Monk Gennady of Liubimograd and Kostroma, 19th century

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

46 by 38cm., 18 by 15in.

shown full-length against a finely painted panorama of the monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord surmounted by an image of the Resurrection highlighted in gilt

Catalogue Note

For an example of the use of panoramic landscapes in icon painting, please see O.Taraso, Icon and Devotion, London: Reaktion Books, 2002, p. 269

Monk Gennady, born Grigory, was born into a wealthy family in Mogilev. A very pious child, he frequently visited monasteries, much to the dismay of his parents. Having resolved to devote his life to God, he secretly left home and travelled first to Moscow, and later on to the Vologda forest in the Novgorod region where he was monasticised by Monk Kornily of Komel’sk and given the name Gennady. The icon depicts the Monastery which he founded together with Monk Kornily in 1529 on the shores of Lake Sura.

The monk was blessed with gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance, demonstrated when he predicted the marriage of Ivan the Terrible and Anastasia, daughter of the boyar-noble Roman Yur’evich Zakhar’in.