Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 227:
The Six Days of Creation "Shestodnev"
Ca 1820, Palekh
NMI 101

Wood: Juniper (Juniperus sp.), egg
tempera. Panel made of two boards
with two splines inlaid from opposite
sides (both replaced); back painted
brown.

Inscriptions a t.: A) Hand-written
texts in brown ink in Cyrillic letters:
Siya ikona prinadlezhit Ivanu Andreevu
Veryovkinu / vymenena na Makarevskoy
yarmarke 1820go goda avgusta 7 dnya /
(in Latin letters:) zaplocena piedeset
rubley (This icon belongs to Ivan
Andreev Verekin. It was procured
by barter at the Makarevskaya Market
on 7th August 1820 for 50 roubles);
B) Hand-written text in black ink in
Cyrillic letters: Ikona siya blagosloveniya
I[vana] A[ndreeva] V[erevkina]
synu ego Nikolayu / 1852 g noyabrya 23 d.
/ N I Veryovkin (This icon is I[van]
A[ndreev] V[erevkin’s] blessing on his
son Nikolai / 23rd November 1852 /
N I Veryovkin); C) Ink stamp of the
Soviet State Export Committee.

PROVENANCE: Olof Aschberg;
Gift of O.Aschberg 1933
EXHIBITIONS: Gävle 1970, no 16; Stockholm
1988, no 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kjellin 1933, no 101; Kjellin
1956, pp 307, 315; Bentchev 1991, p 145; Krasilin
1998, pp 98–99, 106–107
CONSERVATION: NM 1949: conservation for
flaking and blistering; 1970: longitudinal
crack and damage to border repaired,
retouches, new splines (B. Titov). Varnish
yellowed

This icon has a complex icono -
graphy. In the centre is the Lord God
of Sabaoth together with the six days
of Creation. To the right and left of this
are depictions of the days of the week,
each represented by the feast associated
with it by Orthodox tradition: the
Resurrection for Sunday, the Congrega -
tion of the Archangel Michael and
of all Incorporeal Heavenly Powers for
Monday, the Discovery of the Head
of John the Baptist for Tuesday,
the Annunciation for Wednesday,
the Washing of Feet for Thursday, the
Crucifixion for Friday and the Sabbath
of All Souls for Saturday. This last
mentioned depiction, occupying the
lower part of the central picture, sometimes
gives its name to the entire composition.
It includes, uppermost, a
Deesis and below this three scenes relat -
ing to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Paradise. Along the borders of the icon
are, top centre, the Eternal Sacrifice
(Predvetchnaya Zhertva) or the Divine
Liturgy, bottom centre a picture containing
three scenes depicting the
assassination of the holy Tsarevich
Dimitrii, in the corners the four Evangelists,
and twelve images, each with
two standing saints turning in supplication
towards the centre. The inscriptions
identify these, reading horizontally,
from left to right, as the Church
Fathers Gregorius Dialogus (the individual
appearance and the context
show that Gregory the Theologian is
intended) and James the Lord’s broth -
er, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom,
the Muscovite Metropolitans
Alexiy and Peter, Iona and Philip, the
Rostov Bishops Ignatii and Isaii, Leontii
and James, in addition Feodosii and
Anthony from the Monastery of the
Cave in Kiev, Sergii from Radonezh
and Varlaam from Khutyn, Savvatii
and Zosima from Solovki, Tikhon
from Luch and Maxim from Chernigov
and, finally, four Holy Fools,
Vasilii and Maxim, standing before
the Moscow Kremlin, and Isidore
and John.
The complicated theological presentation,
the precision and elegance
of style and the high technical quality
of this icon, coupled with other charac -
teristics, strongly suggest that it came
from an Old Believer workshop, most
probably from Palekh. A comparable
icon which is strikingly similar in both
iconography and style, dated 1817 and
the work of Vasilii Ivanov Khokhlov
who was active in Palekh, is in the
Pavel Korin Collection in Moscow.1
Another, neither signed nor dated, is
in the Collezione Ambroveneto.2
The Nationalmuseum icon lacks the
blonde tone of these two, which are
very closely related to each other
indeed. But the iconographic and stylistic
similarities are so great that the
Nationalmuseum icon can probably
be attributed to the workshop of V.I.
Khokhlov, as has been suggested by
M.M. Krasilin in his study of Khokhlov.
Krasilin has identified a number
of other icons belonging to the same
group. They also correspond with the
depictions of the border saints, i.e.
their connection to Rostov and Moscow.
As to the inscription on the
Nationalmuseum icon, Krasilin has
drawn attention to the 50 roubles paid
for the icon, which was a very high
price for that time. This may explain
why the price is given in latin letters.
He also notes that the word vyimenena
(recte: exchange for money), used
instead of “acquired” or “purchased”,
may possibly suggest that the buyer
was an Old Believer.3 The market in
Makarevo was one of the oldest and
best-known in Russia.

1 Antonova 1966, pp 135–137.
2 Smirnova 1996, pp 122–123.
3 Krasilin 1998, pp 98–99.
[slut]