Icon depicting "Our Lady of Kazan", egg tempera on board, classic Central Russian style.
It bears a date on a plaque on the back: October 14, 1881.
Measurements: 26.5 x 31.2 cm
Price between €1,500.00/€1,800.00
Item accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
This icon was created in the 19th century in Russia using the egg tempera and gold leaf on board technique.
It depicts Our Lady of Kazan, an image of the Virgin and Child, inspired by an icon of Byzantine origin dated to the 11th century, painted according to tradition in Constantinople. Lost in 1209, it was found, thanks to a miracle, in 1579 in Russia in the city of Kazan, from which it takes its name; lost again in 1917, it was finally found in 1953. In March 1993, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan was donated to Pope John Paul II, who kept it in his private study in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It remained there until 2004, when the Pope returned it to the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Kazan as a wish for dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
The ancient work consisted of a painted wooden board partially covered by a precious jewel-encrusted riza (cover); all subsequent versions follow the same iconographic model and soon became the most revered Marian icon in Russia, the protector of the country. Considered the protector of the family, it was given to newlyweds, placed in the carriage that took them to their new home, which it had to enter first, as the Lady of the hearth.
Currently, numerous versions derived from the ancient icon are venerated, the main one being known as the "Image of Fátima".
The icon offered here, in a good state of preservation, is therefore a testament to the popularity of the subject in private devotion in the 19th century, a tradition that remains strongly rooted to this day.
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