Russian icon from the beginning of the 20th century.
"Saint Gabriel and Saint Philomena".
Painting on wood.
Lacking polychromy and cracks. With some xylophages.
Measurements: 22 x 18,5 x 2 cm.
In this Russian icon, dated at the beginning of the 20th century, the Angel Saint Gabriel and Saint Philomena are represented, both figures facing each other in front of a population of white houses. The whole scene takes place against a golden background with the dove of the Holy Spirit at the top.
Philomena is considered a young martyr of the early Church. She was martyred in the reign of Septimius in 202. The presence of the anchor as the main attribute refers to a legend in which the emperor ordered Philomena to tie an anchor around her neck and throw her into the river Tiber. Dragged by the current, she thought she would die, but Jesus sent an angel who broke the ropes and lifted her body, still alive.
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 the icons there is no such thing as usual 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.