Russian Icon Painting

Timeline

1. 1000–1300Kyiv · KyivAfter the Orthodox baptism, Byzantine icon painting techniques and iconographic norms were introduced to Kyiv; the frescoes and wooden icons of Saint Sophia Cathedral became models for Rus' religious art, establishing the tradition of egg tempera and gold backgrounds.
2. 1400–1430Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius · Moscow OblastMasters such as Andrei Rublev and Daniel Chorny created icons in monasteries and churches, bringing Russian icon art to a classical peak with soft colors, simple compositions, and spiritual expression; works such as the Trinity became paradigms of Orthodox art.
3. 1491–1500Moscow Kremlin · MoscowWhen Ivan III rebuilt the Kremlin churches, icon decoration and the iconostasis remained the core of worship space; craftsmen of the Moscow and Novgorod schools continued Rublev's tradition, painting icons for newly built stone churches, as religious art spread with the expansion of the centralized state.