26 March 2008

Selected sources for learning how to paint icons and frescoes

Loss of the Living Iconography Tradition - by Aidan Hart (2000) *

In an Excellent article titled Iconographers of the Twentieth Century (PDF), Aidan Hart cites the growing decadence in icon painting in Greece, Russia and the Balkans, experienced in the past 300 - 400 years, (17th- 18th- 19th- 20th centuries), as a major reason for the loss of the living iconography tradition in the 2nd half of the 20th c. He goes on to mention the iconographers who were / are at the core of the revival / return to painting traditional icons. A "must read" for every iconographer.
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* Aidan Hart is England's leading iconographer. Born in 1957, he has been a professional icon and fresco painter for over twenty years. He also is a wood carver and theologian! He studied iconography in the UK and during three years in Thessalonica and Mount Athos. He has had works commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales, and by many churches and individuals around the world. Click this line to visit Aidan Hart's section in the Iconographers' Index and his website.

Atelier Saint André http://www.atelier-st-andre.net/

One click to select your language will take you to the Table of Contents page. On there you will find the links for Technique for fresco painting and icon painting. Excellent, and Excellent site!

The technique of the iconography and its religious meaning

How to become an iconographer
By Deacon Serafim, Moscow Icon-Painting center "Russian Icon"
- http://www.rusicon.ru/eng/sci/book/tehnik.htm

Understanding How Icons Are Written

An Interview with Marek Czarnecki - December 2003 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger Magazine
- http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/dec2003/feature3.asp Great interview!

Saint Gregory of Sinai Monastery

Beautiful! , Excellent!
(1) The Technique of Panel Icon Painting - http://www.gsinai.com/rw/icons/panel_technique.php
(2) Fresco Painting in an Orthodox Church - http://www.gsinai.com/rw/icons/fresco_in_a_church.php

How to Paint an Icon by the Prosopon Method

By Betsy Porter - The Episcopal Church Visual Arts
- http://www.ecva.org/wordimage/articles/porter_iconography/prosopon_method.htm. Excellent

Byzantine Icons - The Art and Science of Depiction - Fredo Durand, Julie Dorsey

- http://people.csail.mit.edu/fredo/ArtAndScienceOfDepiction/10_ViewpointFrame/icons.pdf

An Introduction to the Spiritual and Physical Features of Russian Icons

This article and others can be found in the archives of Iconofile. In order to be able to access these one has to be a member - http://www.iconofile.com.