Gergova Ivanka, Athonite Subjects in the Art across the 18th – 19th-Century Bulgarian Lands
The regular and, more often than not, close spiritual and cultural contacts between the Athonite monasteries and the Christians living in the Bulgarian lands led to the forming of a thematic layer in Orthodox art, including “Athonite subjects. The pilgrimatic tradition played a key role in the existence of representations relating to persons and sacred objects on Mt Athos. The “Athonite" thematic layer includes representations of saints associated with Mt Athos, of Athonite monasteries and Athonite legends or miracles. Still, the main body of representations consists of replicas of wonderworking icons from Athonite monasteries. In Bulgaria there is a plethora of such artworks and it is almost impossible to compile and explore them exhaustively. Some of them were brought from Mt Athos, acquired or exclusively commissioned there; others were executed by local painters who modelled them more often than not on graphic examples.
