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Icon "Do Not Weep for Me, Mother..."

Icon "Do Not Weep for Me, Mother..."

Inv. #
М-2380
Dimensions
11.5 × 9.8 × 0.3 cm
Materials

Description

The icon is made of yellow metal, rectangular in form. The scene of the Virgin Mary mourning the crucified Christ is set within a shallow recessed "ark" with a wide margin decorated with a floral ornament. At the center of the composition, against the background of a large cross, are half-length images of the Mother of God and Christ. The Mother of God supports the body of the dead Christ, looking into his closed eyes. Christ's head is inclined to one side, toward his mother; his hands are crossed over his stomach. The halo around Christ's head is laid over the Mother of God's halo. The two figures are treated as equally weighted within the composition, and the scene is expressive and dramatic. Around the perimeter of the icon is an interlacing of flowers and grapevine. The inscriptions on the icon read: to the right of the Mother of God's head, "MR ΘU" (Mary, Mother of God); along the upper crossbar of the cross, "SO[N]...IC XC...OF GOD"; above it, "WEEP NOT FOR ME, MOTHER...LOOKING UPON THEE" (inscriptions in Church Slavonic). The background of the frame is decorated with blue enamel. The casting is heavy. The relief of the image is sculptural in character.

The icon belonged to the pre-war collection of the Sloboda Ukraine Museum named after H. S. Skovoroda.