Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
(Greece)
Saints Basil, Chrysostom and Gregory with a kneeling donor (early 18th century)
oil and gold leaf on wood panel
44.0 × 35.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1949
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Where possible, the image must be reproduced in full (no cropping or over-printing). If you wish to use a detail of the work, a full reproduction of the work must also be reproduced elsewhere in the publication.
While the NGV believes this work to be in the Public Domain, it is the responsibility of the publisher to ensure that no further permissions are required for use.
For a complete list of terms and condition of use see the National Gallery of Victoria’s copyright policy.
Saints Basil, Chrysostom and Gregory with a kneeling donor
(early 18th century)
Medium
oil and gold leaf on wood panel
Measurements
44.0 × 35.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1949
Gallery location
14th - 16th Century Gallery - Painting & Decorative Arts
Level 1, NGV International
About this work
The doctrinal underpinnings of the Orthodox Church were primarily the work of Saints Basil the Great (d. 378), John Chrysostum ‘the ‘golden mouthed’ (d. 407), and Gregory Nazianzus ‘the Theologian’ (d.389). These Church fathers were known as the ‘Three Hierarchs’, and opinion differed as to which was greatest. Their admirers fell into arguing and the schism was not resolved until they appeared in a vision before the bishop John of Euchaïta, stating, ‘We are one before God’. They called for a feast day on 30 January and promised to intercede collectively on behalf of those who honoured them. This icon would have been commissioned by the small kneeling donor depicted at lower left, an unusual and western element in an otherwise typical Greek icon of the subject.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
(Greece)
Accession Number
1981-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Religion and Mythology
Subjects (specific)
gold (colour) Greek Orthodox icons (devotional images) men (male humans) patriarchs saints
Provenance
Collection of Charles T. Seltman (1886–1957), London, by 1946; exhibited Greek Art, Royal Academy, London, 1946, no. 367, lent by Charles Seltman; from whom purchased, on the advice of A. J. L. McDonnell and Sir Kenneth Clark, for the Felton Bequest, 1948; arrived Melbourne, 1949.