The Porter

Benedict's Rule gives the gate of a monastery to one old monk: wise enough to take a message and give an answer, settled enough not to wander. Whoever knocks, he answers at once, and with a blessing. The Porter is that monk, set in burnished gold in the manner of the Athonite icons: full length and frontal, his right hand raised in blessing, a small cross and a prayer rope in his left. He carries no name. An icon is lettered with the saint it shows, and this one is left blank, so the porter is whoever keeps your door. Egg tempera and 23.75—karat water gilding on gessoed linden, made to order as a painted original, a hand—gilded edition, a plaster niche built into a wall, or awake.

An icon of a standing monk after the Athonite tradition: the porter of Benedict's Rule, the old monk set at the monastery gate to answer whoever knocks with a blessing. Egg tempera and 23.75—karat water gilding on a gessoed linden panel with a recessed field, the halo punched by hand, the habit drawn with gold assist. Deliberately unlettered, so that at commission he may carry a patron's name or none. Made to order in four formats: the painted Panel, a hand—gilded edition of 24, the Niche (an installation in lime plaster with a basalt candle ledge), and Awake, a moving icon in a gilded frame. The first work of the commission series.