polity byzantine empirebyzantine
Vladimir Mother of God (Icon)
Byzantine icon (c.1131 CE), tempera on panel, originating from Constantinople. Depicts the Virgin Mary (Hodegetria variant: Eleousa/Tenderness type) with the Christ Child pressing his cheek to hers. The most venerated icon in Russia; a type-example of Byzantine panel icon painting. Currently at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Notes
- ·The icon type (Eleousa / Tenderness) shows the Virgin pressing her cheek to the Christ Child's cheek in an intimate gesture; the Child reaches up to embrace her. This type was rare in Byzantine art but became canonical in Russian icon painting.
- ·The original Byzantine painting survives only in the faces and hands; subsequent restoration and overpainting has added the garments, halos, and much of the background.
- ·The icon was repeatedly associated with miraculous intercession in Russian history: protection of Moscow from Tamerlane (1395), Akhmat Khan (1480), and other invasions.
- ·The feast of the Vladimir Mother of God (26 August / 8 September) commemorates the 1395 miracle.
- ·Currently displayed at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Tolmachi, attached to the Tretyakov Gallery, where it functions as a devotional object as well as a museum exhibit.
- ·The icon was twice repainted in the 12th century (1155 and early 13th c.) and has undergone restoration in 1918 (Igor Grabar) and subsequently.