Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Feodorovskaya, late 18th-early 19th century, honourific embroidery, glass beads, 12.2x10.2 in
Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Feodorovskaya, late 18th-early 19th century, honourific embroidery, glass beads, 12.2x10.2 in.
Antique Russian icon of Our Lady of Feodorovskaya from Northern Russia, datable to the late 18th - early 19th century, executed in egg tempera on wood with levkas. The panel measures 12.2x10.2 in.
The iconography derives from the venerated image of the Mother of God of St. Theodore, kept in the Cathedral of the Dormition in Kostroma. According to tradition, the image was...
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Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Feodorovskaya, late 18th-early 19th century, honourific embroidery, glass beads, 12.2x10.2 in.
Antique Russian icon of Our Lady of Feodorovskaya from Northern Russia, datable to the late 18th - early 19th century, executed in egg tempera on wood with levkas. The panel measures 12.2x10.2 in.
The iconography derives from the venerated image of the Mother of God of St. Theodore, kept in the Cathedral of the Dormition in Kostroma. According to tradition, the image was brought to Kostroma after a town on the Volga was destroyed, and it gradually became one of the most important Marian images in Russian devotion.
The composition belongs to the type of the Virgin of Tenderness (Eleusa): the Jesus Child presses his cheek against his Mother’s in a gesture of intimacy and affection, while Mary holds him close with a collected, contemplative expression. The theme expresses the bond between the divine and the human and, in the Orthodox tradition, also evokes the image of the Church welcoming Christ.
A distinctive iconographic feature of the Feodorovskaya is the exposed left leg of the Christ Child, which sets it apart from related images while maintaining a strong compositional affinity with the Mother of God of Vladimir.
From the 17th century, the devotion to Our Lady of Feodorovskaya became closely linked to the Romanov dynasty, notably following the election of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov in 1613, an event that helped spread the cult of the icon throughout Russia.
The panel also retains an oklad (metal cover) decorated with glass beads and an applied honourific embroidery, elements that enrich the surface and underscore the icon’s devotional character.
Provenance: Northern Russia
Period: late 18th-early 19th century
Technique: egg tempera on wood with levkas
Materials: wood, levkas, glass beads
Decoration: oklad with glass beads and applied honourific embroidery
Dimensions: 12.2x10.2 in.