ICON. MOTHER OF GOD OF SMOLENSK.

Icon in a silver oklad "Mother of God of Smolensk, with a Guardian-Angel and Saint Martyr Natalia on border"
Saint Petersburg, 1839.
31,5x27 cm
Icon: wood, levkas, tempera; oklad: silver, relief work, engraving
Marks on the oklad: hallmark
D•Т
1839
D.I.Tverskoy (1832-1850)
АL•К Unknown master (1832-1853)
Postnikova-Loseva, 1172, 1216)
84 silver. Arms of St.-Petersburg.
A tergo: Blessing to mother and daughter Evdokia. March 1873"
The icon is a perfect and quite typical example of the Saint-Petersburg Empire style of the 2nd fourth of the 19th century. Its rare peculiar feature is combination of the precious oklad and traditional manner of icon-painting that imitates the technique and stylistics of Moscow icon-painters of late 17th century. Like in the 17th c. icons, the engraved silver oklad leaves most of the painting open, and covers the background and the margins only. All the elements of decoration - the modest perimeter framing with some laconic schematic pattern of palmettes and leaves, radial wreath and crown over the head - are characteristic for the Saint-Petersburg jewelry of the 2nd fourth of the 19th century. The traditional iconography depicts one of the most venerated wonder-working images in Russia - Mother of God of Smolensk which remounts to the ancient Byzantine image of Odigitria, the military heretoga and Imperial patroness.