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Theotokos of Vladimir, tempera on panel, 104 x 69 cm, painted about 1130 in Constantinople

The Theotokos of Vladimir (Greek: Θεοτόκος του Βλαντιμίρ), also known as Our Lady of Vladimir, Vladimir Mother of God, or Virgin of Vladimir (Russian: Владимирская Икона Божией Матери) and "The Vladimir Madonna" - is a medieval Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child that has been in Russia since soon after it was painted. It is one of the most venerated Orthodox icons and a fine and early example of the iconography of the Eleusa type.^[1] The Theotokos (Greek for Virgin Mary, literally meaning "Birth-Giver of God") is regarded as the holy protectress of Russia. The icon is displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow in a former church in the grounds of the museum.^[2] Her feast day is June 3. Even more than most famous icons, the original has been copied repeatedly for centuries, and many copies have considerable artistic and religious significance of their own.^[3] The icon is a version of the Eleusa (tenderness) type, with the Christ child snuggling up to his mother's cheek.

Unlike some icons with a special following in religious terms the high artistic quality of the work is universally agreed, and the Vladimirskaya, as Russians call it, is generally accepted as the finest of the few Byzantine icons surviving from its period, and according to the art historian David Talbot Rice "is admitted by all who have seen it to be one of the most outstanding religious paintings of the world".^[4]

History

As a work of art, the icon is dated to the earlier part of the 12th century, and a date shortly before its arrival in Russia about 1131, according to the chronicles, seems plausible.^[5] Like other Byzantine works of high quality, it is thought to have been painted in Constantinople, and is regarded as the finest panel icon surviving from the Comnenian period, the few survivors from which vary considerably in quality. Only the faces and hands are original, with the clothes repainted after suffering damage when a metal cover or riza was placed over them,^[6] and in a fire in 1195.^[7] The work shows a humanity and tenderness new to Byzantine art in this period.^[8] The reverse of the icon, which is much less well known, has a 15th century image of the "Prepared Table": a Hetoimasia with the Instruments of the Passion and other symbols.^[9]

About 1131 the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople sent the icon as a gift to Grand Duke Yury Dolgoruky of Kiev. The image was kept in the Mezhyhirskyi Monastery until Dolgoruky's son Andrey Bogolyubskiy brought it to his favourite city, Vladimir, in 1155.^[10] Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further. People interpreted this as a sign that the Theotokos wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir. To house the icon, the great Assumption Cathedral was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine. However the presence of the icon did not prevent the sack and burning of the city by the Mongols in 1995, when the icon was damaged by fire. It was first restored after this, and again before 1431 and in 1512.^[11]

According to the traditional accounts the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital, Moscow, in 1395 during Tamerlane's invasion. The spot where people and the ruling prince met the icon is commemorated by the Sretensky Monastery. Vasili I of Moscow spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day. The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Moscow Kremlin.^[12] However David Miller suggests that the icon was in fact normally still in Vladimir, with some excursions to Moscow, until the 1520s, and that crediting the icon with saving Moscow in 1395 does not appear in sources until the late 15th century, and the full version of the story until accounts of 1512 and then the 1560s.^[13] The Tretyakov website today says the icon came to Moscow in 1480.^[14] Undoubtedly, by the 16th century, the Vladimirskaya was a thing of legend, and associated with the growth of Russian national consciousness based on the Muscovite state.^[15] The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from Tatar hordes in 1451 and 1480.^{[citation needed]}

The icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir is sometimes described as expressing universal feelings of motherly love and anxiety for her child. Like some other icons it was believed to have been painted by St Luke from its living subjects. The venerated image was used in celebration of coronations of tsars, elections of patriarchs, and other important ceremonies of state.

A detail of the Vigin's right eye and nose in the icon is part of the logo of Icon Productions, founded by Mel Gibson.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ Tretyakov Guide, 280
^ Tretyakov Guide, 278-80
^ Evans, 164-165, showing an early copy also in the Tretyakov.
^ Rice, 89
^ Weitzmann, 17; Tretyakov Guide, 280; Runciman, 154; Rice, 89 in 1946 said "about 1100", and previously it had been sometimes dated considerably before that.
^ Weitzmann, 17; Miller, 658
^ Miller, 658; Runciman, 154
^ Runciman, 154; Rice, 89
^ Tretyakov Guide, 280
^ "Kyievo-Mezhyhirksyi Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Monastyr". Government historical-cultural reserve in the city of Vyshhorod (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2007-12-27.
^ Miller, 658-659
^ Evans, 165
^ Miller, 658-665
^ Tretyakov website
^ Miller, 669-670

