Russian icon from the Old Believers' Workshops, 19th century.

Russian icon from the Old Believers' Workshops, 19th century.
"Resurrection of Christ, Christ's Descent into Hell, and His Life in 28 hagiographic scenes".
Tempera on panel.
It presents damages by humidity, losses of pictorial layer and a crack in the board.
Measurements: 53 x 42,5 cm.

Descent of Christ to hell is one of the most important representations in the Christian iconography. This passage was known in Ancient Rus since the 11th century, although it gained maximum popularity in the second half of the 14th century. Iconography of this New Testament passage finally developed in the 17th century in Moscow workshops. In this period, the icon reached its maximum complexity, combining the passages of the New and Old Testament, and in turn, composing in one the scenes of the resurrection and the descent of Christ to hell.
The icon of interest, attracts the viewer's attention by its complex structure, concentrating maximum attention on the central register, where, through a complex and dynamic composition, the resurrection and the descent into hell are narrated simultaneously. In both cases the figure of Christ with golden mandorla, is surrounded by various saints, apostles, and Old Testament characters, such as Adam, who is recognized as a bearded man holding Christ's hand. In this section the allegory of hell, represented as an eye, and polychromed in reddish tones, is very striking.
The central register is surrounded by two rows of hagiographic scenes, which relate Marian passages, the life of Christ, and his passions. Each of these twenty-eight scenes is astonishing for its pictorial quality, great detail, and architectural richness. Among this horror vacui, a series of details stand out, which help to classify this icon as belonging to the workshops of the Old Believers. For example, the abundance of diverse inscriptions in the frames of the scenes-miniatures, and the typology of the eight-point cross, and with a skull on the feet of Jesus Christ, or the blessing with two fingers, are the most evident signs.
The Old Believers were a group of the Orthodox, who after Nikon's ecclesiastical reforms of 1654, decided to follow their opponent Avvakum, defending the traditional foundations of the Orthodox Church. Fleeing persecution, they settled in the villages of Pomorie, near the Urals and in Siberia, although by the 18th century they began to settle in the northern areas near Moscow. The Faith of the Old Believers was legalized in 1905 only, boosting the interest within the Russian Empire for the discovery of the national religious heritage, as well as developing the collecting of ancient icons, never experienced until then.