Icons and copying images

Part 1: iconographic prototypes and Iconoclasm

We live in a time when artistic “originality” is elevated to a kind of moral requirement. We’re taught from childhood that “copying is bad”. Terms like “derivative” are always used in a pejorative sense by art critics.

But in Christian sacred art, since the 6th century, the goal was to communicate very specific truths of the Faith, which means our obses…