AN ICON ‘THE FIERY ASCENSION OF THE PROPHET ELIJAH’ Vladimir region, late 19th century

tempera, levkas on wood panel inscription in Cyrillic ‘To the village of Maikovo... to Andrey Petrovich Speransky. From the village of Mstyora’ (on the reverse) 31x26 cm Condition: without restoration, abrasion and loss of the paint layer The cult of Elijah was very strong in the traditional Russian society and the icons of such a composition have reached us from the beginning of the 14th century. The icon is executed in tempera in the traditional manner with the predominance of bright orange and blue colours. The characteristic ornamentation of the edges, the vigorous and simplified scheme of sections and spaces, and the light lubonic stateliness of the characters, all indicate that the icon comes from the workshops in one of the villages of the Vladimir region, commissioned for the painting of low-priced "commonplace" icons.