Travel icon depicting the Virgin Eleousa, 19th century

Bronze casting

Height × Width: 9.5 × 10.5 cm Weight: 80.1 g.

This icon belongs to the group of Russian Old Believer icons, mass-produced from the 17th century onward and characterized by strict adherence to the canons of the Byzantine tradition. These bronze artifacts were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, if necessary, to conceal, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, after the schism known as the Raskol, experienced periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church. The icon depicts the Virgin Eleousa, also called the “Virgin of Tenderness,” an iconographic type in which the Mother of God holds the Child, pressing her cheek against his in a gesture of intimate emotional closeness. This composition introduces a particularly intense emotional dimension, which distinguishes the Eleousa from other Marian models in the Byzantine tradition, such as the Hodegetria or the Orans Virgin. Because of its strong sentimental character, this iconography was particularly suited to personal devotional practice. The iconographic scheme developed in the Byzantine world between the 11th and 12th centuries and spread widely throughout the Orthodox world. A famous example is the Vladimir Madonna, now preserved at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and generally attributed to the 12th-century Byzantine tradition. In the small cimasa, the episode of Abraham’s Trinity (Gen. 18:1‑15) is depicted, flanked by two seraphim. The surface appears worn because the Old Believers considered tarnish (oxidation or darkening) a sign of corruption, and for this reason, they wanted metal icons to remain always polished; when an icon began to oxidize, it was enough to quickly rub it with a cloth, sometimes lightly sprinkled with chalk, sand, ash, or brick powder, restoring it immediately to its original brilliance.