Making the Byzantine Icon Board

Writing the Divine | Making the Byzantine Icon Board

Before a Byzantine icon can be drawn, gilded or written, its foundation must first be carefully prepared.

In this first part of Writing the Divine, we follow the making of a traditional icon board; a process largely hidden beneath the finished image, yet fundamental to the life and integrity of the icon.

The wooden panel is first prepared and sealed with rabbit-skin glue, a traditional natural size used to stabilise the surface and prepare it for the layers that follow. Organic linen is then adhered to the board, creating a strong yet flexible interface between the timber and the gesso ground.

Over the linen, successive layers of traditional gesso are carefully applied. Made from rabbit-skin glue and a fine mineral ground, the gesso is built up gradually, layer upon layer, before being patiently worked and polished to create the smooth, luminous surface upon which the icon will eventually be written.

This preparation is slow by nature. Each stage depends upon the one before it: the timber, the glue, the linen, the gesso. Materials are allowed their necessary time, and the surface is gradually transformed from a simple wooden panel into a ground capable of receiving the sacred image.

Much of this work will never be seen once the icon is complete. Yet these unseen layers are essential. They give the icon its physical foundation and connect its making to methods and materials that have been handed down through generations of icon painters.

In Byzantine iconography, craftsmanship and meaning are not easily separated. Even before the first line is drawn, the discipline of icon writing has already begun - through preparation, patience and attention to the material itself.

Writing the Divine | Making the Byzantine Icon Board offers a closer look at this foundational stage in the creation of a Byzantine icon.