Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 187:
The Mother of God of Tikhvin
1751, dated with cyrillic letters, Tikhvin
NMI 119

Canvas grounded on both sides
(tabletka), egg tempera. Icon set into
later frame.

Inscriptions: A) On the front of the
icon, in the centre of the lower border:
(Tikhvins) KIYA. NAPISAN’. (of
Tikhvin painted) 7260. (year in letters)
GODA (the year, in Church Slavonic
characters, indicating the year after the
Creation according to Orthodox tradition);
B) A t.: an account of the history
of the original icon: “During the pious
reign of the Grand Duke Dmitrii Ioannovitch
of Moscow and All Russia and
under the Metropolitan Pimin and
under Archbishop Alexiy of Novgorod
and Pskov, the miraculous icon of our
Immaculate Ruler and Perpetual Virgin
Mary was revealed, when she deign -
ed to visit the land of Russia and in a
wondrous manner with her wonderful
image come to the River Tikhvin
through the air. 26th June in the year
6891 (1383) after Adam,” followed at
the bottom by an inscription describ -
ing the origin of the icon: “The icon
is carefully painted and framed and at
the expense of the Archimandrite
Leon[tii and placed] on the prayer
desk in the Cathedral of the Most Sacred
Dormition of the Mother of God
in Tikhvin... in perpetual commemoration
in October 1751...”

PROVENANCE: Olof Aschberg;
Gift of O.Aschberg 1933
EXHIBITIONS: Stockholm 1988, no 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kjellin 1933, no 119;
Kjellin 1956, p 242
CONSERVATION: Restored prior to entering
NM: lower corners damaged and replaced,
old varnish removed; NM 1986: paint loss
remedied, text on back conserved. Gold
losses on halos; background worn; yellow -
ish varnish
The subject is shown against a background
of clouds with three winged an -
gels’ heads on either side of the Moth er
of God. The painting is execut ed in a
Russian Baroque style. Cf. the Moth er
of God image executed in 1704 by
Kirill Ulanov and now in the Tretyakov
Gallery in Moscow (GTG 907).1

1 For the history of the Tikhvin Mother of God
icon see Mil´chik 1994.
[slut]