Iconographic Variations of St. Eustace Hunting Composition in the Medieval Georgian and French Sculpture

The theme of hunting occupies an important place in a diverse iconographic repertoire of relief sculpture in medieval Christian art. Hunting compositions of St. Eustace were very popular both in Eastern and Western Christian arts.
We find relief scenes with images of hunter-horsemen in different forms and interpretations in continuity from the VI–VIIth to the XVIth centuries in Georgia. Georgian Christian art presents a specific visual representation – a hunter and its victim – which is mainly represented in St. Eustace Placida’s compositions.
Hunters and victims, archers are present in Western European art, especially in the XIIth–XVIth centuries France. But here, along with Placida’s hunting, episode of St. Hubert’s hunting is also relevant. The scene of the vision of St. Hubert narrated in literary sources is similar to that of the vision of St. Eustace. Iconographic schemes of the compositions depicted on the cathedrals are also analogous, with slight differences.
It is worth of note that various approaches have been formed in the artistic and stylistic resolution of the compositions of St. Eustace due to different historical conditions and local traditions.

A woman and coins: Euphemia of Hungary’s contribution to the minting

Euphemia (d. 1111) was the wife of Otto I the Fair, prince of Moravia. After her husbands’ death, she ruled as a regent for her minor sons. Together with her offspring, she issued two types of denarii. The present article aims to distinguish the iconography of these coins and of the models they were likely to be based on, to establish th context of their creation and determine the propaganda message they conveyed.

Hunting scene of St. Eustace and related storylines hold an important place in the Christian art of the middle centuries. We find this theme, in various forms and interpretations, in almost every century from V to XVIII. It is found in monumental paintings, as well as in stone carving and metalwork. The article presents a study on two repousse icons kept in the Golden Fund of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts: Plate of Saint Eustace with doors, with a hunting scene of Eustace Placida (Q. 747) and plate with Infantry Placida (Tf. 60). The aim of the work is the dating of unexplored repousse icons, artistic-stylistic analysis of the iconographic scheme, and Clarifying the issue of the origin of Tf. 60. On both icons, the inscription identifies the Saint: “წა ე (ვ)სტატი”. It provides important information for dating the icon. From a paleographic point of view, the icon’s inscription should belong to the late Middle Ages, approximately XVI-XVII centuries. It is worth noting that both inscriptions are made with one hand. The overall content context, stylistic solution, and paleographic analysis speak of a single origin. Based on the paleographic analysis, the study of the iconographic scheme and artisticstylistic features, according to our assumption, the plate of Saint Eustace with doors, with a hunting scene of Eustace Placida (Q. 747) and plate with Infantry Placida (Tf. 60) date back to the XVI–XVII centuries.