The Vine of the Virgin

The Vine of the Virgin is a tempera painting created by Emmanuel Tzanes. Tzanes is one of the most prolific Greek painters of the 17th century and his catalog numbers over 130 known works. The iconographer was active in Crete, Corfu, and Venice, Italy.

Both of his brothers Konstantinos Tzanes and Marinos Tzanes were painters. Tzanes eventually settled in Venice and was a priest at San Giorgio dei Greci where he completed a large number of his works. By that time Flemish Engravings heavily influenced Greek painters within the Venetian Empire.

Tzanes belongs to the Late Cretan School and Heptanese School of painting. Jesse of Bethlehem was the father of King David and his name is associated with many artistic renditions of biblical family trees. The original use of the family tree is known as the Tree of Jesse and it is a schematic representation of genealogy and originated in a passage from the biblical Book of Isaiah.

The book describes the descent of the Messiah (Mashiach) and the tree is the depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. In this rendition, the Tree of Jesse depicts the ancestral Davidic line of the Virgin Mary with Jesse as its root. The Tree of Jesse has appeared numerous times in Greek Italian Byzantine art and one notable work featuring the Virgin Mary was completed by Victor in 1674 entitled Tree of Jesse.

The Vine of the Virgin is part of the collection of the Hellenic Institute of Venice and is located in Venice, Italy.(Matthew 1:1)