Speaking personally, I have always found it rather gratifying to observe works of art in progress. Michelangelo famously quipped that he simply released the figures that were already hidden within the raw block of stone, chipping away at the extraneous bits to reveal it. To my mind, seeing works of art in progress is a bit like that; it pulls back the curtain of the artistic process for both artist and non-artist alike to reveal the creative process.
In this same vein, I have always found seeing Byzantine iconographic works of art in progress to be especially appealing in this regard. These works, when completed, are purposefully and heavily stylized of course, but I confess that I sometimes find myself actually preferring these works while they are yet in their nascent and incomplete, looser, unfinished forms. I cannot particularly explain it, though perhaps it is simply my native Western artistic formation that informs this.
Regardless, if I feel this way, it seemed to me that some others might also be interested in exploring some of these sorts of works while they are yet in progress, or in some cases, in their draft form. So with that in mind, please enjoy this little survey, which is purposefully focused on monumental iconographic works intended to ornamental the walls or iconostases of churches.
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