ST. NIKITA AND THE DEVIL
Creator(s): Unknown
Currently in storage
About this object
One of the functions of the oklad was to embellish out-of-style icons, adapting them to contemporary worldly tastes. Here the spatial realism of the oklad corrects the stylistic weaknesses of the earlier icon beneath.
St. Nikita is seated on a raised dais within an interior, at the center of a dynamic, diagonal composition. A winged angel hovers behind his right shoulder, holding a crown in its left hand while with its right it propels a long-handled trident at the fleeing devil in the lower right. Christ In a cloud bank at upper left is the , at the center of a struggle between At the center of a dynamic diagonal composition Nikita, clad in a short blue-green tunic with gold borders, green trousers and short boots with a red cloak. [...] Five helmeted soldiers peek out from behind the picketed fence at left. The icon is covered with a silvered metal oklad, probably mid 19th century.
- Object name:
- ST. NIKITA AND THE DEVIL
- Made from:
- Tempera on wood -- silvered metal
- Made in:
- Russia
- Date made:
- 1600-ca. 1850
- Size:
- 12 5/8 × 10 3/4 × 12 7/8 in. (32.1 × 27.3 × 32.7 cm)
Detailed information for this item
- Catalog number:
- 54.41
- Class:
- ICON
- Signature marks:
- LABEL; INSCRIPTION ICON: on verso: HAS TO BE DONE (on masking tape), No 17 RITZA WORK DONE 8a ICON HAS TO BE DONE No 5 (on label); 84-3044 (on label attached to hanging wire; inscription cut into the wood parallel to side . . . V PAMIAT' . . .; OKLAD: on plaque at upper center: SV. VEL. MU. NIKITA;
- Credit line:
- Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973