ICON ‘SAINT ELIJAH THE PROPHET AND SAINT ALEXIUS OF ROME’ The Russian North (Northern Dvina), second half of the 18th century

wood, levkas, tempera 75.5 x 34 cm Condition: overall in good condition, some small restoration of levkas and paint layer The images of the saints are overshadowed by the image of Emmanuel the Saviour blessing them. The icon was painted in the Russian North at the height of its culture and crafts in the second half of the 18th century. With nothing to confuse the ultimate expression of this style: the original strength, energy and asceticism of images, elongated, over-whitened bodies, dried up to the transformation of anatomy in the ornament.