Antique Russian icon, Fountain of Life, late 18th century, 16x12 in
Antique Russian icon, Fountain of Life, late 18th century, 16x12 in.
The icon of the “Fountain of Life” (Zoodochos Pigi) is closely linked to the famous Marian shrine in Constantinople near the Golden Gate. According to the tradition reported by Nicephorus Callistus, the future emperor Leo I, then still a soldier, met a blind and thirsty man and, through an apparition of the Virgin, discovered a miraculous spring hidden beneath the mud. After washing with that water, the man regained his sight. O...
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Antique Russian icon, Fountain of Life, late 18th century, 16x12 in.
The icon of the “Fountain of Life” (Zoodochos Pigi) is closely linked to the famous Marian shrine in Constantinople near the Golden Gate. According to the tradition reported by Nicephorus Callistus, the future emperor Leo I, then still a soldier, met a blind and thirsty man and, through an apparition of the Virgin, discovered a miraculous spring hidden beneath the mud. After washing with that water, the man regained his sight. Once emperor, Leo commissioned a church dedicated to the Mother of God, which became the sanctuary of the Fountain of Life.
Emperor Justinian later enlarged the complex, and over the centuries this place became one of the principal pilgrimage sites of Eastern Christianity, famed for numerous miracles and healings. The Virgin is venerated here as a source of grace and life, able to grant healing and protection to the faithful.
The iconography expresses this meaning: Mary as an inexhaustible source of spiritual life, a point of encounter between the divine and the human.
The work is executed in the traditional manner with egg tempera on a wooden panel prepared with levkas, an ancient technique typical of the Russian iconographic school.
Provenance: Central Russia.
Technique: egg tempera.
Materials: wood, levkas.
Dimensions: 15.55x11.8 in.
Period: late 18th century.