A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 46. (2007)

Hársvölgyi Virág: A tokaji Béres Béla-gyüjtemény Galaktotrophousa ikonja és köre • Adalékok a Szoptató Istenszülő ikonográfiájához

volt: közvetít, illetve az „itt" (evilág) és az „ott" (másvilág) közötti kötést biztosítja; aki az ikonra tekint és a tárgyat tiszteli, annak emlékezete az ősképre száll „és nem csak most áraszt el fénnyel és világosít meg minket [...], hanem az eljövendő életben is nagy és kimondhatatlan jutalmat nyerünk, amikor a szentek teste a napfénynél is erősebben kezd ragyogni, mert az ikonábrázolás kedvéért szeretettel csókolják és tisztelik"*

1 THE GALAKTOTROPHOUSA ICON AND ITS CIRCLE IN BÉLA BÉRES' SPIRITUAL COLLECTION OF TOKAJ Additions to the iconography of the Nursing Virgin The Nursing Virgin from the beginning of the 17th century is a remarkably precious icon in the spiritual collection of Béla Béres román catholic priest. The Theotokos and the Child is presented as Galaktotrophousa iconography: the left arm of the Theotokos embracing Christ, who's holding his mother's breasts with both arms and feeding. Whether the representation existed in the Byzantine iconography or it is the result of an Italian invention in the 13th century, is still a disputed question in the search history of the Galaktotrophousa. Its iconography rcaches back to the 2nd century catacomb painting in the western art, and the 7th century Coptic wallpaintings in the eastern art. Isis, nursing the child Horus was the prototype for the latter. The representation of the Galaktotrophousa spreaded in the Middle East, in the Balkan and Europe, mainly in Italy, where its frequent appearance and the show-up of numerous variants are dated from the 14th century; such new variant is the Madonna of Humility. The depicting of the Nursing Virgin has reached the monasteries in Mount Athos through Serbia. The representation in Greece and Russia in the 14th-15th century breaks away from the eastern naturalism, thus gaining back its holy character and meaning: the Child himself is the incarnated God, who connects to humankind through the Virgin's breast. The subject is becoming popular in the 19th century in Russia but its respect is unbroken nowadays, mainly inside the Orthodox Church. Virág Hársvölgyi 47 Florenszkij, Pawel: Az ikonosztáz. Budapest, 2005. 51. 432