Holy Virgin Hodegetria

The icon belongs to a special iconographic type known as the Mother of God Hodegetria that was widespread in the Russian iconography of the late 15th – the 16th century. In the 17th century the icon was called the Mother of God Sedmijezernaya, after the miraculous icon, formerly kept at the Sedmijezerny (Seven-lake) Hermitage. The distinctive features of this iconographic variant is a pose of the Child, shown half-turning to the Mother of God, with his right hand raise in a benedictory gesture and the left hand with a scroll resting on His left ankle and a somewhat raised left leg. The style of the icons and its characters distinguishes itself from the others, more refined iconographic examples. Heavy and monumental figures of the Mother of God and the Child and bright large-featured faces are portrayed three-dimensionally and emphatically materially. The Mother of God’s hands are depicted with clearly outlined joints. Christ’s face with a high forehead and noticeably skewed lips has irregular forms and lacks infant features. These features are possibly derived from the original painting or reproduce other unknown prototype. 

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  General view