Picture in Focus: John the Baptist by Lyuba Yatskiv

November 29, 2020

Picture in Focus: John the Baptist by Lyuba Yatskiv

On this first Sunday in Advent, we conclude our series on art about prophets in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection with a final image of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming of Christ. We see three views of the Baptizer and his ministry in this triptych icon from Lyuba Yatskiv, a leading representative of a school of contemporary iconography in the West Ukrainian city of Lviv. Leaving sections of the natural grain of the wood panels exposed to suggest the flow of the Jordan River, Yatskiv depicts John on the left offering baptism to those seeking repentence. On the right, Jesus submits to the cleansing ritual with the Spirit of God descending on him as a dove. Yatskiv follows Eastern Orthodox practice in depicting John the Baptist with wings in the central panel, since, like the angels, he was a messenger of God. John holds his head on a platter in emblem of his martyrdom at the hands of King Herod Antipas. The icon can be found on the New Iconography of Lviv page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)