Ancient Art of XIV-XVII Centuries

The collection of Old Russian painting of the Russian Museum is one of the largest and most significant in our country. It includes around six thousand icons. The permanent exhibition at the Mikhailovsky Palace represents a part of this collection, the most valuable works of 12th-17th centuries from the major art centers of Old Russia: Novgorod, Pskov, Vladimir, Suzdal, Moscow, and Yaroslavl.

The most ancient icons are on display in the first hall. The gem of the collection is the icon "Archangel Gabriel" ("Angel Golden Hair"), a unique 12th-century monument of Kievan Rus. The 13th-century icon "Our Lady of Tenderness" (Belozerskaya) is the earliest surviving Russian Orthodox icon of the Virgin. Also on display is the famous icon of Boris and Gleb. Created by a Moscow master in the middle of the 14th century, it is a rare image of the first Russian saints that has remained intact until the present day. 

In the next hall, one can see works coming from the two large centers of icon painting: Novgorod and Pskov. Among them is a wonderful artifact of the 14th century—the Novgorod icon "St. George and the Dragon". Farther on, there are works by the Moscow school of the 14th and 15th centuries. The central place is occupied by four icons from the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir: "St Peter", "St Paul", "Presentation of Jesus at the Temple" and "Baptism of Christ", made in the studio of Andrei Rublev, a prominent painter of the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Also on display is a group of icons from the Virgin Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery, executed by a well-known master of icon painting, Dionisius, and his apprentices. The final section of the exhibition consists of icons of the 16th and 17th centuries by painters who worked in Yaroslavl and Tver, and by the Stroganov School of icon painting. In the same hall, one can see one of the most important icons of the second half of the 17th century, "The Trinity" created by a famous artist of the Kremlin Armory workshop, Simon Ushakov.