The Appropriation of the Power of Ancient Miraculous Images of the Mother of God in the Iconic Replicas of the Late 17th - Early 18th Century

Abstract

The article discusses the representation of miracles performed by the ancient icons of the Mother of God (believed to be painted by Luke the Evangelist and revered in Russia from the 12th - 13th centuries) in the late medieval Russian iconography. The paper analyzes three well-known replicas of the Virgin’s icons “with the legend” created and revered in the last decades of the 17th - early 18th centuries (“Our Lady of Vladimir” by Cyril Ulanov, “Theodor’s Our Lady” by Gury Nikitin, and “Our Lady of Tikhvin” by an unknown artist). In these works, the wonders of ancient shrines depicted in the chapters of their frames referred to significant events of the Russian history. Problems of decoding the iconographic programs of these icons, interpreting their plots, revealing the artistic techniques of transmitting the power of their miraculous prototypes are studied within a wide cultural and historical context. The icons emphasized those miracles that fit into the concept of a genetic connection of the Romanov dynasty with Vladimir-Suzdal and Moscow Russian state. The power of the miraculous icons of the Virgin Mary was not only appropriated in new images in the hope of receiving miraculous help from these replicas; the new icons were intended to preserve the memory of the miracles performed by the original images that saved Russian troops and cities in various dangerous situations.