Old Testament Trinity – 18th-century Russian Icon

18th-century icon painter
Southern Russia

Old Testament Trinity
Egg tempera on wood, 32×27.5 cm

The icon depicts the Philoxenia of Abraham, a biblical episode (Genesis 18) in which the patriarch welcomes three angels at the oak of Mamre, traditionally interpreted as a foreshadowing of the Trinity.

The three divine messengers sit around the laid table, draped in golden and orange robes, with outstretched wings against a bronze sky.

On the left appear Abraham—in the act of serving—and Sarah at the threshold of the dwelling, figures that ground the scene in the Old Testament narrative.

The composition follows the model of the Russian Troitsa, with echoes of the Rublevian archetype mediated through the iconographic tradition of the 17th–18th centuries.

The work features a brown lacquer background, typical of southern Italian production, with high-relief gilded finishes in the central halo.

Widespread craquelures attest to the authenticity and antiquity of the artifact.