known in the pre-Mongol period) acquired figured contours separating the images
of the Evangelists in the corners. 14 In the 16 th and 17 th centuries the cruciform
shape of the central panel became more obvious, and these compositions on covers
grew widespread—both in Novgorod and in Moscow. Of the extant 16 th and 17 th -
century covers some stand out for their rarefied composition, 15 while others are
very close in design and proportions to the treatment of our icon of Saint Nicholas
(Figure 14). The latter include the Gospel covers from the Novgorod monasteries
of Khutyn, 1620s to 1630s (Figure 15), 16 and the Holy Spirit, 1639, with later
additions. 17 In the last two cases, as in many other covers not mentioned by us, the
cruciform outlines of the central field are clearly evident, and in the cover from the
Monastery of the Holy Spirit the resemblance to our icon is strengthened by the
figures of angels, cherubim and seraphim around the central quadrifoil.
The association of the icon’s compositional scheme with the structure of a Gospel
cover elevates the meaning of the icon’s representation to an exceptionally high
level, recalling Saint Nicholas' role in promoting Christ’s teachings.
Figure 13. An Angel brings
food to the Virgin. Detail from
icon of the “Presentation of
the Virgin in the Temple”.
Novgorod, end of 15th -
beginning of 16th century.
M.E. Elizavetin collection,
Moscow.
The method of associating a representation with another image in order to
demonstrate the symbolical resemblance between them is fairly well known in
Byzantine art. It was often used in the art of the Comnenian period which was rich
in refined associations. For example, representations of the Virgin and Child could
be given outlines reminiscent of the poetic images with which Mary was compared
in hymnological texts, and which, in their turn, were full of liturgical allusions.
An instructive example is the figure of the Virgin and Child from an 1192 fresco
in the church of the Panagia Arakiotissa in Lagoudera, Cyprus, 18 which due to the
special outline of the arms holding the Infant Christ resembles a sacred chalice
or liturgical spoon (λαβίς) in keeping with the metaphor in the patrological acta
(Figure 16). 19 A similar device is also found in a Russian icon of the “Virgin Orans”
c. 1224 from Yaroslavl (Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery), where Mary’s silhouette
resembles a holy chalice (Figure 17). 20 The same set of phenomena include the
well known association between the mosaic of the Virgin in the conch of the central
apse of the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Kiev and her long established epithet of the
“Indestructible Wall” (which is in part associated with the text of Psalm 44 placed
14 Such as, for example, the cover on the Moscow Gospel from the beginning of the 15th century from the Trinity-Saint
Sergius monastery in the Russian State Library, Inv.no. M. 8655 (G.I. Vzdornov. Искусство книги в Древней Руси.
Рукописная книга Северо-Восточной Руси XII – начала XV веков. (Moscow 1980), Cat. 64)
15 For example, the cover from the Trinity-Saint Sergius monastery in the Russian State Library, ф. 304, Троицк.,
III, № 10, 1521 or 1527 гг., by the master Ivan Novgorodets; the 1530-1531 cover in the Novgorod Museum; and
the 16th-century cover in the State Russian Museum (I.A. Sterligova (ed). Декоративно-прикладное искусство
Великого Новгорода. Художественный металл XVI-XVII веков, (Moscow 2008), Cat. 57 & 58, pp. 327-330).
16 I.A. Sterligova, 2008, Cat. 73, pp. 353-354.
17 Ibid. Cat. 74, p. 355.
18 A. Nicolaïdès, “L’église de la Panagia Arakiotissa à Lagoudéra, Chypre. Étude iconographique des fresques de
1992”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 50, Washingt on D.C. 1996, pp. 110-111, fig. 3; repr. In color: M. Acheimastou-
Potamianou, Greek Art. Byzantine Wall-Paintings. (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon, 1994), pl.70.
8
Journal of Icon Studies
19 Patrologia Graeca. vol. 18. Col. 364 (сочинения Псевдо-Мефодия). See also: H. Belting “An Image and Its
Function in the Liturgy: The Man of Sorrows in Byzantium”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vols. 34/35, (Washington
D.C. 1980/1981), p. 10.
20 E.S. Smirnova, “Литургические образы в произведениях живописи (на примере иконы начала XIII в.)”,
Византийский временник, vol. 55 (80) (Moscow 1994), pp. 197-202.