Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 176:
The Image of the Divine Eagle slaying the Dragon
1729, Ustyuzhna, Central Russia
NMI 219

Wood: Pine (Pinus sp.), egg tempera
on gold ground on canvas. Panel made
of single board with two splines inlaid
from opposite sides put into frame
with two splines inlaid from opposite
sides; along the lower edge of the
central panel a secondary, superimposed
spline; back painted brown.

Signed: Semen Ivanov, Ustyuzhna
Inscription: See below

PROVENANCE: Olof Aschberg;
Gift of O.Aschberg 1933
EXHIBITIONS: Stockholm 1988, no 41
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kjellin 1933, no 219; Krasilin
2001, p 53–56
CONSERVATION: Restored prior to entering
NM: crack in the lower edge of the central
panel mended with a new spline; scattered
retouches; NM 1950: crack mended; 1988:
removal of older wax-resin, partially restored,
varnished. Crack along edges of central
panel with paint loss; wide crack in lower
edge of frame, left of centre, with paint
loss; cracks in the back of the icon; losses of
paint layers and ground along the edges;
yellowish varnish
In the centre of the composition is
a crowned, two-headed eagle on whose
outspread wings have been inscribed
the names of various virtues. In its
talons the eagle holds, on the left,
a small spear and, on the right, a branch
of a tree (palm?). In the centre of
the bird is an all-seeing eye from which
bands of text emanate. With a long
spear the eagle is slaying a dragon,
portrayed against a dark background
in the lower central part of the icon.
Immediately above the eagle’s head,
the Mother of God is shown halflength,
herself crowned and blessing
the eagle with both hands. On either
side of the large spear is a stylised
stamen with a semi-recumbent male
figure. Along the left and right outer
edges there is a larger stylised plant
with six calyxes. In each of these a
male figure is seated, according to the
inscriptions representing the twelve
apostles, each of whom is specified by
name. All the various plants emanate
from the larger of the two spears.
At the top in the centre is the Trinity
of the New Testament surrounded
by angels and the symbols of the Evangelists
are displayed in the corners.
This allegorical icon has a fairly
unusual iconography. With its com -
plicated theological content, however,
it typifies the radically new style that
came in with the 16th century, in terms
of both form and content. This phenomenon
is connected with profound
changes in Russian society and in the
Church. These are manifested, for
example, by the two great Councils of
the Church which took place in Moscow
in 1551 – known as the Council of
the Hundred Chapters – and in 1667,
at which the icon, its content and
style were a central issue.
In the centre of the icon is the crow n -
ed Byzantine two-headed eagle, here
symbolising the Church but also allud -
ing to the Tsar and to Moscow as the
heir of Constantinople, i.e. Moscow as
“the Third Rome”. Although this view
originated in the 15th century, it acquires
its first clear pictorial expression
at the end of the 17th.1 A closely related
iconography showing the same symbiosis
of spiritual and secular power
occurs in a drawing from about 1700
of the crowned double-headed eagle,
which moreover wears a third crown
given by the Lord God of Sabaoth
while the Mother of God is depicted at
the centre of the eagle, in the position
which, in the Nationalmuseum icon,
is occupied by the Eye of God. A car -
touche at the bottom contains the
following poem: “Orlu dvoyeglavnu,
rossiskaya slava. / Bogom venchanna,
tsarskaya derzhava. / Orel Bozhiu Mater
znamenuyet, / syn Eya mertvym tsartsvie
daruyet” (To the double eagle, the
honour of Russia. Crowned by God,
the empire of the Tsar. The eagle is the
sign of God’s mother, whose Son gives
eternal life to the dead).2
The icon is unusual also while it
lacks a traditional titular epithet. The
very extensive text is spread all over the
surface and is mostly not direct quotations
of biblical texts but paraphrases
of these. The form, including certain
rhymed parts, with its baroque herald -
ry and high degree of complexity is
influenced by the Virsha poetry.3
According to the inscription, bottom
right, beneath the symbol of the
evangelist Mark, this icon was commissioned
by Matvey Kiryakov, a
priest of the Cathedral of Ustchuzna
(Po prosbe ustyuzskago sobora i iereya
Matfiya Kiryakova syna). The signature
and date, the latter in Arabic figures,
are in the inscription at the bottom
edge, in the centre: [...]napisanya
v U[...]zhne leta 1729 indikta sedmago
risoval i malyaroval izograf Semyon
Ivanov mesyatsa iyulya f (=9) (Painted in
Ustyuzhna in the Year of the Lord 1729
in the seventh indiction. Semen Ivanov
the icon painter drew and painted on
the ninth in the month of July). The
icon painter is otherwise unknown.4
The full text of the icon is quoted in
App 1.
1 Tarasov 1995, pp 357–360, ill. 157–159.
2 Synodik 1902, p 1; the author is grateful to
R. Stichel for this reference.
3 Nilsson 1964; A. Turilov, Moscow, on a visit
to the Museum in November 2000.
4 Thanks are due to Elisabeth Löfstrand,
Stockholm University, for valuable assistance
in identifying the texts of this icon.
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