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Angelos Akotantos (active 1436 - 1450)
Icon of The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul
A1125; oil on canvas on panel; 46.4 x 37 cm
Prov: Humphris sale, Horham Hall, Essex
Bequeathed by James Campbell Thomson, 1982; WA1982.192
Vassilaki 1990, pp. 405-22, fig. 1
The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul, whose names are inscribed in Latin, belongs to a series of nearly identical icons by the Veneto-Cretan painter Angelos Akotantos, two of which are signed. The subject is seen as symbolic of oecumenical peace. More specifically, these icons have been linked to hopes raised at the Council of Ferrara/Florence (1438-9) which unsuccessfully aimed at the union of the eastern and western churches.
Information derived from the The Ashmolean Museum index.php/complete Illustrated Catalogue of Paintings.