Mother of God of Kazan' (Kazanskaya), 19th century

Egg tempera on panel

Height x width: 43.5 x 37 cm

an intense and solemn testament to Orthodox sacred painting, faithfully based on one of the most venerated Marian prototypes in the Russian tradition. The composition features a close-up, monumental iconographic arrangement, characterized by a tight, bust-length depiction of the Virgin Mary, her head inclined markedly toward the Divine Infant. The Christ Child is shown on the right, portrayed from the waist up in an upright, frontal position; He is captured in the act of bestowing a solemn blessing, His right hand extended toward the viewer, while His left hand remains concealed beneath the folds of His garments—a blue tunic and a voluminous carmine-red mantle. The Virgin’s face, with its elongated features evocative of the purest Byzantine tradition, expresses a profound and austere spiritual melancholy, underscored by large brown eyes beneath slender, arched brows, and lips set in an expression of sorrowful dignity. Mary wears the traditional maphorion in a rich, brownish-red hue, its edges embellished with intricate, geometric golden trim, accented by white beadwork and the customary eight-pointed stars on her forehead and shoulder—a dogmatic symbol of her perpetual virginity. The faces and skin tones are rendered with a warm, layered painting technique, in which bold, light-colored highlights lend a strong, three-dimensional plasticity to the sacred figures. These figures stand out against a gold background that bears the marks of time, framed by expansive, radiating incised halos and a dark wooden perimeter border that encloses the entire evocative, sacred composition.