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Virgin and Child ("The Virgin of Iviron") with Saints Demetrius and Hannah
(Byzantium and Early Russia)
This icon repeats a copy, ordered in 1647 and brought to Moscow the following year, of a much older, miracle-working image from the Georgian Monastery of Iveron, on Mount Athos, Greece (hence the name "Iverskaya", i.e. "of Iveron"). This copy was subsequently installed in a special chapel built in its honor in the Kremlin's Resurrection Gates, the main entrance to Red Square. It was one of the most revered icons in Moscow until the chapel that housed it was destroyed and the icon was lost in 1917.
In the frame here are the 17th-century Saint Demetrius of Rostov and St. Anna, the prophetess (Luke 2:36-38). The fact that these saints are not normally depicted together suggests that they were probably the namesakes of the icon's owners. The painting is academic in style; unlike traditional, older icons, the faces of the Virgin and of Christ display a sense of depth and are realistically shaded.
The silver gilt and enamel cover is a mixture of various styles, as was common in the late nineteenth century. It is stamped with the mark of Ivan Sergeevich Lebedkin, state assayer for the district of Moscow in 1899-1908. A second stamp contains the Cyrillic letters I and T, initials of the goldsmith Ivan Tarabrov. The back of the piece is covered with red velvet.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, [date unknown]; Celia Blank, Baltimore, after 1972, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, October 1984, by gift.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Examination | Cleaned for exhibition | |
| Examination | The riza was soiled and tarnished. The riza was cleaned using mild solvents and local polishing with precipitated chalk. The icon will be displayed in a case with tarnish-inhibiting materials to retard future tarnishing. | |
| 6/5/2017 | Treatment | surface cleaned |
Geographies
Russia, Moscow (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 12 3/16 × W: 10 1/4 × D: 1 15/16 in. (31 × 26 × 4.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Celia Blank in memory of William Blank, 1984
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.2618