Iconographer: St. Luke the Evangelist
Date: 1st c.
Possibly the most beloved icon of the Virgin
Mary in the world, this tenderness style icon
now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow is
attributed to the hand of St. Luke the
Evangelist and was by tradition painted from
life on a board from the table that the Virgin,
St. Joseph the betrothed, and Jesus at times
tool their meals. Orifinally this icon was
called the Virgin of Tenderness. In a.d. 450
it was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople
and in the 12th century was transferred near
Kiev and placed in the Devinci Monastery,
Vyshgorod. In 1155 Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky
was directed by the Virgin in a dream to move
her icon from Kiev to the city of Bladimir in
northern Russia; thus the name "Of Vladimir".
The Virgin is depicted raising her right hand
in veneration of her Son, while her face shows
silent suffering, calmness, and compassion, not
sentimentality. Several important victories in
Russian history are attributed to theinterces-
sion of this icon, especially over Tamerlane in
a.d. 1395 and over the Poles in a.d. 1612. Except
for the faces of the Virgin and Christ, the
entire icon has been repainted several times,
lastly in 1919 by G. Chirikov.
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