Details

LOT 2189

Russian Icon with Mother of God and Christ

SMOLENSKAYA, EARLY 19TH CENTURY A.D.

12 5/8 x 10 1/4 in. (1.12 kg, 32 x 26 cm).

Depicting nimbate Mary Theotokos with veiled head and wearing a red maphorion mantle over a dark blue robe with gold cuffs, inclined towards the infant Jesus supported by her left hand, wearing a bright red mantle and a blue tunic highlighted with gold, his left arm holding a roll and the right hand in a gesture of blessing; white field, tempera on wood, Smolenskaya type.

Provenance

Acquired from Portobello Road, London, circa 2000.
Property of a London, UK, gentleman collector.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Literature

Cf. Korolev. A.A., 'The Holy Virgin of Smolensk in the 17th century: Catholic Legend of an Orthodox Icon' in Srednie veka, 2022, Vol.83, no.4, pp.142-167.

Footnotes

The model for the icon, painted in 16th century style, is the one of the Mother of God of Smolensk, associated with the Byzantine icon of the Hodegetria ('She who shows the ways). According to the legend, the icon of Smolensk received the name after healing two blind men. The original icon of Smolensk was a gift of the Roman Emperor Constantine Monomachus to her daughter Anna when she married the Russian Prince Vsevolod. Later Anna presented the icon to his son Vladimir who put it in the Vladimir Cathedral.