Resurrection, ca. 1800
Egg tempera and gesso on wood.
The event depicted in this icon, known in Russian as Bogoyavlenie i voskresinie, in Greek as ANASTASIS and in Old English as the Harrowing of Hell, is the Orthodox Church’s greatest feast. It celebrates Easter, and shows Christ Descending into Hell to rescue Adam and Eve, and by implication all of humanity, from spiritual death; all this representing the general resurrection of humanity.
Provenance
1. French art market
2. Temple Gallery, Christmas 2009
3. Gunnar Teig-Olsen collection, Norway