According to legend, the Igorevskaya icon of the Mother of God was owned by the Prince of Kiev and Chernigov Igor Olgovich. After his death in 1146, his brother, Prince Igor Novgorod-Seversky was announced the Prince of Kiev. But the Kievans secretly called to reign over Kiev the Prince of Pereyaslavl Isyaslav (Panteleimon) Mstislavovich who overthrew Igor and had him thrown into a pit. There the prince got desperately ill and was allowed to become a monk in the Monastery of St. Feodor in Kiev but he did not stay there long. Anticipating a mob trial, the prince prayed to the icon that was later called Igorevskaya and venerated as wonderworking. In 1147, the Kievans, wanting to lynch the prince, dragged him out of the monastery and killed him. The tale of Prince Igor’s praying to the Mother of God icon is contained in the Tale of the Killing of the Blessed Igor included in the Kievo-Pechersky Paterikon, authored by Archimandrite Joseph in the mid-17th century.
The icon's feast coincides with the feast of the translation of the prince's relics from Kiev to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Chernigov (1150). The wonderworking icon was later transferred to the side-altar of the Apostle John the Theologian at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra. In the early 20th century Committee for the Patronage of Russian Iconography commissioned painter A.Shinkarenko to make a copy of the Igorevskaya icon (without riza). This image was reproduced by N.P.Kondakov. The Igorevskaya icon, quite small in size (ca. 40 x 31 cm), was encased in a silver gilded ornamented riza with an inscribed history of the icon. The original icon is considered lost.
The icon belongs to the iconographic type known as the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God the Tenderness (Umilenie). Christ is portrayed to the right of the Mother of God, Her head is inclined towards the Child. Christ is embrpacing Her by the neck, his right hand rests on Her shoulder. Some icons depict Christ’s left hand and the fingers of the Holy Virgin’s right hand. The earliest known copy of the Igorevskaya icon (16th c.) is located at the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The Igorevskaya icon’s feast is observed on June 18 (June 5, O.S.).
Zhanna G. Belik,
Ph.D. in Art history, senior research fellow at the Andrei Rublyov Museum, custodian of the tempera painting collection.
Olga E. Savchenko,
research fellow at the Andrei Rublyov Museum.
Bibliography:
2. Снессорева С. Земная жизнь Пресвятой Богородицы и описание святых чудотворных ее икон, чтимых Православной Церковью, на основании Священного Писания и церковных преданий, с изображением в тексте праздников и икон Божией Матери. Ярославль, 2000.
3. Кондаков Н.П. Иконография Богоматери. СПб., 1914–1915. В 2 Т.
4. Поселянин Е. Богоматерь. Полное иллюстрированное описание Ее земной жизни и посвященных Ее имени чудотворных икон. СПб., 1909.
5. Антонова В.И., Мнёва Н.Е. Каталог древнерусской живописи XIV – начала XVII веков: Опыт историко-художественной классификации. М., 1963.
6. Чудотворный образ. Иконы Богоматери в Третьяковской галерее / Авторы-составители А.М. Лидов, Г.В. Сидоренко. М., 2001.
7. Великие и чудотворные / Сост. В.Е. Суздалев. Нижний Новгород, 1993.
8. О тебе радуется. Русские иконы Богоматери XVI – начала XX веков. Кат. выст. М., 1995.
9. Бережков М.Н. Блаженный Игорь Ольгович, князь Новгородский и Великий князь Киевский. Чернигов, 1893.
10. Лихачёв Н.П. Краткое описание икон собрания П.М. Третьякова. М., 1905.
11. Лихачёв Н.П. Историческое значение итало-греческой школы иконописи. СПб., 1911.
12. Гусева Э.К. О некоторых чтимых списках иконы Богоматери Владимирской // ИКРЗ, 1992. Ростов, 1993. С. 4–8.
13. Соловьева И.Д. К вопросу о иконографии Богоматери Игоревской // ИКРЗ. Ростов, 1994. С. 110–115.
14. Богоматерь Владимирская: К 600-летию Сретения иконы Богоматери Владимирской в Москве. М., 1995.