Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, Sts.
Iconography: Cosmas of Asia Minor, the Unmercenary, Damian of Asia Minor, the Unmercenary
Date: XVI century. The first half of the 16th century.
Origin: From the Church of Cosmas and Damian in Murom.
Material: Wood, tempera
Dimensions: height 69 cm, width 53 cm
The saint unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian are portrayed as middle-aged people with the same appearances – short hair, the receding hairline and small roundish beards. This type of faces was particularly widespread in the Russian icon-painting. While the icon is small in size, the saints’ images look majestic. Their slim elongated figures have classic outlines. In the delicate harmony of this work and meditative face with fine features and high foreheads one can find the influence of the Dionisius school. Yet, the icon has some properties distinguishing it from the 16th century Moscow icon-painting. Among them is the coldish palette, with prevailing thick and saturated emerald-green, olive-green and purple-brown shades on a light ochre background; dark shaded faces, contrast modeling of clothes with broad color highlights, expressive contours emphasizing heavy folds, three-dimensional figures and their free positioning in the space. By these features, the icon is kindred to some middle-Russian and Rostov icons of the first third of the 16th century based on the 16th century iconographic traditions.
General view