Description

The Mother of God of Kazan is one of the best-known and most beloved icons in Russia. The Mother of God of Kazan is the patron saint of housewives and mothers. When a girl gets married, she is often given an icon of the Mother of God of Kazan.

A characteristic feature of the iconography is that the Mother of God is depicted in bust form with the Christ Child standing before her. The Mother of God’s hands are not visible; only her head is inclined towards the Christ Child.

The exquisite painting, the build-up of the flesh tones and the colour gradation in the background all bear the hallmarks of the famous icon painter Osip Semenovich Chirikov, who worked in Moscow from the second half of the 19th century until around 1900. The icon was probably created in his studio.

The icon was part of the exhibition Mythos Palech at the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen and is featured in the catalogue of the same name published by the Recklinghausen Icon Museum (Mythos Palech – Icons and Lacquer Miniatures, Eva Haustein Bartsch & Felix Waechter, Eikon, 2011).