16. Icon of the Theodore Mother of God

Second half of the19th century.
Wood, lewkas, tempera, drying oil.
Size: 26,7x22x2,3 cm.

Good quality, school painting, executed in 16 century traditions. Classical example of the traditions of Russian iconography. In very good condition.

Russian Icon of the Theodore Mother of God. Legend has it that this Icon was painted by the Evangelist Saint Luke. The earliest mentions of this Icon, named after the wooden monastery Church of St.Theodore Stratilates near the town of Gorodets (now in the Nizhni Novgorod Region), date back to 1164. During the invasion of Khan Batu the monastery was burned down, but the miracle-working Icon survived the fire and had once again miraculously appeared in 1239. It was when Prince Vassily of Kostroma, the brother of Prince Alexander Nevsky, lost his way during a hunt. Suddenly he saw an Icon of the Mother of God on a pine tree, but when he tried to touch it, the Icon soared up into the air. On his return to Kostroma, the Prince told the clergy and the people about the Icon. Then the people, after having offered a prayer to the Mother of God before the Icon, took it into their hands, brought it to the city and placed it in the cathedral church. The Prince founded the Monastery of the Image of Our Lord Jesus Christ "Not Made with Hands" on the site of its appearance. Later on (c.1260), the miracle-working Icon delivered Kostroma from the Tatar invasion. In 1613, Ksenia Ivanovna, mother of Mikhail Romanov, blessed her son with this Icon when he was being crowned Tsar. Since then it was a domestic Icon of the Romanovs dynasty.

This icon has collection level.

Price: 1400 Euro