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Russia, ca. 19th century CE. Exceptionally painted in egg tempera and gold leaf on wood, an icon of the Virgin of Bogoliubovo, named after Prince Andrei Bogoliubskii. On July 18, 1157, the Virgin appeared to him in a dream, making a gesture of supplication to Christ and unfurling a scroll with a prayer. Following this apparition, the Prince commissioned a painting of his vision and had a monastery built on the site of his vision called the Monastery of Bogoliubovo. Size: 14.75" W x 16.25" H (37.5 cm x 41.3 cm)

Throughout the following centuries, this theme evolved in Moscow, featuring various saints and sacred monks prostrate at the Virgin’s feet, including Peter, Alexis, Jonah, and Philip and the bishops who spread the gospel in Rostov, the “fools for Christ”, and Saints Zosimus and Sabatius of the Solovki Monastery on the White Sea. This sacred icon captures the traditional iconography of the Virgin of Bogoliubovo. Floating aloft billowing clouds, the Mother of God stands full length and facing toward the left, her right hand extended, her left held up toward the celestial realm, pleading to the heavens on behalf of the sinners, asking for their salvation: “My Son and my God, uncontainable Godhead who in humility . . .” to which the Lord answers, “yes” to the Virgin. On the scroll are the words “O my Mother and my Creature, since this is your will . . .” In the background is the church of the Bogoliubovo Monastery and the text of the prayer recited on June 18th, the feast day of the Virgin of Bogoliubovo, “All pure lady and sovereign, Mother of God, accept this prayer from your servants and present it to your Son and our Savior, that he might save and take pity on this city and on all cities and lands.” (Prayer to the Virgin of Bogoliubovo)

Exhibited in "Windows Into Heaven: Russian Icons from the Lilly and Francis Robicsek Collection of Religious Art" at the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina (December 20, 2003 through February 22, 2004) which presented highlights of one of the world's great artistic traditions through an extraordinary group of sixty-five 18th and 19th century Russian icons on loan from the private collection of Lilly and Francis Robicsek.

Icons (icon means "image" in Greek) are sacred objects within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. Found in homes as well as churches, these painted images depict holy persons and saints as well as illustrate scenes from the Scriptures. Some icons are encased in precious metal covers (oklads) adorned with pearls and semi-precious stones or glass-fronted wooden cases (kiots). Icons are not worshiped, but are instead venerated for their ability to focus the power of an individual's prayer to God. As such they are truly "windows into heaven."

The “Windows Into Heaven” exhibition profiled a magnificent chapter of Russian artistry, the embrace of the Russian Orthodox faith of religious icons during the Romanov centuries. The Russian religious faith was an offshoot of Byzantine Christianity, which in 1054 parted ways from Roman Catholicism. Icons were and continue to be religious images created for veneration. As a focus for prayers and meditation for believers, icons serve as “windows into heaven.”



Provenance: Ex-Lilly and Francis Robicsek Collection of Religious Art, Charlotte, NC; exhibited at Mint Museum of Art "Windows Into Heaven", Charlotte, North Carolina (December 20, 2003 through February 22, 2004)

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#119423

Fissures and losses to wood. Pigment and gold leaf losses as shown. Mint Museum label, old Russian inventory label, and suspension wire on verso