Eastern Europe, Russia, ca. 19th century CE. A beautiful icon depicting various scenes from the Life of Christ, with the twelve feast days surrounding the central theme of the Resurrection, regarded as the "feast of all feasts," which is celebrated not only on Easter Sunday, but every Sunday, finely delineated in egg tempera and gold leaf with stunning faux enamelwork borders of Russian strapwork and beaded designs. On the verso is an inscription in decorative cursive. Size: 17.5" W x 21" H (44.4 cm x 53.3 cm)

This icon was 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. 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, North Carolina USA; exhibited at Mint Museum of Art "Windows Into Heaven", Charlotte, North Carolina (December 20, 2003 through February 22, 2004)

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#119593

Surface wear with paint/gilt/enamel losses as shown. Repair to right side. Verso shows age cracks; back slats still intact.