JAIC 1992, Volume 31, Number 1, Article 3 (pp.

17 to 22)

RUSSIAN ICONS: SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL

ASPECTS
VERA BEAVER-BRICKEN ESPINOLA

ABSTRACT—A sensitive, ethical, and informed approach is particularly welcome in

the field of Russian icons because of diverse needs, opinions, and techniques within
the disciplines of conservation and restoration. This paper reviews the spiritual and
material aspects of Russian icons, presents an opinion based upon an ethnographic
object conservation orientation, and calls for a future dialogue.

1 INTRODUCTION

Derived from the Greek eikon, an icon in its broadest definition is any image or
portrait figure. According to Christian tradition, the earliest icon was an image of
Christ's face left on a cloth variously called Veronica's Veil, The Holy Mandylion, The
Vernicle, or as referred to in Russian, The Image Not Made with Hands. Many early
Christian icons were painted, but many others were also made of mosaics or metal
by repoussé and chasing, or casting, or by carving in stone or ivory.

When Russia was baptized into the Eastern Orthodox faith in 988, it adopted these
icon forms and more, such as embroidered textiles, enamels, and carved bone and
wood. Because the topic is so broad, this paper focuses only on Russian wooden icons
painted in tempera and their metal oklads (covers).

2 THE SPIRITUAL ICON

After the great iconoclastic controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries, the Eastern
Orthodox church formulated a doctrine of veneration of icons and also a set of
technical rules for their artistic production.

An authentic Russian icon is still created solely for religious veneration by a person
considered morally upright who also is blessed to this purpose by a priest. Old icons
were never signed since each was considered equally good, equally spiritual, and not a
work of art.

An icon is blessed upon completion and probably many times more, for in the course
of its existence it may reside in many homes, churches, museums, and other places
throughout the world. Each time it is reconsecrated to God it also becomes the
intimate icon of a new people or location. Even if desecrated, the blessed icon never
loses its sacredness, regardless of its situation.

Russians present icons in baptism, marriage, as memorials for the dead, in

thanksgiving, and for protection on a journey or in battle. Icons are used in churches
and homes where candles and incense are burned near them and where the faithful kiss
and touch them in acts of veneration and respect. Icons are never worshiped but
considered a source of spiritual awakening, divine energy, and even miraculous
events. Icons have become testaments of Russian faith, culture, and history.

3 THE MATERIAL ICON

The physical creation of an icon is steeped in tradition: “Every small item in an icon
has meaning and every line has a reason for being” (Ovchinnikov 1980).

3.1 THE PANEL

Lime, pine, spruce, and larch are the woods most commonly used in the construction
of old Russian icons. Limewood (Tilia europaea) was chosen for the best icons in
Central Russia since it is stable and resists deformation, splitting, and insect attack.
The tree was carefully selected, the resin consolidated before felling, and cut planks
were often seasoned for more than six years. Boards were sometimes covered with
resin to resist moisture, and the remains of black resin in depressions of finished icons
are often from the original resin cover. Earlier researchers thought these were burned
old boards that were overpainted, but recent research refutes this assumption (Lelikova
1987). The heartwood planks were worked with an ax or saw, and these marks can be
seen on many icons. Icon boards were often joined by mortise and tenon joints or
fastened with lastochki (wood insets called “birds' tails”). Boards were also adhered
with sturgeon glue and, after the late 19th century, with cassein glue (Lelikova 1987).
The icon panel was carved on the front to receive the painting (fig. 1),
and shponki (slats) were fitted into channels on the top or the reverse to prevent
warping. Many supports had fixed dimensions, allowing novices to copy an icon and
transfer it by stencil to a similar panel without having to adjust its size.

Fig. 1. Cross section of an icon panel

When the panels were completely seasoned and carved, the front was scored for the
application of the linen and gesso. Gesso was made of a finely ground chalk or
gypsum mixed with a glue.

3.2 THE GOLD LAYER

Normally, gold leaf was used for the background of an icon. Gold projects light and is
equated with the light of God. Gold with a greenish tone (mixed with silver) is seen on
very early icons of the 11th-century. On later icons, the gold was more often a bright
yellow with a slightly reddish tint (the addition of copper).

A pale gold, almost electrum, provided a light background with a silvery sheen. In the
beginning of the sixteenth century, Russian icon painters used thin sheets of silver
with a thinner layer of gold beaten into it, so that one side became silver while the
other was a very pale, whitish-looking gold.

After the eighteenth century silver leaf was sometimes covered with a reddish shellac
to produce a tint that looked like gold.

When the overlying linoxyn darkened, it was difficult to clean without exposing the
silver. Many such icons were severely damaged by restorers unaware of the delicate
technique.

3.3 PAINTING THE ICON

The drawing of an icon was said to be measured in thirds (Ovchinnikov 1980)(fig. 2).

An outline of the subject was often made with charcoal mixed with egg yolk.
 Fig. 2. The drawing of an icon is measured in thirds.

