The Russian Icon

Early Russian painting was one of the most significant achievements of national art and culture. It displayed extraordinary profundity and unsurpassed artistic perfection in its expression of Russian spiritual ideals. The first icons in the country were painted more than a thousand years ago, after Prince Vladimir converted to Orthodox Christianity and was baptized in 988. Russia received its Christianity from Byzantium, which had developed a new attitude toward religious representations, different from that of antique aesthetics and the doctrine of iconology. In the 10th century, the mighty Byzantine Empire had its own school of Christian art that constituted splendid artistic forms. Here, there are colorful images of Russian orthodox icons from different periods: Novgorod Icons (XII-XVI centuries), Pskov Icons (XIII-XVI centuries), Moscow Icons (XIV-XVII centuries), Tver Icons (XIII-XVII centuries), and Wonder-Working Icons. In English. Number of pages - 240.