The other Saint holds the Book, or the Word of God. There is a hierarchal relationship depicted here.
Each of the religious figures, and the Christ, too, are ethnic in appearance, depicting a period before Christian art began to reflect a European appearance in iconology.
At the base, the foundation, of the church, is a man pointing upwards, and we see his shadow, thus, he is of the earth, the sun, and the moon, because he has a shadow we know he is not a heavenly apparition. There is, too, a cross, and we can see the shadow of the cross in the foundation of the Church.
The artwork conveys the seriousness of the scene, the tradition, the sacrifice, and the promise. The depiction of form was not as important to this artist as was the depiction of tradition, of worship, and of the promise of eternal life.
The medium used is probably oil or tempera on plaster. That it has held up so well over what has obviously been hundreds of years, it is probably tempera paint. The image of the arch angel holding a staff and orb with a cobalt blue background has retained the most vibrancy and clarity in color. The depiction of the fabric of his tunic is consistent with that of the pattern used to portray the ethnicity of time of Christ. Shading with white has been used around the wing-span to create the sense of exaltation and the light that is associated with inspired expressions of faith. When comparing the dress and figure to the Christ figure, by way of figures, not authority or inspiration, we notice a distinct difference in the dress, although they are of the same period. The arch angel actually...
The Christ figure has a shaded beard area, and is much more masculine in its portrayal, even though it is weeping large tears for mankind.
The deep reds, deep blue-green, gold, brown are colors that have a significance in ancient Hebrew life and tradition, and are consistent with the period during which Christ lived. The detail work on the robe that covers the throne upon which Christ sits is well done, and has withstood the test of time; again, suggesting a tempera paint was used. In all of the figures, it is possible to gain a sense of texture of the woolen cloth, and to gain a sense of physical form beneath that cloth.
The robes of the Saint (priest) are ornate, and depicts the splendor of the robes the priests of early Christianity, and, still, today, Eastern Orthodox. Settling, now, that the figure is indeed a priest, the robes are gold and deep rich red in color, and suggests the sense of a finer cloth than which Christ wears. There is a distinct difference in the sense of texture that has been created in the individual wardrobe of the figures.
When we look at the full photograph of the painting, we see that there is a figure to the right of the arch angels that appears to be dressed in a black monk's robe. It is difficult in this photograph of the painting to be sure. The arch angels to the right and to the left of the center angel are dressed distinctly different, in male robes, suggesting, again, that the center arch angel might be a depiction of a woman. However, the form does not suggest that of a woman, but it does have a more feminine sense to it.
