Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 109:
The Mother of God in Intercession
Part of Deesis tier of an iconostasis, cat. nos 109-110
Second half of 17th century, repainted in 19th century, Moscow
NMI 53

Wood: Linden (Tilia sp.), egg tempera
on canvas, silver gilt cover (possibly
secondary, 16th–17th century). Each
panel made of two boards with two
splines inlaid from opposite sides, cat.
no 109 lower one lost; back painted
dark brown.

Inscriptions a t.: Hand-written text in
black ink in Cyrillic letters: BOGOMATER
(Mother of God)

PROVENANCE: Olof Aschberg;
Gift of O.Aschberg 1933
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kjellin 1933, nos 53–54;
Kjellin 1956, pp 156, 172
CONSERVATION: Restored prior to entering
NM: face and hands repainted; remaining
parts overpainted several times, roughly
following the original outline (see test clean -

NM 1963: damage to maphorion and dress
stopped, retouches, cleaning of silver gilt.
Cracks in upper part of panel and in the
new wooden edging; scattered spots of
blanching varnish on maphorion; extensive
losses of silver cover on the right, revealing
traces of gilding beneath; parts of silver
cover lost on borders; panel warped

The contours and proportions of the
figures are clearly characteristic of the
middle of the 16th century. Examination
has also revealed traces of painting
beneath, which probably dates from
that time, the contours of which
appear on the whole to have been
adhered to in subsequent repaintings.
The present painting is very much in
the later Royal Armoury style.
The Saint John the Baptist Maiden
Monastery ‘by the glades’(see inscription
on cat. no 110) was a famous
monastery not far from the Moscow
Kremlin, built in the beginning of the
16th century. The paleography of the
seal can be dated to the beginning of
the 18th century.1

1 A.Turilov on a visit to the Museum
in October 1998
[slut]