7. Our Lady of Georgia

Second half of the19th century.
Wood, lewkas, tempera.
Size: 22x16,5x2 cm.

Hand-painted. Very good condition.

According to its Legend, the icon known in Russia as Georgian was taken out of that country by Persians. It was purchased in Persia by the agents of the merchant Grigorii Lytkin from Yaroslavl in 1622. Instructed by a revelation, the merchant sent the icon to a monastery on the Pinega river¬side, in the Russian north, known as Chernogorsky and later, Krasnogorsky. In 1654, the icon was brought to Moscow, where it found renown for miraculous healings during a plague. In memory of these miracles, the Trinity Church at Nikitniki, where the icon stood, received a chapel consecrated to Our Lady of Georgia, for which famous Simon Ushakov painted its close replica before the original icon was taken back to the Pinega. The icon is gone, though its concise description is extant in the monastery inventory.

The feast of the icon, August 22, the day it was first brought to the monastery, was appointed in 1658. Its canon and troparion were composed in 1698.
As far as we can judge by the icon of 1707, said to repeat the original and other copies, the iconography followed the type of Hodegetria. The Virgin, full-face, has Her head slightly turned and bent to the Child. The flaps of the maphorion part on the chest to show the chiton. She has the Child on Her left arm, with the right hand in the Deisis position in token of Her prayer to the Son. This iconographic type has close analogies among Georgian monuments of the 15th and 16th centuries.
On fields are represented: the left border depicts Arh. Michael. On the right border Arh. Gabriel.

This icon has collection level.

Price: 1200 Euro