icon;
painting
- Museum number
- 1994,0501.5
- Title
- Object: The Transfiguration of Christ (‘Preobrazhenie’)
- Description
-
Icon; painted; Christ, dressed in a white 'himation' and enclosed in a reddish mandorla, stands on the peak of Mount Tabor, his right arm raised in blessing, his left holding a scroll. From his feet emanate three red rays which fall on the three apostles below. On either side of him, standing on rocks, are the prophets Elijah and Moses. The disciples Peter, John and James at the foot of the mountain are depicted in attitudes which reflect their dread at the sight of Christ's theophany. In the top left-hand corner, in clouds, 'Jerusalem in Heaven'. On the borders, in two columns, are the figures of selected saints: at left, a Guardian Angel and St George, and to right, Sts Elisabeth and Nicholas.
Inscriptions: in Church Slavonic on the upper border: ПРЕОБРАЖЕНИЕ ГОСПОДА БОГА НАШЕГО ИИСУСА ХРИСТА (Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ); in Greek on the mandorla besides Christ's halo: ΙC ΧC (Jesus Christ); in Church Slavonic above the figures of the apostles from left to right: С АПОСТОЛ ПЕТР (St Apostle Peter); C АПОСТОЛ ИОАНН (St Apostle John); С АПОСТОЛ ИАКОВ ЗЕВЕД (St Apostle James Zebedee); above the figures of the saints on the borders: left column: АНГЕЛ ХРАНИТЕЛЬ (Angel Protector), С МУЧЕНИК ГЕОРГИЙ (St Martyr George); right column: С МУЧЕНИЦА ЕЛИЗАВЕТА (St Martyr Elisabeth), С НИКОЛА ЧУДОТВОРЕЦ (St Nicholas Wonder-Worker); the names of both Moses and Elijah are missing.
Egg tempera, gold, gesso on wood.
- Production date
- 19thC(mid)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 31.50 centimetres
-
Thickness: 2.70 centimetres
-
Width: 26.20 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
-
-
- Curator's comments
- On the iconography of the Transfiguration see cat. no. 37. The image of ‘Jerusalem in Heaven’ first appears on some 17th- and 18th-century Russian icons. The addition to the main scene of ‘selected’ saints occurs throughout the history of Russian icon painting and usually reflects the wishes of the icon’s commissioner.
Published:
Cormack 2007, 120, no. 30
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Made from three panels joined by two battens inserted along the top and bottom edges of the frame; the surface is covered with dirt and a dark uneven varnish.
- Acquisition date
- 1994
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased in 1926 by the National Gallery (National Gallery no. 4163).
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1994,0501.5
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: IC 30 (Icon Collection number)
