The Function of the Icon

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What are the "Foundations of Christian Art?"

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How does the icon function?

"The doctrinal foundation of the icon determines not only its general orientation, its subject and its iconography, but also its formal language, its style. This style is the direct result of the function of the symbol: the picture must not seek to replace the object depicted, which surpasses it eminently; according to the words of Dionysius the Areopagite it must 'respect the distance that separates the intelligible from the sensible.'"

Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne, Greece, 13th century