Russian school, XVIII century. "The Protection of the Mother of God", or "The Virgin of Pokrov". Tempera on panel, silver frame.

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OLD MASTERS

By Setdart Auction House

Nov 3, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-11-03 08:00:00 2021-11-03 08:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : OLD MASTERS https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/old-masters-7786
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• Lot Description
  Russian school, XVIII century. "The Protection of the Mother of God", or "The Virgin of Pokrov". Tempera on panel, silver frame. It has a silver frame, XIX century. Measurements: 31 x 27 cm. "The Virgin of Pokrov" is one of the iconographies proper of the Russian Orthodox Church, although it describes events happened in Constantinople around the year 910. A priori the story was taken from the biography of Andrew of Constantinople, who together with his disciple Epiphanius, saw the Mother of God flying over the Church of St. Mary of the Blanquernas, covering the believers with her omophorion, as a symbol of protection. On several occasions the story was modified, the last being the version of Bishop Demetrius of Rostov, composed towards the end of the XVII century, which said that among those who saw the miracle were John the Baptist, John the Apostle, Andrew of Constantinople, and King Leo the Wise. It is precisely the iconography of the icon of interest. The meaning of this miracle is that the Mother of God protected the city of Constantinople against the Muslim invasion. The prototype of the icon of the protection of the Mother of God, or, in Russian, the Mother of God of Pokrov, develops around the 14th century, although it will have more impact in later centuries. There are two main typologies of the representation of this scene. One, the oldest, belongs to the Novgorod school. The other, the one we have in front of us, was developed in the Rostov and Suzdal school, and was finally implemented in the Moscow school. The latter typology is distinguished by the Mother of God depicted in the central register, in front of the church. The omophorion, she holds it in her two hands, instead of being held by the two angels, as would be depicted by the Novgorod painters. Apart from the apostles, different martyrs, and Andrew of Constantinople, in the lower central register, just below the Virgin, there is a character typical of the Rostov school, Roman the Méloda, the author of several songs dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is worth noting that to the right of Roman the Mede, we see St. Alexius of Rome, or St. Alexius the beggar, and the martyr Anisia of Thessalonica. The composition of the auction icon is very peculiar, as it breaks with the iconographic tradition of representing the Virgin in the compositional center of the image, also building a symmetrical pattern between the characters. In this case, the composition is divided into two horizontal registers, which have no compositional link between them. And the center of attention of the upper scene, the main and most important one, is shifted to the left corner, where the Pantocrator is located. All the characters, including the Virgin holding the mofório is turned in three quarters towards the appearance of the God. In this way, the iconographic protagonist changes completely, and instead of being previously the Virgin, now it is Jesus Christ. This type of composition is very rare. The icon of interest follows almost identically the composition of one of the most representative icons of the Protection of the Mother of God with this modified composition. It refers to the icon located in the arch-famous St. Basil's Cathedral, located on Red Square in Moscow. The icon has an antique frame of embossed silver, decorated with natural and floral motifs.
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