St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker

Painting

-

Purdue University Galleries

Name/Title

St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker

Entry/Object ID

2005.02.097

Description

Flat wooden panel backed with tan velvet with painting and silver riza on top with enameling. The riza border features circles with leaf motifs on the end and a Cyrillic caption at the bottom. The focal image features St. Nicholas who is crowned with an enameled cloisonné halo in varying shades of blue, white, red, and green. Nicholas holds one hand in the two finger blessing gesture and a closed book int he other. He is flanked by Christ on the left and Mary on the right. Nicholas's robes feature four leaf clover motifs and his painted face shows a circular white beard and white jaw length hair.

Type of Painting

Panel

Collection

Betsy Scheuring Icon Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2005.02

Source or Donor

Betsy Scheuring

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Makers Mark

Location

Bottom left of enamel halo, just to the left of the bottom center under the sleeve of the raised blessing hand.

Transcription

ИЩ, woman's diadem head 84

Language

Cyrillic alphabet, Russian

Translation

ISh (Ivan Shishkin, St. Petersburg 1818-1850)

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Icon

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Symbol, Religious

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Religious Objects

Nomenclature Class

Ceremonial Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Height

10-1/2 in

Width

8-3/4 in

Depth

1-1/4 in

Exhibition

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

For the biography of St. Nicholas, please see 2005.02.066. St. Nicholas makes a benediction with one hand and holds a Bible in the other. The riza shows him wearing a flowered dalmatic and a panagia necklace with a sparsely decorated stole. By contrast, the painting depicts him in a plain dalmatic without a necklace and a single cross on the orange stole. The background of the painting remains unadorned while the riza is detailed. The varnish-darkened faces of St. Nicholas, Christ, and the Virgin Mary contrast with their brightly decorated cloisonné haloes, which appear unaffected by age. The cloisonné mitre is colorful and ornate, but the painted mitre is red with a dark red oblong on the front. The western-influenced painting figure style displays softened and realistically rendered features. The clouds and borders of the riza remain silver while the rest of the riza has been gilded, adding an element of interest to the icon not present in the painting underneath.