Bidspirit auction | [Reign of Alexander I]. Icon

[Reign of Alexander I]. Icon ”Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (Winter Type)” with Selected Deësis: the Saviour and the Mother of God. Russian Empire, 1801–1810. Wood, gesso, tempera, painting, gilding. Dimensions: 31.2 × 26.5 cm. Condition: good, approaching very good; surface wear and soiling, darkened varnish, signs of use; minor losses of the paint layer and ground in the lower part of the field and along the edges; no interventions and no restoration. The icon is painted on a thick panel with deep inset end-grain splines. Saint Nicholas is depicted half-length, wearing a mitre and episcopal vestments, blessing with his right hand and holding in his left a closed Gospel Book in a richly decorated cover with a round medallion. In the upper corners are the Saviour and the Mother of God in radiant haloes, within clouds of glory, turned towards the saint. The painting is refined, with soft chiaroscuro modelling of the face and hands, and an ornate, meticulously rendered treatment of the red sakkos, the golden omophorion and mitre, emphasising the festive character of the image. The refined academic manner of painting, the decorative richness of the vestments and attributes, and the construction of the panel with its original, very deep end-grain splines place the icon within the central icon-painting school of the Russian Empire at the very beginning of the 19th century. Oral consultation by specialists of the Central Museum of Early Russian Culture and Art named after Andrei Rublev — the museum of Russian ecclesiastical art of the Medieval and Modern periods.