No. 4 (39) (2025), Eurasian Heritage
No. 4 (39) (2025)

Icon and Legend: the Abalak Mother of God with miracles in the marginalia is a unique monument of the Nevyansk School of icon painting

Eurasian Heritage
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.04.001
Published 2025-12-27
Kasya Popova
Nevyansk Icon Museum, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
kasya20@yandex.ru
Выпуск № 4 (39) 2025 журнала "Искусство Евразии"
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Keywords

Ural, icon painting, Old Believer icon, Nevyansk icon, Abalak Mother of God, iconography, Legend of the Abalak Mother of God

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How to Cite

Popova, K. (2025) ‘Icon and Legend: the Abalak Mother of God with miracles in the marginalia is a unique monument of the Nevyansk School of icon painting’, The Art of Eurasia, (4), pp. 14–29. doi:10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.04.001.
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Abstract

This article is the first publication and study of an icon from the collection of the Nevyansk Icon Museum in Yekaterinburg. The Abalak Mother of God, also known as Abalakskaya, is the most revered icon in Siberia, despite being painted in the Urals. The uniqueness of this icon lies in its origin as the only known Abalak Mother of God from the Nevyansk School of Icon Painting. Its extended iconography is also noteworthy, featuring miniature scenes of life and miracles in the marginalia. Furthermore, this artefact serves as a valuable historical document, depicting lost church buildings and historical figures.

Through the use of the comparative-historical method, the icon has been dated to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The author examines several versions of the icon's provenance, identifies the person who commissioned it, and selects the most reliable option. It is concluded that the commissioner of the icon from Yekaterinburg was likely the owner of a tallow factory. The evolution of the iconography of the Abalakskaya icon and its miraculous copies has been studied using the iconographic method. It is suggested that a copy of the prototype of the Abalakskaya icon is currently stored in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. Due to the uniqueness of the monument, it is hypothesised that the master developed a new iconography and used a source: miniature scenes in the marginalia clearly correspond to passages of the literary monument, the “Legend of the Abalak Mother of God” from the 17th century. The article provides a detailed description and analysis of the icon, comparing the miniature scenes with the corresponding fragments of the manuscript.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.04.001

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