Icon with the Virgin Kykkotissa

Scholars argue that the Kykkotissa is a variation of the Virgin Eleousa, as it contains similar imagery and is also characterized by the closeness and tenderness between the Virgin Mary and Christ Child (Každan and Studies 1991; Kouneni 2008, 98; Stavilă 2014, 326). This specific icon with the Virgin Kykkotissa is dated between the late-13th century and first half of the 14th century by most scholars (Evans 2004, 169; Kouneni 2008, 99–100). Although the dating of other icons of the Virgin Kykkotissa vary by as much as three hundred years (Kouneni 2008, 98). Annemarie Weyl Carr notes that it is hard to know when the epithet “Kykkotissa” became a recognized toponym, first appearing in the late-13th century, but it is not otherwise attested until around 1500 (2021, 201–202). We do see this icon type emerge abruptly in Cyprus at the end of the thirteenth century (202).  

This type of icon seems to have originated during the Komnenian period in Constantinople (Evans 2004, 170; Kouneni 2008, 98), likely taking inspiration from a particular Sinai icon, dated to the first half of the twelfth century, which was brought to Cyprus for the foundation of the Kykkos Monastery (Evans 2004, 170; Kouneni 2008, 98). Lenia Kouneni (2008, 98) states that it is difficult to establish when this icon type started to spread because the surviving panels are undated, but Helen C. Evans (2004, 170) highlights how it was disseminated after the founding of the Kykkos monastery. Most scholars agree that the development and popularity of this icon type stemmed from the original Sinai icons’ miraculous preservation from a fire in 1365 at the monastery; it was the only icon that survived the fire (Evans 2004, 170; Weyl Carr 2021, 203). Weyl Carr states that scholars have suggested the Kykkos monastery harbored a workshop of painters which disseminated replicas (2021, 203), but the styles vary too much for this to be true, and there is no evidence of this kind of workshop at the monastery (Weyl Carr 2021, 203).