Icon. Russia, 19th century

Icon. Russia, 19th century.
"St. John the Baptist."
Tempera on panel.
It presents damages caused by non-active xylophagous.
Measurements: 30,5 x 25 x 3 cm.
Russian icon of the 19th century, whose protagonist is St. John the Baptist. He is presented in the center of the composition as a man with long hair. His delicate hand holds the chalice in which we can appreciate a nimbus human figure. Formally the saint is represented imposing in front of a neutral background that enhances his monumentality.
John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary. He retired at a very young age to the Judean desert to lead an ascetic life and preach penance, and recognized in Jesus, who was baptized by him, the Messiah announced by the prophets. A year after the baptism of Christ, in the year 29, John was arrested and imprisoned by the tetrarch of Galilee Herod Antipas, whose marriage to Herodias, his niece and sister-in-law, he had dared to censure. Finally, St. John was beheaded, and his head given to Salome as a reward for his beautiful dances, after a stratagem operated by Herodias.