DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
Creator(s): Unknown (Painter)
On view in: Russian Sacred Arts Gallery
About this object
The Mother of God lies in the center of the icon on a bier draped with green brocade, the twelve apostles and St. Paul grouped in mourning at her head and feet. Behind her within an oval mandorla stands Christ, receiving in his arms Her soul in the form of a small child in white with a halo inscribed "Soul." A multitude of angels with the Archangel Gabriel? at their head forms a semi-circle around the figure of Christ and flanking them are St. Erofei and St. Dionysius the Areopagite. On either side of this central group are clustered groups of mourning women who represent the faithful of Jerusalem, the turreted churches of which are shown in the upper corners. In the foreground the episode of Athonios, a fanatical Jew who had both hands cut off by the sword of an angel for having dared to touch the deathbed of the Mother of God, is represented. A white polia with pink filenka frames the scene.
- Object name:
- DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
- Made from:
- Tempera on wood
- Made in:
- Russia
- Date made:
- 19th Century
- Size:
- 31.4 × 26 cm (12 3/8 × 10 1/4 in.)
Detailed information for this item
- Catalog number:
- 54.63
- Class:
- ICON
- Signature marks:
- INSCRIPTION; LABEL on recto: inscribed on the halos of each figure EROFEI; DIONISII; IOANN; SIMON,; MATFEI; LUKA; MR FU; DSHA; ANDREI; VARFOLOMEI; MARK; FILIP; IAKOV on verso: 66.432 Russia (in pencil); Loan 48.1962 (on label); Rosso (on label)
- Credit line:
- Gift of Madame Augusto Rosso, 1965