References

Beckwith, John, Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Penguin History of Art (now Yale), 2nd edn. 1979, ISBN 0140560335
Evans, Helen C. (ed.), Byzantium, Faith and Power (1261-1557), 2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, ISBN 1588391140
Miller, David B., Legends of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir: A Study of the Development of Muscovite National Consciousness, Speculum, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp. 657-670, Medieval Academy of America, JSTOR
Rice, David Talbot, "The Greek Exhibition at Burlington House", The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 88, No. 517 (Apr., 1946), JSTOR
Runciman, Steven, Byzantine Style and Civilization, 1975, Penguin
"Tretyakov Guide":State Tretyakov Gallery; Guidebook, 2000, Moscow, Avant-Garde, ISBN 5863941065
"Tretyakov website", Catalogue description at Tretyakov Gallery website
Weitzmann, Kurt in The Icon, 1982, Evans Brothers Ltd, London (trans of Le Icone, Montadori 1981), ISBN 0237456451

External links

[1] Tretyakov Guide, 280

[2] Tretyakov Guide, 278-80

[3] Evans, 164-165, showing an early copy also in the Tretyakov.

[4] Rice, 89

[5] Weitzmann, 17; Tretyakov Guide, 280; Runciman, 154; Rice, 89 in 1946 said "about 1100", and previously it had been sometimes dated considerably before that.

[6] Weitzmann, 17; Miller, 658

[7] Miller, 658; Runciman, 154

[8] Runciman, 154; Rice, 89

[9] Tretyakov Guide, 280

[10] "Kyievo-Mezhyhirksyi Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Monastyr". Government historical-cultural reserve in the city of Vyshhorod (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2007-12-27.

