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| The Virgin Eleousa of Vladimir (12th c.) The fourth icon, the so-called Virgin of Vladimir, possibly the most famous icon of Russia, is not a Russian icon, but a gift brought from Constantinople to Russia in 1131. Prince Andrei Bogoliubskii moved the icon from Kiev to the city of Vladimir in 1155. In 1395 the icon was permanently transferred to Moscow; amazingly, the transfer took place on the same day as the withdrawal of Khan Tokhtamysh's forces besieging Moscow. From the very beginning the icon was considered a work of such an outstanding quality and power that it was constantly copied, producing numerous variations on the theme. The composition is known as the Virgin Eleousa (of Tenderness, Umilenie): "The Virgin holds the Child in her right arm and points at him with her left hand, while the Child puts his left arm around the Virgin's neck and presses his cheek against hers. . . Although the gestures indicate a close relationship, the Virgin's face does not so much express maternal affection as it does--if any term of human emotion can be applied--slight melancholy, as if she were foreseeing the Passion of her son, prefiguring in this respect a later, related icon type in which the implements of Christ's Passion were added. The almond-shaped eyes, the narrow, elegantly drawn nose, the dark olive green shadows in the face--all these features have a dematerializing effect, stressing the Divine" (Weitzmann 1978, 80). [S.H. and A.B.] http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/byzant.html#John |