On 8 June 2016 the Council Hall of the State Hermitage was the setting for the signing of a trilateral deed of transfer, giving the museum possession of a collection of icons that came from the FSB on the instructions of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The document was signed by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, Dmitry Anatolyevich Zavershinsky, head of the Investigative Service Department of the FSB administration for St Petersburg and Leningrad Region, and Sergei Valentinovich Bulavsky, head of the administration of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation for the North-Western Federal District.
Careful selection preceded the transfer of the icons: from the several hundred being offered, members of the Hermitage staff, curators of icon-painting in the Department of the History of Russian Culture, chose 37 icons. The main criterion for selection was a rare iconography or a non-standard (i.e. naïve, original, differing in some way from known analogues) depiction of the subjects or countenances in the icons.
“The artistic value of the icons presented is higher than their ritual value. That is the main reason why they should be in a museum and not in a church,” Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky observed. “We selected pieces that add to our knowledge and provide material for the study of the history of the icon in Russia, of its use in society. Icons with certain features of folk art, very rare ones, that will supplement our collection.”
The importance of this group for the Hermitage lies in the fact that the main characteristic of the complex of icons, along with the artistic value of the objects, is their historical and cultural significance.
Of particular interest are icons of selected saints – the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, St Nicholas Thaumaturge, an icon with a depiction of six saints. Characteristics of the manner of painting make it possible to date them to the early 1800s. Icons of different saints substantially increase the value of the Hermitage’s collection, since iconography often develops precisely through the inclusion of new names among the canonized. It is specifically at that time that the particular features of the depicted saints are worked out, their attributes and scenes from their lives. For researchers it is important to observe which elements from the lives of saints particularly attracted the attention of icon-painters, what it was in the biography of a particular saint that most strongly impressed itself on the popular consciousness and was preserved in paint.
The icon of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary is a unique example of folk art – the fine depiction of the countenances, the brightness of the paints, the skilfully carved wooden case enclosing it. This icon presents a splendid combination of a work of icon-painting and applied folk art, stressing the lofty status and significance that the Mother of God possesses in the life of the Russian people.
The icon of St Nicholas Thaumaturge is one of the commonest iconographic types, always recognizable, with its own specific features in each region. It may have come from central Russia. The case and crown indicate that the icon was painted to a commission and fairly expensive. This work is a good addition to the existing collection, reflecting more widely the circle of veneration of the sainted Bishop of Myra.
The Hermitage collection will also be enriched by an icon of the great Russian elder and confessor Serafim of Sarov. The early 20th-century icon is one of the first depictions of Saint Serafim, skilfully painted and in a metal mount.
An important place in the Hermitage collection is taken by icons with marginal scenes (small compositions presenting selected moments from the life of the subject святого or the main events праздника placed around the central depiction). These include The Nativity of the Virgin and The Harrowing of Hell with Selected Subjects with four marginal scenes; a Dormition and Ascension with two marginal scenes and a four-part icon with different depictions of the Virgin Mary: “The Seeking of the Lost”, “The Deliverance of Those Who Suffer from Misfortunes”, “Assuage My Sorrows” and “The Softening of Wicked Hearts”.
These icons stand out for the miniature fineness of the painting and the beauty of the proportions. They reflect better than anything the history of provincial icon-painting in the Russian Empire between the second half of the 18th century and the early 20th. Their presence in the painting stocks of the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture has substantially enriched the museum collection.
