Description

In this icon, God the Father (Sebaoth) is depicted as an elderly, wise man, an iconographic representation based on a vision of the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7). He holds both hands raised in blessing. The icon formed part of a small iconostasis, where it occupied the centre of a row of Old Testament patriarchs and matriarchs.

The exquisite painting, the rendering of the flesh tones and the manner in which the face and hair are depicted 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. There is no signature visible on the reverse of the icon, but there is a sum: 963 roubles – an enormous amount at the time (a Fabergé egg cost between 1,000 and 7,000 roubles during that period). This is presumably the price for several icons from the iconostasis. The absence of a signature on the icon is likely due to the same reason, namely that it was part of a larger whole. Another explanation could be that the icon was intended for a Russian Orthodox state church (as can be inferred from the manner in which the blessing gesture is depicted), whilst Chirikov and his workshop belonged to the Old Believer movement, which had broken away from the state church since the end of the 17th century.

The icon was part of the exhibition Lebendige Zeugen at the Frankfurt Icon Museum and was featured in the catalogue of the same name (Lebendige Zeugen, R. Zacharuk, Frankfurt, 2005).