Icon Of Saint Nicholas The Wonderworker, Tempera And Gilt Wood Panel, Russia, 19th Century

Russian School, 19th Century. 
An icon depicting Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (Saint Nicholas of Myra) in a bust portrait, blessing with his right hand and holding the Book of the Gospels in his left hand, dressed in the phelonion and the omophorion adorned with a cross. He is flanked, amidst clouds, by Christ and the Virgin Mary (recalling the vision of the Council of Nicaea), with the borders (kovtcheg) adorned with full-length figures of intercessory saints.
Tempera painting and gilding on a wooden panel.
Russia. 19th century.
Good condition

Saint Nicholas of Myra is one of the most deeply venerated figures in the Russian Orthodox world, regarded as the universal protector and the intercessor par excellence. The canonical depiction of the holy bishop, flanked at the top by Christ presenting him with the Gospel and the Virgin Mary handing him the omophorion, is one of the major themes of private devotion.

Our icon, which follows in the tradition of 19th-century Russian religious art, bears witness to the fervour of folk and monastic painting, combining the expressiveness of the face of the Wonder-Working Saint with the protective presence of the saints depicted at the edges.