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Orthodox icon painting tradition

Type Object Region Eastern Europe Time c. 988

Orthodox icon painting, executed in egg tempera on wood panels and strictly following church iconographic canons, was the vehicle of Byzantine religi…

Timeline

  1. c. 988–1300Kyiv · KyivAfter the baptism of Kievan Rus', Byzantine icon canons were introduced, depicting Christ, the Virgin, and the saints in egg tempera, gold leaf, and inverse perspective, spreading with monasteries and church architecture across the land.
  2. 1300–1380Novgorod · Novgorod OblastThe Novgorod school was known for vivid colors, fluid lines, and local saint subjects; icons adorned churches and civic life, and combined with material circulation brought by Hanseatic trade, formed a stylistic tradition independent of Moscow.
  3. 1380–1390Moscow · MoscowAfter the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 Moscow's political status rose, prompting large-scale commissions of icons by the Kremlin and surrounding monasteries; from the 1370s the Greek painter Theophanes the Greek and others worked in Moscow, blending Byzantine canons with local aesthetics and paving the way for the golden age of the Moscow school in the 15th century.

Sources