Russian icon of the Twelve Great Feasts - 19th century
tempera on panel.
This icon depicts in a sequence of theological logic the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox calendar, a fact that gives it historical as well as iconographic value. The Twelve Feasts, taken from episodes in the Old and New Testaments, are in fact a form of biblical liturgical catechesis always to be kept in view for the Orthodox faithful.
The composition of square and rectangular scenes is articulated around the large depiction of Easter, formed by a set of scenes intended to render as a whole the message of Easter, 'the mother of all feasts'. We see in the central panel Christ's descent into hell, the procession of the blessed towards Paradise, Christ's resurrection from the tomb and the apparition at Lake Tiberias.
Height x width x depth: 35.5 x 30.5 x 2.2 cm.
Item condition grading: **** good (small colour falls).
