Four-field icon, Our Lady of Kazan, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. George fighting the dragon, Archangel Michael,
Russia 18th/19th century, Format : 24.5 x 30 [cm].
Tempera on board, traces of reinforcing sponges on the back.
In the center of the icon Jesus Christ Crucified, in the clouds above the Savior God the Father.
On the designated four fields successively representations;
Our Lady of Kazan, (Kazanskaya ikona Bozheiya Matieri), belongs to the Marian icons of the Hodegetria type, meaning from Greek: "Pointing the Way." The icon of the Mother of God is held in the greatest reverence by the faithful. The miraculous revelation of this icon took place on July 8, 1579, when, after a great fire, a nine-year-old girl, Matron Onuchina, appeared to the Mother of God in a dream and pointed out the place under the house where Her icon was hidden.
St. Nicholas of Myra, the Miracle Worker, St. Nicholas was born in Patara in 280, and was bishop of Myra, the capital of Lycia, where he died between 345 and 352.At the Council of Nicaea he fiercely opposed the heretical bishop Arius, for which he was stripped of his episcopal insignia and thrown into prison. In prison, Christ and Our Lady appeared to him and returned him to his freedom and episcopal dignity. He was famous for his good deeds and numerous miracles, hence he earned the nickname Miracle Worker. In Rus, he was the protector of travelers, guarded against fires and took care of the harvest.
ArchangelMichael "Archistrategist of the Heavenly Hosts" as the "Horseman of the Apocalypse", in an iconographic type referring to the Apocalypse. Among the Archangels, the most important place goes to Michael, since according to tradition he was the first to act against Satan and the rebellious angels with the cry "who like God!" He is mentioned several times in Scripture: as the protector of the people of Israel and one of the foremost princes of heaven in the Book of Daniel, and as standing at the head of the heavenly spirits and fighting Satan in the Apocalypse of St. John. In the apocrypha he is portrayed as one to whom God has entrusted tasks that require special strength, so he intercedes with God for people, accompanies the dying in the face of death and their souls on their way to heaven. Archangel Michael is depicted as a knight riding a winged red steed, hovering above the ground with a spear in his right hand.
Saint George, the image of a youthful knight in armor and cloak, on a white steed fighting with a spear in his hands with a dragon - [ here a rather symbolic, iconographic representation of a dragon - snake - evil].
His name (from the Greek 'georgos') means farmer, although he is better known as the patron saint of knights and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In Byzantium, he was counted along with Dmitri, Procopius and Theodore among the great holy knights. The universality of the cult of St. George is evidenced by the countless churches dedicated to him. A strong center of early Christianity in the Caucasus-Georgia takes its name Georgia precisely from St. George.
Definitely a very interesting decorative icon from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
