Russian school, Old Believers' workshops, probably Mstera school, late 18th century. "Saint John the Baptist in the desert, with the child Jesus in th

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RUSSIAN ICONS

By Setdart Auction House

Sep 23, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-09-23 10:00:00 2021-09-23 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : RUSSIAN ICONS https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/russian-icons-7431
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• Lot Description
  Russian school, Old Believers' workshops, probably Mstera school, late 18th century. "Saint John the Baptist in the desert, with the child Jesus in the baptismal shell". Tempera on wood. Measurements: 35 x 31 cm. The representation of St. John the Baptist as a hermit, with the wings of an angel, and with a parchment, is related to the evangelical testimonies about St. John, as a prophet. The depiction of St John in the desert is a Byzantine iconography that developed towards the end of the 13th century. In Russian iconography, such images begin to be found from the second half of the 14th century, but they gained their greatest popularity from the second half of the 16th century onwards, as he was the patron saint of Ivan the Terrible. The auctioned icon depicts a canonical image of St John standing in the desert. In his right hand he holds the baptismal shell with the infant Jesus in it, as a reference to his role as a baptiser. In the background are four miniatures depicting the life of St John, beginning with the birth of St John in the lower left corner. This is followed by the upper left image, which depicts St John as a prophet. The cycle ends with two images of his death: in the lower right corner is the detailed image of his martyrdom, and above it is the apparition of St John's head. Precisely these two miniatures indicate almost clearly the school of the icon, which is most probably the school of Mstera, and its belonging to the workshops of the Old Believers. Firstly, the detailed representation of the martyrdom of St John is a characteristic feature of the icons of the Old Believers. The depiction of the act in several scenes, with blood and with the head to the side, symbolises the actual decapitation of the Orthodox Church in the eyes of the Old Believers after Nikon's reforms. The miniature in the upper right corner, on the other hand, depicts a five-domed church with a topographical character. It appears almost like a theatrical decoration. On both sides of the central image are the representations of Alexius of Rome on the left, and of the martyred saint Vassa, whose three sons took the martyr's death and, like Saint John, were beheaded. They are depicted with a brushed background, another of Mstera's characteristic details. The composition ends with the representation of the Pantocrator in a white chiton, symbol of purity and celestial power, with a blessing with two fingers, and the orb crowned with the eight-pointed cross. This is another sign of the icon's connection with the workshops of the Russian Old Believers. The Old Believers were a group of Orthodox who, after Nikon's church reforms of 1654, decided to follow their opponent Avvakum, defending the traditional foundations of the Orthodox Church. Fleeing persecution, they settled in the villages of Pomorie, near the Urals and in Siberia, although by the 18th century they began to settle in the northern areas near Moscow. The Old Believers' Faith was legalised as early as 1905, which sparked an interest in the Russian Empire in the discovery of the national religious heritage, as well as the development of collecting ancient icons, which had never been experienced before.
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