The exhibition spans seven centuries of Russian icon painting (the 14th through the early 20th), showcasing all major trends and schools, including Moscow, Rostov, Suzdal, Tver, Pskov, Novgorod Veliky, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, and Archangel. It features, among others, an icon representing the canonized princes Vladimir, Boris and Gleb. Executed in the Rostov tradition at the turn of the 16th century, the painting is now owned by one of the exhibition's organizers, Alexander Lipnitsky. Few of the surviving icons show these three Russian saints together, and not a single example can be found in the collection of Moscow's Medieval Culture and Arts Museum. It is hardly surprising, then, that the rare painting is the one to have been chosen for reproduction in the exhibition's banner.
Many of the icons on view can be classified as masterpieces, such as the late 14th-century image of the Savior, the early 15th-century icon showing the Prophet Elias' ascent into heaven, the late 15th-century image of the Transfiguration, and the 16th-century icon representing the Annunciation.
Many visitors will be impressed by the works attributed to Simon Ushakov and by those whose attribution has not been confirmed, but that are reminiscent of this outstanding master's style and datable in his era-the second half of the 17th century.
The youngest image on display dates back to 1905. It shows Our Lord Jesus Christ, and is believed to have been executed by Mikhail Dikarev, arguably one of Moscow's most prominent icon painters at the turn of the 20th century. He worked together with fellow painters Osip Chirikov and Vasily Guryanov to restore Russian icon painting to its former technical glory.
As the exhibition was being staged, more than a half of the exhibits came under the close scrutiny of experts at the museum's conservation unit, set up a decade ago. An exhibition catalogue was then compiled and published. It offers reproductions of each of the icons displayed, along with textual commentaries as to their iconography, origins, and condition.
According to its curator, the display is intended as a review of the past three decades of icon collecting practices in Russia.