Some artists used paper tracings by making their own or using podlinniki, which were
books containing a collection of patterns intended as guides for icon painters. The
practice of tracing was associated with the Stoglav Council of 1551, which warned
icon painters against designing their own compositions and urged them to use
compositions of ecclesiastically sanctioned icons. Handwritten notations can still be
seen on the backs of some panels, giving instructions as to the subject of the icon and
other additions, such as an oklad or halos, for example.

When the background was of metallic leaves, the lines of the halos, faces, and figures
were incised in the gesso since a sketch would be lost under the gold or silver layer. In
the 17th century in particular, incised lines were often used to outline folds of clothing
where darker colors of the first paint layers would occlude the sketch. This practice
became more frequent with the use of thicker and less transparent paints in the 18th
and 19th centuries. Both organic pigments (even blood on certain areas of very old
icons) and inorganic pigments were used, often with egg yolk as a binding medium.
Pigments were often mixtures of three or more, even if only in small
amounts (Naumova 1980). Oil paints are sometimes seen on later icons, occasionally
as an overpainting.

Sankir is a flesh tint made basically of ochre and charcoal with the addition of other
pigments such as lead white, glauconite, cinnabar, or azurite. Each icon painter
prepared his own mixture, and analyses of sankir have been used to date icons.

The subject of an icon was always identified by Old Church Slavonic or Greek
orthography, generally in a black paint.

3.4 THE VARNISH LAYER

The olifa, or protective layer of an icon, was traditionally made of linseed oil, although
sunflower or poppy seed oil was sometimes used. Occasionally these oils were boiled
with a resin or amber, the latter being difficult to dissolve when cleaning an icon.
These oils produced a warm, pleasant glow and also protected the paints from the
devotional practices of the faithful.

4 THE OKLAD

Metals were used in conjunction with wooden icons in Russia as early as the 11th and
12th centuries.
4.1 BASMA OKLADS

Early oklads were made of basma nailed to the margins and/or selected areas of the

icon. Basma was a handstamped sheet of silver or silvergilt less than half a millimeter
in thickness (fig. 3). The basmawas often attached to the icon with small silver nails.
Some basma oklads covered large areas of the icon, accounting for the numerous nail
holes sometimes seen on the front (fig. 4).

Fig. 3. Basma oklad. Andrei Rublev, The Saviour, 15th century

 Fig. 4. Nail holes from a basma oklad. Dionisy, The Crucifixion, 1500

4.2 LATER OKLADS

In the 17th century, oklads were often made of one sheet of repousseé and chased

metal that repeated the iconography. The metal was excised to expose faces, hands,
feet, and other selected details of the icon it covered. Oklads were made of gold, gold-
plated silver, solid silver, brass, or copper, silver-plated or plain, often with the
addition of enamels, filigree work, pearls, and gemstones. They were sometimes
adorned with added halos, crowns, and pendants.

Although oklads were intended to beautify and protect icons, they sometimes provided

a facade over only half-painted, mass produced icons in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Nails used to affix the oklads or their additions often damaged the front of the icon,
spalling paint and ground layers. Brass and silver nails caused mechanical damage,
and iron nails often deposited rust.
5 PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION

Although created solely for liturgical use and personal devotion, icons are also found
in museums, private collections, and commercial galleries.

The spiritual goals of the church, the material goals of the merchant, and the
educational goals of the museum present three diverse perspectives for viewing the
icon, and at least two for its preservation and protection (i.e., conservation and
restoration).

5.1 THE CHURCH

Extensive restoration of an icon may be needed for religious use since its prayerful
function is dependent upon recognition. In the past, icons were sometimes desecrated
by gouging the eyes so that it could not “see.” An icon without eyes was not
acceptable for veneration, so before returning to church use, the eyes had to be
restored and the icon blessed again.

Church restorers are often clergy or lay artists specially blessed for icon restoration.
They are expected to understand the iconography, theology, and orthography of the
icon. Their goals are to repair, clean, and, if necessary, repaint the icon so that it is
recognizable for devotional use.

5.2 THE MERCHANT AND COLLECTOR

The goals of the merchant or secular collector include buying and selling for
investment, profit, or simply collecting icons as aesthetically pleasing works of art.
The preservation objectives of this group reflect their aims and often include
restoration.

5.3 THE MUSEUM

Ideally, the goal of the museum is education and research as well as the preservation
and protection of objects. For the icon, these objectives can be reached through
conservation as defined by:

1. detailed examination to collect information about condition, materials,

technology, history, and ethnographic use
2. physical stabilization, cleaning, and restoration for stabilization (figs. 5–6).
Conservation materials should be chemically compatible with the original and
 distinguishable between old and new. All materials used in icon conservation
should be reversible.
3. exhibition and storage in facilities environmentally safe for the icon.

Fig. 5. Andrei Rublev, The Saviour, early 15th century

 Fig. 6. Andrei Rublev, The Apostle Paul, early 15th century

The use of a stereo binocular microscope with fiber optics is urged for all conservators
who work with icons.