Russian icon from the late 18th century.

Russian icon from the late 18th century.
"Mandylion."
Tempera on wood.
It has slight cracks, a spike is missing.
Measurements: 31 x 26.5 x 2.3 cm.
Mandylion, canvas of Edessa or image of Edessa are different names given to a Christian relic consisting of a square or rectangular piece of cloth on which the face of Jesus would have been miraculously printed, therefore being the first icon (image) of Christianity. . Icon of Christ Mandylon, also known as the icon of the Holy Face.
Icons cannot be compared with other works of art in the usual sense of this word. They are not paintings, because they do not reproduce motifs from reality; They do not represent, but constitute in themselves another world. And they do it with special means of representation, developed over the centuries. In them, color plays a significant role, that of a symbolic language that must express not the color of things, but their luminosity, a light that comes from beyond the physical world. The golden spaces of the icons embody this non-terrestrial light, and the golden background symbolizes the space that is “not of this world.” In icons there is no usual space, nor do conventional events exist. The icon is a window open to a world of another nature, but this window opens only to those who possess spiritual vision.