Archangel Michael
THE ICON SHOWN
- AUTHOR
- Anastasia Kaplii
- YEAR
- 2026
- MATERIALS
- Egg tempera, natural mineral pigments, gold
- TECHNIQUE
- Translucent layering with fine painterly strokes
- TRADITION
- Early Russian icon painting, inspired by the legacy of Andrei Rublev
- ORIGIN OF THE IMAGE
- Early Christian and Byzantine tradition. The author of the original image is unknown.
ABOUT THE IMAGE
“Who is like God?”
Archangel Michael is the leader of the Heavenly Host and an image of spiritual strength and protection. His name is translated as “Who is like God?”. In Holy Scripture Michael appears as the defender of God’s people, and in the Revelation of John the Theologian he leads the heavenly host in the struggle against the powers of evil. People pray to him for protection from danger, for strengthening of spirit, for courage in trials and for the safekeeping of home and family.
Images of Archangel Michael appeared already in early Christian art and developed further in Byzantium. There is no single “first icon” of Michael: his iconography took shape gradually, drawing on Holy Scripture and Church tradition.
LETTER
The face is painted last. By that point nothing can be changed — neither the colour of the robes, nor the turn of the head, nor the gold behind the shoulders.
Gold here is neither ornament nor background. It is a refusal of space: the figure stands in no room, in no landscape.
An icon is not painted for a museum. It is placed at home, at eye level — and looked at for years.