The Mother of God Enthroned

Ritzos's enthroned Mother of God belongs to the Hodegitria type — Mary seated on a throne, presenting the Christ Child frontally as if offering him to the viewer for veneration — which was the most prestigious and copied of all Byzantine icon types, supposedly derived from a portrait painted from life by Saint Luke. The enthroned Theotokos was a major commission type for wealthy Orthodox patrons in Crete and Venice, and Ritzos produced multiple versions across his long career. The differences between versions reflect both patron specifications and Ritzos's own ongoing refinement of the type.

Ritzos constructs the throne as an elaborate architectural structure with decorative intarsia-like panels, a western influence on the traditional Byzantine icon format that reflects the Venetian commercial context in which he worked. The gold leaf ground is burnished to a high reflective finish, and the drapery lines are incised and gilded in the Byzantine chrysography technique.