Icon of the Mother of God Joy of All Palech Painting School

Icon of the Mother of God Joy of All Paleckh Painting School
The icon presented (size 37.2cm x 29.2cm) depicts the Mother of God “Joy of All”.

Theme:
Under the title “Image of the Most Holy Theotokos, Joy of All Who Suffer” we encounter an icon of the Virgin Mary whose type only emerged late. It is not yet found in the 16th century. The first miraculous images of this kind only date from the end of the 17th century. The depiction draws its material from the hymns of the Eastern Church, which the Mother of God often sings about as the “joy of all,” especially those seeking help. Parallels to this can also be found in texts from the Praise to the Virgin Mary in Western Christianity.

Description:
Mary stands full-length as the Queen of Heaven in the center of the picture. On her left arm she holds her divine son, with her right hand she points to the divine son. The Blessed Mother bows her head to a group of people who are gathered left and right at her feet. There are believers and those seeking help who have gathered in groups around the Mother of God. The requests of the believers are written down in ribbons above the groups of people.

In the upper corners of the icon the sun and the moon are depicted surrounded by banks of clouds, and in the center the Old Testament Trinity (Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit is depicted as a white dove) in an aureole decorated with cherubims.
Also in the upper margin is the Church Slavonic title:
“Image of the Most Holy Theotokos, the joy of all who suffer”

Assignment:
The icon presented is by a Palekh iconographer from around 1820. The painting was carried out using the tempera technique and, apart from restorations on the edge, is in its original state of preservation.

A collector's icon!