Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Jerusalem, 20th century, 11x8 in
Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Jerusalem, 20th century, 11x8 in.
Antique Russian icon depicting Our Lady of Jerusalem, belonging to the Hodigitria iconographic tradition, in which the Virgin points to Christ as the way of salvation.
In this variant, the Child turns slightly toward His Mother, while Mary directs her gaze to Him with an intense, contemplative expression, an element less common in classical Hodigitria representations.
According to tradition, the icon was painted by the evangelist S...
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Antique Russian icon, Our Lady of Jerusalem, 20th century, 11x8 in.
Antique Russian icon depicting Our Lady of Jerusalem, belonging to the Hodigitria iconographic tradition, in which the Virgin points to Christ as the way of salvation.
In this variant, the Child turns slightly toward His Mother, while Mary directs her gaze to Him with an intense, contemplative expression, an element less common in classical Hodigitria representations.
According to tradition, the icon was painted by the evangelist Saint Luke in Gethsemane about fifteen years after the Resurrection of Christ.
In the 5th century, Emperor Leo I transferred it from Jerusalem to Constantinople; later the image is said to have reached Cherson (Crimea) and then Kiev, where Prince Vladimir placed it in the Church of Saint Sophia after the Christianization of Rus'.
Over the centuries the icon was especially venerated and associated with Russia's religious and political history, until its transfer to Moscow in the 16th century.
This icon is painted by hand in egg tempera on an antique wooden panel prepared with levkas, following the Russian iconographic tradition. The painting is accompanied by an expert appraisal and an elegant blue velvet presentation box.
Origin: Moscow, Russia.
Technique: egg tempera.
Materials: wooden panel prepared with levkas.
Dimensions: 10.6x8.3 in.
Period: 20th century.