ST. BASIL THE GREAT, ST. GREGORY BOGOSLOV, AND ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTUM

Creator(s): Unknown

On view in: Icon Room

About this object

This large icon depicts the Council of the three great church teachers, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Bogoslov, and St. John the Theologian, whose joint feastday of January 29 was instituted by Metropolitan Ioann of Eukhaite? in 1084. Above them is the image of Christ Not Made by Hands flanked by two angels grasping the edges of the cloth and kneeling on cloud banks. The figures of all three saints are slender and elongated. St. Basil on the left is thin faced with a long pointed beard and wears a phelonion patterned with crosses. St. Gregory's beard is club shaped, while the slightly younger St. John has a short beard and full head of hair; both are dressed in the same sakkos and omophorion. Each saint holds a book protected by a cloth in his left hand while his right hand is raised in a two-fingered blessing. They stand on a dark green ground separated from the ochre upper ground by a white line. The name of each is inscribed above his head. The borders are painted ochre with a bright red and green filenka. Another red filenka separates the boarders from the carved kovcheg. The icon is made of two boards with two transverse carved shponki.

Object name:

ST. BASIL THE GREAT, ST. GREGORY BOGOSLOV, AND ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTUM

Made from:

Tempera on wood

Made in:

Russia

Date made:

19th c.

Size:

67.3 × 51.4 cm (26 1/2 × 20 1/4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

54.9

Class:

ICON

Signature marks:

INSCRIPTION; LABEL recto: "AGGLI GDNI" above the angels' heads and "OBRAZ NERUKOTVORENI" beneath Christ's head; "OTETS VA OBRAZ" "GRIGORII BOGLOV" "IOIAN ZLATOUST" beside the saints' heads verso: "bn" (cyrillic letters in red crayon), "No 10" (on label)

Credit line:

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973