Russian icon from the first third of the 20th century.
"Saint George.
Painting on wood.
Size: 50 x 42 x 5 cm.
Saint George, mounted on his white steed, is represented thrusting his lance into the open jaws of the evil dragon, while an angel places a crown on his head. God the Father, who appears behind a cloud, and the princess, who stands on the threshold of the castle, are witnesses to the feat. A palette rich in shades of carmine, gold and white, the scene is painted with contrasting chromatic qualities.
The icons cannot be compared to other works of art in the usual sense of the word. They are not paintings, because they do not reproduce motifs from reality; they do not represent, but constitute in themselves another world. And they do so with special means of representation, developed over the centuries. In them, colour plays a significant role, that of a symbolic language that must express not the colour of things, but their luminosity, a light that comes from beyond the physical world. The golden spaces of the icons embody this unearthly light, and the golden background symbolises the space that is "not of this world". In icons there is no such thing as ordinary space, just as there are no conventional events. The icon is an open window to a world of another nature, but this window opens only for those who possess a spiritual vision.