Many Orthodox Christians and Byzantine Catholics hail St. Luke as the original iconographer, responsible for writing (painting) the first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many painters throughout the centuries have depicted this scene by placing St. Luke in front of an easel, painting a portrait of the Blessed Mother holding the Child Jesus.
There is no scientific or historic evidence that St. Luke was an actual iconographer, but what we know for sure is that in a certain sense, St. Luke was a true "painter" through his words.
Painter with words
St. Luke had great facility with the Greek language and many believe he had a higher education than the other Gospel writers.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, this education allowed him to write in a more literary fashion:
The style of the Gospel is superior to any N.T. writing except Hebrews. Renan says (Les Evangiles, xiii) that it is the most literary of the Gospels. St. Luke is a painter in words. "The author of the Third Gospel and of the Acts is the most versatile of all New Testament writers. He can be as Hebraistic as the Septuagint, and as free from Hebraisms as Plutarch. . . He is Hebraistic in describing Hebrew society and Greek when describing Greek society" (Plummer, introd.). His great command of Greek is shown by the richness of his vocabulary and the freedom of his constructions.
Perhaps his ability to describe scenes in a vivid way may have led to the appellation of being the first iconographer:
[I]t is certain that St. Luke was an artist, at least to the extent that his graphic descriptions of the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Shepherds. Presentation, the Shepherd and lost sheep, etc., have become the inspiring and favorite themes of Christian painters.
Fr. Michael Cummins writes similarly in an article for Word on Fire, "Luke accomplishes through his account of the Good News what the iconographer seeks to do visually through the discipline and skill of writing an icon. Luke brings the reader of his writings into a direct encounter with the living Christ."
While it might not be true that St. Luke used his skill to paint images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he can still be called a painter or even an iconographer, for his literary ability to place the reader inside the Gospel narrative.
