St Nicholas' Icons in the Collection of Mikhail de Buar (Elizavetin). A.S. Preobrazhensky (Moscow)

Mikhail de Buar (Elizavetin) has been collecting Russian icons for several decades and his collection has become one of the most significant among private art collections not only in Russia but in the world as well. It is remarkable not only for the great number of medieval and later Russian icons but also for their well thought-out, systematic and exacting selection with a stress on returning to Russia the previously exported icons, and also for the highest quality of the works and their ancient origins. These qualities make it a distinctive collection and at the same time a specialized museum in its own right substantially supplementing the state museums of Old Russian painting.

The present article is devoted to St Nicholas icons created in the Middle Ages – 14^th through 17^th centuries – which make an important part of Mikhail de Buar’s collection (the later icons are not reviewed in this article.) These works belong to different iconographic types and collectively reflect comprehensively the special features of worshipping St Nicholas in Russia. The earliest image of the Miracle-maker from Myra in this collection was created between the latter third and the end of the 14^th century by an icon painter from Central Russia or the North. It is a striking example of most ancient «Zaraisk» type of icons featuring St Nicholas. Despite the significant losses it can be considered as one of the most outstanding works of the Rostov school which followed the Byzantine models of the paleological times. Among the later images of St Nicholas in Mikhail de Buar’s collection mention should be made of the two marginal scenes in the sawed-off hagiographical icon of St Nicholas of Mozhaisk painted in the third quarter of the 16th century and originating from the Upper Volga town of Staritsi. It could have been connected with the local churches built in the times of Ivan the Terrible. The collection also includes three hagiographical icons possessing rare iconic qualities, and a series of specifically Russian iconography of St Nicholas of Mozhaisk which were widespread in the later medieval times. Outstanding among them is the Yaroslavl icon of the turn of the 18^th century featuring St Nicholas sitting on the thrown. This is a very rare example in Russian art of using an iconographic model typical for Byzantine painting, and it is also an interesting sample of an icon with scenes from St Nicholas Life surrounding the central figure and including an illustration on the Russian theme: Miracle of the Polovets.