Picture in Focus: The Triumphal Entry by Charalambos Epaminonda

February 23, 2020

Picture in Focus: The Triumphal Entry by Charalambos Epaminonda

The Lenten season begins this Wednesday. In the weeks leading up to Easter, I will be presenting new pieces from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, depicting key events from the Gospel narratives of the Passion of Christ, beginning with an acrylic on wood panel painting of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem from Cypriot Iconographer Charalambos Epaminonda. He has been working for the past three years on a monumental cycle of icons on the life of Christ, extending the boundaries of this very conservative form of sacred art making. This image is one of fourteen he had completed and joins two already on display in the gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. Epaminonda follows iconographic conventions in this composition, including the detail of youths cutting branches from the trees to lay before Christ, who has turned his head to encourage his disciples to follow him into Jerusalem, but the Holy City is figured in geometric forms and the background vibrates in cubistic shards of color, reminding us how all creation waits with anticipation for the Redemption drama to unfold. (John Kohan)