Icon - Nicholas the Wonderworker - Wood

Icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
Russian school, 19th century
Provenance: European private collection
Region: Russia
Period: 19th century
Medium: egg tempera and silver leaf on wood panel
Style: Russian Orthodox iconography
Orthodox icon depicting Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, in a frontal half-length composition with a circular nimbus and episcopal blessing gesture according to the Byzantine canon. The saint wears an omophorion decorated with crosses and holds the Gospel opened with an inscription in ecclesiastical Cyrillic. On both sides of the nimbus are the usual secondary figures of Christ and the Virgin, respectively presenting the Gospel and the omophorion, a traditional iconographic motif associated with Saint Nicholas and widely disseminated in Russian iconography.
The work is executed in egg tempera on panel, with traditional stucco preparation (levkas) and a background of silver leaf, originally burnished and later patinated by warm glazes. The natural oxidation of the silver now yields golden and ochre tones, a characteristic phenomenon of 19th-century Russian icons clearly observable in the background and the nimbus. The modeling of the face, with severe and expressive features, is built up with successive layers of ochres and greens, with fine and assured strokes in the eyebrows, eyes, beard, and hair, following schemes inherited from medieval tradition, reinterpreted within nineteenth-century Russian devotional production. The identifying Cyrillic inscriptions, partially preserved, reinforce its liturgical and devotional character.
Stylistically, the icon corresponds to a 19th-century Russian production faithful to canonical models, conceived for domestic or parish worship. The balanced composition, the hieratic treatment of the face, and the use of patinated silver leaf confirm a traditional execution, detached from modern reproductions or industrial processes.
The state of conservation is consistent with its age: it shows widespread craquelure, localized losses of polychromy and of the metallic coating, surface abrasions and wear in the most exposed areas, as well as natural oxidation of the varnish. The reverse bears signs of use and aging, with no evidence of invasive modern restorations. It preserves an authentic historic patina that reinforces its reading as an ancient icon.
An authentic 19th-century Russian icon, of proper iconographic quality and notable visual presence, suitable for a collection specializing in Orthodox icons or for display in a historical-devotional context.
Shipping: It is shipped only to European countries.