Mother of God of Kazan (Kazanskaya), 20th century

Egg tempera on panel

Height x width: 22.5 x 18 cm

an intense and solemn testimony of Orthodox sacred painting, faithfully based on one of the most venerated Marian prototypes of the Russian tradition. The composition presents a close-up and monumental iconographic layout, characterized by the narrow-bust depiction of the Virgin Mary with her head markedly reclined towards the Divine Infant. Baby Jesus is depicted on the right, portrayed in an upright and frontal position up to the waist, caught in the act of making the solemn gesture of blessing with his right hand facing the observer, while the left remains ideally hidden by the drapes of his robes made up of a blue tunic and a large carmine red cloak. The face of the Virgin, with elongated and evocative features of the purest Byzantine tradition, expresses a deep and severe spiritual melancholy, accentuated by the large brown eyes surmounted by thin eyebrow arches and by the lips pursed in an expression of painful dignity. Maria wears the classic maphorion of a rich red-brown shade, embellished along the edges with dense geometric golden profiling enriched by white beading.