[EMPEROR ALEXANDER III] ICON 'THE MOTHER OF GOD KURSKAYA KORENNAYA' Russia, late 19th century

label with Cyrillic inscription 'Alexander... N 56'; inscribed in Cyrillic and numbered 'A.D.M 246289' (on the reverse) tempera, oil on wood 27 x 22.5 cm PROVENANCE: the label and inventory numbers on the reverse indicate that the icon was kept in the apartments of Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III) and his wife, Princess Maria Fedorovna, in the Alexandrovsky Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The icon was placed in the iconostasis. After the palace was nationalized in 1918, the icon became part of the collections of the Alexandrovsky Palace Museum. In 1931, the 'part of Alexander III' was liquidated, and most of its objects, including the icon, were transferred to the State Fund or sold. The Icon 'The Mother of God Kurskaya Korennaya' depicts the Mother of God carrying the Christ Child, surrounded at the edges by the image of God Sabaoth, Lord of Hosts, and the prophets of the Old Testament. The icon is venerated as miraculous and wonder-working. In 1812, a copy of the icon was sent to Kutuzov's army. The original was found in 1295 not far from Kursk, burnt by the Tatars. Until 1918, it was kept in the Znamensky monastery in Kursk, now in the Znamensky cathedral in New York. In 1880-1883, the painter Ilya Repin used 'The Religious Procession in the Province of Kursk' as the subject of one of his best-known paintings.