Hélène Beaumont and her husband, Jérôme, live in France, but visit Holy Trinity for Christmas, Holy Week/Easter, and in the fall each year. They were married at Holy Trinity during the Sunday morning liturgy on the Sunday after Easter, 2013. Hélène is ordained in the Huguenot tradition, and is also an iconographer. She created an icon for Holy Trinity, entitled Le Christ des Chrétiens d’Orient et des Réfugiés, pictured here, which was blessed at the Easter Vigil this year.
This icon was donated to Holy Trinity in 2017 by parishioner Hélène Beaumont, who lives in France. The image comes from an article in the Anglican Journal about Syrian refugees and represents the suffering Christ behind modern barbed wire.
The image was made using egg tempera on wood of the Linden tree. A linen cloth was first laid on specially dried Linden wood then coated with 17 layers of gesso (plaster and natural glue) and sanded until smooth as marble. The image was etched with a fine tip. Colours were made with egg yolk and dry pigments, then applied using natural hair brushes. Pigments are natural earth (brown, ochre), mineral (lapis lazuli blue), and artificial (cadmium red).
The relief was created by superimposing layers of color, starting with the darkest colours and ending with lightest – “Go towards the light”. Each layer must be very dry before applying the next. The nimbus (halo) is made of gold leaf with a foundation of powdered gold. The final piece was dried three months before varnishing, and the entire process took nearly a year to complete.
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