A multi-panel Russian icon with Saint Nicholas, the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Holy Martyrs of Edessa, Saint Euphemia and the Mandylion of Edessa, 19th century

Tempera on panel

Height x width: 31 x 27 cm.

An interesting and complex 19th-century Russian icon, organized into a multi-register narrative structure (multi-panel), traditionally linked to family commissions and devotion to the patron saints of the household. The surface is divided into three main compartments. The central vertical line, which symmetrically divides the upper section of the panel into two halves, is crowned at the top by an irregularly shaped reserve containing the Mandylion, the "Savior Not Made by Human Hands".The upper left register shows the hieratic figure of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, portrayed half-length in episcopal vestments (omophorion), raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing and holding the closed book of the Gospels with his left. The upper right register presents the dramatic iconography of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, with the Precursor's head resting on the sacrificial platter, the symbol of his martyrdom. Finally, the lower register features the Holy Martyrs of Edessa: Saint Samonas, Saint Gurias, Saint Abibus, and Saint Euphemia, identifiable by the calligraphic Cyrillic inscriptions above their haloes. The artwork exhibits a fine pictorial execution conducted according to the ancient traditional canons, with a warm color palette dominated by shades of brown, brick red, and ochre.