647 - Four-field icon, Crucifixion, Pantocrator, Nicholas, probably Sergius of Radonezh, Russia, 19th c.

Four-field icon, Crucifixion, Pantocrator, Nicholas, probably Sergius of Radonezh, Russia, 19th c. Four-field icon, painting on wood, unsigned, Russia, 19th century, the picture field divided into four fields by the cross-shaped central field with the Crucifixion of Christ, above the cross God the Father Sabaoth in half-length in a radiant glory, flanking the Crucified the Mother of God and John in half-length, at the foot of the cross the skull of Adam, upper left Christ Pantocrator with gesture of blessing and globe, upper right St Nicholas the Wonderworker in bishop's vestments with omophorion and Gospel book, lower left a monastic saint with hood and a cross in his hand, probably St Macarius, lower right the Venerable Sergius, probably Sergius of Radonezh, with his right hand raised before his chest, all figures with Church Slavonic name inscriptions, fields with yellow line framing, background of the fields dark brown at the top and ocher at the bottom, on the reverse a sliding batten (shponka), a metal eyelet and an incised Cyrillic inscription, minimally bumped, condition commensurate with age, 46x39.5 cm (HxW) The four-field icon is among the widespread types of Russian domestic icon on wood in the 19th century: the Crucifixion of Christ forms the cross-shaped central field, around which four picture fields with Christ, the Mother of God or saints are grouped, so that a single icon panel unites several devotional images. St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in the 4th century and particularly venerated in Russia as Nicholas the Wonderworker, appears on icons according to iconographic convention as a bishop with phelonion, omophorion set with crosses, gesture of blessing and closed Gospel book. The monastic saint Sergius designated as "venerable" is, on Russian icons, as a rule Sergius of Radonezh, born between 1314 and 1322 in Rostov and died in 1392; he founded the Trinity Monastery in present-day Sergiyev Posad circa 1340, was canonized in the middle of the 15th century and is regarded as a father of monks and one of the most important saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church Slavonic name inscriptions belong to the individual figures and name the saints, as the canon of icon painting prescribes for every figure. The hood with crosses and the strip of cloth set with crosses worn by the monastic saint at lower left belong to the Great Schema, the highest grade of the Orthodox monastic habit, which only experienced monks received.