Oil painting on mother-of-pearl in silver frame backed in brown velvet. This miniature icon depicts St. Michael with white hair and long white beard clothes in yellow robes and green stole. His hands are clasped over his chest and he stands on a yellow-green background.
Type of Painting
Panel
Artwork Details
Medium
Oil
Collection
Betsy Scheuring Icon Collection
Acquisition
Accession
2005.02
Source or Donor
Betsy Scheuring
Acquisition Method
Gift
Credit Line
Gift of Betsy Scheuring
Made/Created
Date made
circa 1900
Place
* Untyped Place
Moscow, Russia
Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Sticker
Location
Back of icon
Transcription
Sbitner 19th Cent St. Michael
Language
English
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
2-1/4 in
Width
1-3/4 in
Exhibition
Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)
Interpretative Labels
Label Type
Cultural/Historical Context
Label
Michael Cærularius was the author who advocated the second schism in the Byzantine Church. A politically ambitious person, he became a monk and rose through the ranks of the Orthodox clergy, becoming the Patriarch of Constantinople. He and Pope Leo IX of Rome excommunicated each other, finalizing the schism. St. Michael died after a shipwreck in 1059. This beautiful painting has an ethereal, luminous quality emerging from the mother-of-pearl surface. St. Michael’s face shows western artistic influence but his drapery follows the Byzantine manner.
