In this icon Christ is depicted as Pantocrator or ruler of all. He wears a red himation and a blue chiton. He holds a gospel open at John 1:29 in his right hand and blesses with his left. This icon is undoubtedly the work of a master iconographer working in a conservative style. The blessing gesture is that of the Russian church that was used before 1652 and the reforms of Patriarch Nikon (fig. 1)

While western influences had been having an impact on icon production from the fifteenth century, it seems our iconographer has adhered to a purely ‘Russian’ style.

This icon is representative of what Smirnova described when writing about late sixteenth century Russian art, which embodies: ‘the classical virtues of clarity and harmony, the purity of soul of the figures, their goodness and mercy [which] reflect the bedrock of Russian artistic, moral and spiritual ideals,’ [Smirnova, 1998] One could argue that this statement can also relate to the conservative style employed here.

Engelina Smirnova, ‘Moscow Icon Painting from the 14th to 16th century’ in The Art of Holy Russia: Icons from Moscow 1400-1660, eds. Robin Cormack & Delia Gaze. Royal Academy of Art: 1998