Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
THE ICON SHOWN
- AUTHOR
- Anastasia Kaplii
- YEAR
- 2024
- 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
- Byzantine tradition, the first centuries after the saint’s death. The author of the original image is unknown.
ABOUT THE IMAGE
Mercy and generosity
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is an image of mercy, generosity and selfless help to one’s neighbour. He lived at the turn of the third and fourth centuries and was bishop of Myra in Lycia, in Asia Minor, on the territory of present-day Turkey. Church tradition has preserved many accounts of his secret help to those in need, his rescue of people in danger and his defence of the innocent. People pray to Saint Nicholas for help in difficult circumstances, for the protection of travellers, for the well-being of family and children and for deliverance from injustice.
The iconography of Nicholas of Myra took shape gradually after his death in the fourth century. Over time a recognisable image of the saint emerged — a grey-haired bishop with the Gospel book and a blessing hand.
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.