[11] Miller, 658-659

[12] Evans, 165

[13] Miller, 658-665

[14] Tretyakov website

[15] Miller, 669-670

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Image:vladimirskaya.jpg|250px|thumb|Theotokos of Vladimir]]
+[[Image:vladimirskaya.jpg|250px|thumb|Theotokos of Vladimir, [[tempera]] on panel, 104 x 69 cm, painted about 1130 in [[Constantinople]]]]
-The '''Theotokos of Vladimir''' ({{lang-el|Θεοτόκος του Βλαντιμίρ}}), also known as '''Our Lady of Vladimir''',  '''Vladimir Mother of God''', or '''Virgin of Vladimir''' ({{lang-ru|Владимирская Икона Божией Матери}}) and "The Vladimir Madonna" - is one of the most venerated [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]] icons and a typical example of [[Eleusa]] [[Byzantine]] [[iconography]].  The ''[[Theotokos]]'' ([[Greek language|Greek]] word for Virgin Mary, literally meaning "Birth-Giver of God") is regarded as the [[holy]] protectress of [[Russia]].  The [[icon]] is displayed in the [[Tretyakov Gallery]], [[Moscow]].  Her feast day is June 3.  Even more than most famous icons, the original has been copied repeatedly for centuries.  Many copies now have considerable artistic and religious significance of their own.  The icon is a version of the ''[[Eleusa]]'' (tenderness) type, with the Christ child snuggling up to his mother's cheek.
+The '''Theotokos of Vladimir''' ({{lang-el|Θεοτόκος του Βλαντιμίρ}}), also known as '''Our Lady of Vladimir''',  '''Vladimir Mother of God''', or '''Virgin of Vladimir''' ({{lang-ru|Владимирская Икона Божией Матери}}) and "The Vladimir Madonna" - is a medieval [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]] [[icon]] of the [[Virgin and Child]] that has been in Russia since soon after it was painted.  It is one of the most venerated [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]] icons and a fine and early example of the [[iconography]] of the [[Eleusa]] type.<ref>Tretyakov Guide, 280</ref>  The ''[[Theotokos]]'' ([[Greek language|Greek]] for [[Virgin Mary]], literally meaning "Birth-Giver of God") is regarded as the [[holy]] protectress of [[Russia]].  The icon is displayed in the [[Tretyakov Gallery]], [[Moscow]] in a former church in the grounds of the museum.<ref>Tretyakov Guide, 278-80</ref>  Her feast day is June 3.  Even more than most famous icons, the original has been copied repeatedly for centuries, and many copies have considerable artistic and religious significance of their own.<ref>Evans, 164-165, showing an early copy also in the Tretyakov.</ref>  The icon is a version of the ''[[Eleusa]]'' (tenderness) type, with the Christ child snuggling up to his mother's cheek.
+Unlike some icons with a special following in religious terms the high artistic quality of the work is universally agreed, and the ''Vladimirskaya'', as Russians call it, is generally accepted as the finest of the few Byzantine icons surviving from its period, and according to the art historian [[David Talbot Rice]] "is admitted by all who have seen it to be one of the most outstanding religious paintings of the world".<ref>Rice, 89</ref>
-The current location of the icon in a church building on the grounds of the [[Tretyakov Gallery]].{{fact|date=December 2012}}
+==History==
-About 1131 the [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch]] [[Luke Chrysoberges]]{{clarify|date=August 2012|reason=Chrysoberges wasn't Patriarch until 1156}} of [[Constantinople]] sent the icon as a gift to [[Grand Duke]] [[Yury Dolgoruky]] of [[Kiev]].  The image was kept in the [[Mezhyhirskyi Monastery]] until Dolgoruky's son [[Andrey Bogolyubskiy]] brought it to his favourite city, [[Vladimir]], in 1155.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vyshgorod-museum.org.ua/index.php?go=News&file=print&id=5|title=Kyievo-Mezhyhirksyi Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Monastyr|accessdate=2007-12-27|work=Government historical-cultural reserve in the city of [[Vyshhorod]]|language=Ukrainian}}</ref>  Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further.  People interpreted this as a [[Omen|sign]] that the ''Theotokos'' wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir.  To house the icon, the great [[Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir|Assumption Cathedral]] was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine.
+As a work of art, the icon is dated to the earlier part of the 12th century, and a date shortly before its arrival in Russia about 1131, according to the chronicles, seems plausible.<ref>Weitzmann, 17; Tretyakov Guide, 280; Runciman, 154; Rice, 89 in 1946 said "about 1100", and previously it had been sometimes dated considerably before that.</ref>  Like other Byzantine works of high quality, it is thought to have been painted in [[Constantinople]], and is regarded as the finest panel icon surviving from the [[Comnenus|Comnenian]] period, the few survivors from which vary considerably in quality.  Only the faces and hands are original, with the clothes repainted after suffering damage when a metal cover or [[riza]] was placed over them,<ref>Weitzmann, 17; Miller, 658</ref> and in a fire in 1195.<ref>Miller, 658; Runciman, 154</ref>  The work shows a humanity and tenderness new to Byzantine art in this period.<ref>Runciman, 154; Rice, 89</ref>  The reverse of the icon, which is much less well known, has a 15th century image of the "Prepared Table": a [[Hetoimasia]] with the [[Instruments of the Passion]] and other symbols.<ref>Tretyakov Guide, 280</ref>
+About 1131 the [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] sent the icon as a gift to [[Grand Duke]] [[Yury Dolgoruky]] of [[Kiev]].  The image was kept in the [[Mezhyhirskyi Monastery]] until Dolgoruky's son [[Andrey Bogolyubskiy]] brought it to his favourite city, [[Vladimir]], in 1155.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vyshgorod-museum.org.ua/index.php?go=News&file=print&id=5|title=Kyievo-Mezhyhirksyi Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Monastyr|accessdate=2007-12-27|work=Government historical-cultural reserve in the city of [[Vyshhorod]]|language=Ukrainian}}</ref>  Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further.  People interpreted this as a [[Omen|sign]] that the ''Theotokos'' wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir.  To house the icon, the great [[Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir|Assumption Cathedral]] was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine.  However the presence of the icon did not prevent the sack and burning of the city by the [[Mongols]] in 1995, when the icon was damaged by fire. It was first restored after this, and again before 1431 and in 1512.<ref>Miller, 658-659</ref>
