Helen Rufus-Ward will be delivering a lecture on icons on Thursday.Helen Rufus-Ward will be delivering a lecture on icons on Thursday.

The Decorative and Arts Society of Malta opens its season of lectures for 2016/2017 on Thursday with a talk on icons and their meaning.

Helen Rufus-Ward will explore this little-known form of religious art through her lecture entitled ‘Icons: what are they for and why do they look the same?’.

Icons are religious panel paintings developed early on in the history of Christianity, typically a painting depicting Christ, Mary, the saints or angels. The word ‘icon’ derives from the Greek eikon meaning a likeness, image or picture.

Their religious power made them among the most valuable objects in the medieval Christian world. The lecture will evaluate the power of the icon by exploring the origins of this type of portrait, the earliest surviving icons, their spiritual otherworldliness and the religious context in which they were displayed and used in daily worship.

Rufus-Ward is an art historian with a PhD from the University of Sussex. She has published on Late Antique and Byzantine ivory carvings and 19th-century collecting. Since 2007, Rufus-Ward has worked as a university lecturer and is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, the Society of Jewellery historians and is the chairman of Eastbourne Arts Circle.

■ The lecture is taking place on Thursday at the Le Méridien Hotel and Spa in St Julian’s at 6.30pm. For more information and reservations, visit www.maltadfas.nadfas.net or email maltadfas@gmail.com.

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