Glorification of the Cross (reverse side)
Iconography: Glorification of the Cross
Date: XII century.
Origin: The icon was probably painted for the Church of the Holy Image on Dobryninskaya Street at Sofiyskaya storona district in Novgorod. It was subsequently located in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow’s Kremlin.
Material: Wood, tempera
Dimensions: height 77 cm, width 71 cm
The eight-pointed cross with a pink palm wreath on the reticule rises above a pink mount – Golgotha, inside which is a black cave with Adam’s skull. At the foot of Golgotha are the archangels holding the instruments of passion and worshipping the cross. To the left is the Archangel Michael with a lance, wearing a light-blue chiton and a light-pink himation; to the right stands Gabriel with a stick, dressed in a light-blue chiton and a light-blue himation. On either side of the cross are facial profiles inside the circles symbolizing the Sun and the Moon.
Front side
Inv. № 14245. © The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Bibliography:
Государственная Третьяковская Галерея. Каталог собрания. Древнерусское искусство X — начала XV века. Том I. №8.
General view