-In 1395, during [[Tamerlane]]'s invasion, the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital, Moscow.  The spot where people and the ruling prince met the icon is commemorated by the [[Sretensky Monastery]].  [[Vasili I of Russia|Vasili I of Moscow]] spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day.  The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the [[Cathedral of the Dormition]] of the [[Moscow Kremlin]].  The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from [[Tatar]] hordes in 1451 and 1480.{{fact|date=December 2012}}
+According to the traditional accounts the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital, Moscow, in 1395 during [[Tamerlane]]'s invasion.  The spot where people and the ruling prince met the icon is commemorated by the [[Sretensky Monastery]].  [[Vasili I of Russia|Vasili I of Moscow]] spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day.  The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the [[Cathedral of the Dormition]] of the [[Moscow Kremlin]].<ref>Evans, 165</ref>  However David Miller suggests that the icon was in fact normally still in Vladimir, with some excursions to Moscow, until the 1520s, and that crediting the icon with saving Moscow in 1395 does not appear in sources until the late 15th century, and the full version of the story until accounts of 1512 and then the 1560s.<ref>Miller, 658-665</ref>  The Tretyakov website today says the icon came to Moscow in 1480.<ref>Tretyakov website</ref> Undoubtedly, by the 16th century, the ''Vladimirskaya'' was a thing of [[legend]], and associated with the growth of Russian national consciousness based on the Muscovite state.<ref>Miller, 669-670</ref> The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from [[Tatar]] hordes in 1451 and 1480.{{fact|date=December 2012}}
-The icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir is sometimes described as expressing universal feelings of motherly love and anxiety for her child.  By the 16th century, the ''Vladimirskaya'' (as the [[Russians]] call it) was a thing of [[legend]].{{fact|date=December 2012}} A pious custom of the church asserted that the icon was painted by [[St Luke]]. {{fact|date=December 2012}} The venerated image was used in celebration of coronations of [[tsar]]s, elections of patriarchs, and other important ceremonies of state.  {{fact|date=December 2012}}
+The icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir is sometimes described as expressing universal feelings of motherly love and anxiety for her child.  Like some other icons it was believed to have been painted by [[St Luke]] from its living subjects. The venerated image was used in celebration of coronations of [[tsar]]s, elections of patriarchs, and other important ceremonies of state.
-As a work of art, the Theotokos is widely regarded as the most important icon produced during the [[Comnenus|Comnenian]] period.  Scholars believe that it expresses deeper humanity and emotionality than that typical of contemporary [[Byzantine art|Byzantine religious art]], and may hint at the style of the lost secular art of the empire.{{fact|date=December 2012}} As David Talbot Rice asserts in the latest edition of the ''[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]'', "it is of considerable importance in the history of painting, for it not only is a work of outstandingly high quality but also is in a new, more human style, anticipating the late Byzantine style that flourished between 1204 and 1453." {{fact|date=December 2012}}
-A close-up of the mother's eye of the icon, is seen on the logo of [[Icon Productions]], founded by [[Mel Gibson]].{{fact|date=December 2012}}
+A detail of the Vigin's right eye and nose in the icon is part of the logo of [[Icon Productions]], founded by [[Mel Gibson]].{{fact|date=December 2012}}
 ==See also==
@@ Line 18: / Line 19: @@
 * [[Our Lady of Vladimir Church]] – a church in St. Petersburg, is painted in gold and black, the colours of the Theotokos of Vladimir
 * [[Our Lady of St. Theodore]] - a miraculous icon said to be painted after the Vladimirskaya
+==Notes==
+{{reflist|2}}
 ==References==
+*Beckwith, John, ''Early Christian and Byzantine Art'', Penguin History of Art (now Yale), 2nd edn. 1979, ISBN 0140560335
-{{reflist}}
+*Evans, Helen C. (ed.), ''Byzantium, Faith and Power (1261-1557)'', 2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, ISBN 1588391140
+*Miller, David B., ''Legends of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir: A Study of the Development of Muscovite National Consciousness'', ''Speculum'', Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp. 657-670, Medieval Academy of America, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2855325 JSTOR]
+*[[David Talbot Rice|Rice, David Talbot]], "The Greek Exhibition at Burlington House", ''[[The Burlington Magazine]]'', Vol. 88, No. 517 (Apr., 1946), [http://www.jstor.org/stable/869212 JSTOR]
+*[[Steven Runciman|Runciman, Steven]], Byzantine Style and Civilization, 1975, Penguin
+*"Tretyakov Guide":''State Tretyakov Gallery''; Guidebook, 2000, Moscow, Avant-Garde, ISBN 5863941065
+*"Tretyakov website", [http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/collection/_show/image/_id/2216# Catalogue description at Tretyakov Gallery website]
+*[[Kurt Weitzmann|Weitzmann, Kurt]] in ''The Icon'', 1982, Evans Brothers Ltd, London (trans of Le Icone, Montadori 1981), ISBN 0237456451
 {{coord missing|Moscow}}
@@ Line 26: / Line 37: @@
 ==External links==
-*[http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/collection/_show/image/_id/2216# Catalog description at Tretyakov Gallery website]
 [[Category:Byzantine art]]

v t e Town-protecting Marian icons of Russia
	National veneration	Vladimirskaya (Vladimir and Moscow) Znamenie (Novgorod) Smolenskaya (Smolensk) Feodorovskaya (Kostroma) Kurskaya (Kursk) Tolgskaya (Yaroslavl) Tikhvinskaya (Tikhvin and Northwest Russia) Kazanskaya (Kazan and All of Russia)
	Regional veneration	Abalakskaya (Tobolsk and Siberia) Akhtyrska (Akhtyrka) Belozerskaya (Belozersk) Galichskaya (Galich) Kaluzhskaya (Kaluga) Kashinskaya (Kashin) Ozeryanska (Kharkiv) Petrovskaya (Moscow) Samarska (Dnipro) Starorusskaya (Staraya Russa) Toropetskaya (Toropets) Uralskaya (Urals/Ekaterinburg)
List of oldest Russian icons Iverskaya Vlakhernskaya Donskaya Kholmska Derzhavnaya