Saint Paraskeva

Painting

Purdue University Galleries

Name/Title

Saint Paraskeva

Entry/Object ID

2005.02.069

Description

Tempera on curved wooden panel bordered in red, greens, and mustard yellow. The central image shows a woman clothed in a green dress with gold embroidery at the waist, hem, and cuffs. She wears a red cloak and a white head veil. She holds a small red orthodox cross in one hand and an open scroll in the other. She stands in a background with a teal sky and multi colored buildings. Appraisal sticker on the backside for $3200

Type of Painting

Panel

Artwork Details

Medium

Tempera

Acquisition

Accession

2005.02

Source or Donor

Betsy Scheuring

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

Made/Created

Time Period

18th Century

Place

Country

Russia

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

13 in

Width

10 in

Depth

1-1/2 in

Exhibitions

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)

Surveying the Sacred: Analysis of the Scheuring Collection of Eastern Orthodox Icons (2025)

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

Saint Paraskeva, also called St. Paraskeva Piatnitsa (meaning Friday), was especially revered in the Balkans and at Novgorod. She is regarded as the patron saint of the work of women, and (because Friday was also market day) also of commerce and trade. She was supposed to have lived as a hermit who gave away all of her worldly goods in the 2nd century. She became a nun and traveled to Rome, where she preached Christianity and was tortured and beheaded by the Emperor Antoninus Pius. Here she is shown standing and holding a cross and a scroll. She wears the red cloak of martyrdom and the white headdress of purity and chastity, a type of stole associated with an order of deaconesses. She seems to be standing on a cloud in the sky. There is an extensive landscape below with churches that have onion domes and towers, a river and a bridge. Above her halo in the border is the image of the mandylion, the face of Christ on a white cloth (see 2005.02.083). The sky behind Paraskeva changes subtly from dark blue to pink to light blue.