Russian icon | Mother of God Hodegetria | 24368

The Mother of God is depicted as a half-length portrait and painted on a gold background, symbol of heaven where she is. She is holding the divine Son on her left arm. Jesus has the stature of a child and the features of an adult. This icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria (the leader of the way) is a copy after an icon from the workshop of Dionisius (1502-1503). The Mother of God fends off diseases with her right hand.

This type of icon of the Mother of God had a far-reaching influence on Christian art and spread in copies in the medieval world not only in countries with an Orthodox rite such as Greece or Russia, but internationally.