Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 130:
The Prophet Habakkuk-The Nativity of the Mother of God
Part of Prophet/Festival tiers of an iconostasis, cat. nos 130-145
[NMI 20-35]
Late 17th century, Onega district, region of Novgorod, Kargopol (?)
NMI 20

Wood: Pine (Pinus sp.), egg tempera
on canvas. Each panel made of single
board with two inlaid splines from
opposite sides.

Inscriptions a t. : Nine horizontal lines
in black paint (slightly damaged)

PROVENANCE: According to tradition from
the collection of Grand Duke Paul; from
Volosovo ? (see cat. no 144); acquired by
Olof Aschberg in Moscow 1928, in all prob -
ability through the mediation of I. Grabar;
Gift of O. Aschberg 1933
EXHIBITIONS: Stockholm 1988, no 29
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aschberg 1928; Kjellin 1933,
nos 20–35; Kjellin 1956, pp 156, 165–168;
Abel 1989:2, p 15
CONSERVATION: All panels restored prior to
entering NM; NM 1968: whole series conserved
and blisters consolidated; Cat. no
130: crack through middle of panel; heavy
losses of canvas, ground and paint layers
along the bottom edge; various paint losses;
insertions of coloured wax on background
and borders; covered with yellow uneven
varnish

The 16 icons represent the Prophet and
Festival tiers of an iconostasis from a
small church or chapel; the central pictures
themselves are however missing.
The central panels were in all likelihood
occupied, in the upper part, by
the Mother of God of the Sign and, in
the lower part, possibly, by two scenes:
the Crucifixion and the Descent into
Hell (Anastasis). We may also presume
that the Presentation of the Mother
of God in the Temple is missing from
the left side of the iconostasis and the
Ascension from its right side. This
hypothesis is supported by the indications
on the reverse. This marking on
the reverse of the icon indicates their
original positioning, with a descending
scale on the left side of the iconostasis
and an ascending on the opposite side.
It shows that the inventory numbering
does not entirely correspond to the
original positioning of the icons.
The prophets are shown without
attributes but with scrolls, the texts of
which are taken from their respective
prophesies. Habakkuk’s text is not the
usual Habakkuk 111:2 or 111:3. The text
in the icon, which speaks of “the clearsighted
gift of the Spirit which sustains
the sanctified” is in fact not to be found
anywhere in the book of that prophet.
Nor is Nahum’s text 1:2 traceable to his
book (usually Nahum 1:6 or 1:12 is
reproduced). Daniel’s text, referring to
Daniel 11:34, speaks of “a stone cut out
without hands", alluding to Christ.
Ezekiel´s inscription is a free version of
Ezekiel XLIV:1, which speaks of the
gate of the outward sanctuary towards
the east, which was now closed – the
closed gate opened by God became a
sign of the supernatural birth of
Christ. Jacob’s inscription comes from
Genesis XXV111:12, describing his dream
of the ladder from earth to Heaven,
and the prophet Isaiah’s from Isaiah
VII:14, about the woman who is to
bear a son called Emmanuel. The text
of the prophet Zacharias, the father of
John the Baptist, begins: “Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visit -
ed and...”, which is the usual text in
this context. King David’s inscription
occurs as verse 8 of Psalm CXXXII,
King Solomon’s text is not to be found
anywhere in the Old Testament. The
text of Aaron is taken from Psalms
89:21, while the one of Jeremiah is
unusual and difficult to identify.
Moses’ text is a paraphrase of Exodus
III:2 about the burning bush, the
proph et Micah’s alludes to Micah v:2,
while the actual wording comes from
Matthew 11:6. The inscriptions for the
prophets Elisha and Zechariah are difficult
to interpret and unidentifiable as
biblical texts, while Malachi’s inscription
comes from Malachi III:1. The
link between prophetic texts and feast
day picture is in several cases quite
natural, as in the case of Daniel and
the Birth of Christ, while in others it
is more enigmatic, as for example in
the case of Isaiah and the Raising
of Lazarus. The coupled iconostasis
images first appeared in Russian tradition
during the second-half of the 15th
century and became especially widespread
in North Russia. This too is
probably where the Nationalmuseum’s
iconostasis originated. One notes the
squat figures with their round heads,
the archaisation and the somewhat
simplified form – features traditionally
regarded as characteristic of paintings
from North Russia.
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