VLADIMIR IVANOVICH MOROZOV

Tempera on panel with silver riza

Height x width: 26.5 x 22 cm Weight: 1638 g.

The work faithfully reproduces the iconography of the Our Lady of Kazan, historically regarded as the supreme spiritual palladium of the Russian nation and a symbol of its identity in times of greatest military crisis. The composition originates from the legendary discovery of the icon in 1579 among the ashes of a fire in Kazan, when the Virgin appeared in a dream to the young Matrona, revealing the exact place where it was to be unearthed. From a local protectress against Tatar incursions, the Kazan icon became the focal point of Russia's national revival: it accompanied the popular militias that liberated Moscow from the Polish occupation in 1612, was invoked by Peter the Great before the Battle of Poltava (1709), and became the emblem of resistance during Napoleon's invasion of 1812, an event that led to the construction of the famous Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The subject, distinguished by the Virgin's solemn yet consoling half-length portrait and the Christ Child standing in a rigid frontal pose while raising His hand in blessing, recalls the devotional copies produced for the Russian aristocracy before the mysterious theft of the original icon in 1904. The silver riza, leaving only the faces and hands (the *liki*) visible, serves as both a protective and reflective covering, enhancing the sacred character of the image in accordance with the Byzantine-Russian tradition. The present example bears witness to the enduring strength of this profound historical and patriotic devotion throughout the twentieth century, preserving the timeless appeal of one of the most venerated images in Orthodox Christianity.

The riza is fully hallmarked with the 84 zolotniks (875/1000) silver marks, used in St. Petersburg from 1908 to 1926, assayer Ivan Sergeevich Lebedkin, and the with the mark of the silversmith Morozov Valdimir Ivanovich.