3Т. Imperial Icon on wood, "Saint Nicholas", Moldovan school, era of Jeremiah Movila, second half of the 16th century, extremely rare piece
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3Т. Imperial Icon on wood, "Saint Nicholas", Moldovan school, era of Jeremiah Movila, second half of the 16th century, extremely rare piece
Starting price:
EUR 5.000
Not sold
tempera on wood, 57.5 x 39 cm
Iconographic and stylistic identification elements: Against the yellow-ochre background of the icon, the figure of Saint Nicholas stands out, depicted midway downwards, presented frontally. He is blessing with his right hand, and with his veiled left hand he holds the Gospel, painted in blue and decorated with stylized flowers (rosettes). The phelonion is white, painted flatly, with folds made of ochre (partially erased), schematically rendered, but with skill. The omophorion is painted red, and the blue sticharion has folds traced with dark blue for shadows and white for highlights. Around his head he wears a red halo, decorated with white stylized flowers. On the right and left of Saint Nicholas' head, Jesus Christ, who offers him the Gospel, and the Virgin Mary, who offers him the omophorion (a reference to an episode from the Council of Nicaea, 325), are depicted in small size. The elongated oval of the face, the large eyes painted in black, the thick eyebrows and the grizzled beard are graphically executed. The face, painted in white-ochre, is modelled with pink and light grey shading. The chromatics, dominated by white, golden yellow, red and blue, are flatly applied, undervalued, offering the icon a notable decorative accent, reflecting the influence of Russian painting on Moldovan painting, in the 16th century. Inscriptions with elongated red letters in Old Church Slavonic, represent a characteristic of Moldovan painting of the period. The painting of the faces with sharp transitions from light to shadow, the graphic contours achieved with thick strokes and a certain schematization confer the painting with popular notes.
Technical identification elements: The painting was made in tempera, on a uniform priming base, the ocher-gold background, and the back of the icon is covered with a thin priming layer.
Conclusions: The icon is an authentic work of the Moldovan painting school, dating from the second half of the 16th century, also revealing some stylistic peculiarities compared to other creations of the genre (A.D.).
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