19th century Russian icon.

Russian icon from the 19th century.
"Transfiguration of Christ".
Temple and gold on wood.
It has retouches, craquelure and flaking.
Measures: 54,5 x 32,5 x 2,3 cm.
This icon depicts one of the most important episodes of the New Testament: the transfiguration of Christ. The biblical text tells us that while on the mountain, Jesus begins to radiate light (a miracle symbolised here in the form of a star) and the prophets Moses and Elijah appear at his side, as they are represented here in the form of haloed figures. At the foot of the mountain, the apostles Peter, James the Greater and John hide in fear of the brightness.
Icons cannot be compared with other works of art in the usual sense of the 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 so with special means of representation, developed over the centuries. In them, colour plays a significant role, that of a symbolic language that must express not the colour of things, but their luminosity, a light that comes from beyond the physical world. The golden spaces of the icons embody this unearthly light, and the golden background symbolises the space that is "not of this world". In icons there is no such thing as ordinary space, just as there are no conventional events. The icon is an open window to a world of another nature, but this window opens only for those who possess spiritual vision.