Meaning, History, and Iconographers

The word Icon comes from the Greek word eikon which means image, the same word that describes the creation of man in God’s image and likeness. Icons are Apostolic, and healing, and even pre-date the written Gospels. The first icon was made miraculously by Jesus Christ Himself, and the next icons were made by the Holy Apostle Luke. Here are gathered many of the great icon treasures of the world, by many of the greatest masters of iconographic art. You will find five icons attributed to Saint Luke’s own hand, many of the unsigned masters of the Byzantine era, Saint Andrei Rublev, the acknowledged greatest iconographer of Russia, the famous post-Byzantine iconographer Theophan the Cretan, Moscow’s Armory School founder Simon Ushakov, and many, many others. This is great art, and these are great Christian art treasures, across a spectrum of centuries and millennia, from the historic and living Church as it has expressed itself in many cultures, both East and West.

There is a wide variety of icons from different ages, schools, and iconographers, as well as from many specific locations represented such as Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, Holy Dionysiou Monastery and Holy Stavro-Nikita Monastery on Mount Athos, and many other historic monasteries in Russia, Serbia, and Macedonia where there are large selections of famous and historic icons.

Our Icon Sizes

Since our icon prints come from widely divergent sources both domestic and overseas, including many Eastern and Western European countries and also from the Middle East, and the original icons were made in such individual shapes and sizes, it was impossible to create an exact size for each general price range of icons that we offer. The size had to be approximate, so we developed ten standard sizes that fit many of our icons, and assigned the unusual sizes to one of the general size ranges. This always involves some subjective decisions on where the line falls between each size. The sizes offered here are approximate, and have a letter in their order number: XS for Extra Small, S for Small, M for Medium, ML for Medium Large, L for Large, XL for Extra Large, D for Double, XD for Extra Double, T for Triple, and Q for Quad. There will always be some minor variation in size due to the nature of hand production, so you must understand each icon size to be close but still approximate. This approximate size is listed in the drop down menu under each unique icon offering. They are rounded to the nearest approximate quarter inch for convenience, but are never exactly this size.

The general size of an icon is determined by taking the longest measurement, either height or width, and finding which size it is closest to. Icons that are more than half way to the next larger size are usually counted as that larger size. A few odd shaped icons are charged slightly more because they take considerably longer to produce.

Our Mounted Icon Price Schedule 
**NOTE: All sizes are approximate. See individual icon product pages for closer approximate sizes for each icon.

Our Mounted Icon Production

We laminate and mount high quality icon prints gathered from many overseas sources, and some which we reproduce ourselves, on stable warp-resistant birch veneer plywood (Extra Small icons are mounted on 1/4″ pressboard because of their small size). The laminate finish is a 5 mil low luster mylar film that seals and protects each icon from dirt and moisture. The icons are edge painted with traditional red borders and sides, and all except the Extra Small have a keyhole on the back for immediate hanging. We are currently producing over 30,000 icons a year.

Our Mounted Icon Selection and Inventory

Our selection is immense, with over 815 regular stock icons in up to 10 sizes each, with another over 300 custom icons that were included in our last catalogue, all displayed here on this site. In addition, we have just recently added another 1,000 more historic icons to our custom selection in up to 10 sizes. This brings our truly wide selection to more than 2,100 unique icons being offered in each size they are available for a total of over 13,000 mounted icon products. As we are seeking more of the great icon treasures of the world, we will add them as we find them. The prints were gathered mostly on pilgrimage from the Holy Mountain of Athos, Greece, Sinai, Jerusalem, Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, and the Egyptian deserts. There are icons as well which are reproduced from Italy, from private icon collections in Germany and Holland, from ancient Byzantium now in present day Turkey, from Crete, from Cyprus, and even from modern day America. This is the first Christian art form and the oldest and most masterful. It bridges East and West, for it pre-dates the Great Schism.

Our icon inventory is extensive too. We usually keep over 165,000 prints and over 20,000 icons in inventory to allow quick shipment, often within a week to ten working days after entering your order. Sometimes when quicker service is needed, it can be provided for a little more. Rush orders take special handling, and since any specific inventory level needs to be checked, please let us know, so that we can advise you whether this is possible. Custom icons are produced only on demand and can take slightly longer. Laminated icons prints are now available for all of our stock and custom icons in the same size that they are offered. Please enquire if you need a different size.