The icon depicting Christ Pantocrator is kept in the Monastery of the Temptation near the town of Jericho and has not been mentioned in scholarly literature until now. The commemorative plate in the base of the icon tells us that it was created in 1879 by zograph Zahariy Dimitrov Dospevski. He is the son of Dimitar Zograf, who was the elder son of the founder of the Samokov art school Hristo Dimitrov. It is known that Z. Dospevski, following the April Uprising and the events that came after it, spent six years of his life, up until 1882, in the Jerusalem region. His work during that period remains mostly unexplored by academic publications. The zograph worked actively in the Monastery of St. Sava, where he finished the frescos on July 19th 1880, as documented by an inscription on the murals. As for the icon of Christ Pantocrator, we may assume, based on the commemorative plate which also serves as the zograph’s signature, that it was created as a gift on behalf of the zograph and his family, whose names are present on it.
Totka Grigorova (Sofia, Bulgaria)
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