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SAINT SOPHIA OF SUZDAL
Icon with water-gilding on plywood. Icon painting that employs the most suitable colors and application of egg-tempera paints. Water-gilding with gold leaf 24K.
Saint Sophia was a Princess, who was ordered by her husband to become a nun at the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Moscow. Later on, she was sent to the Monastery of the Holy Protection in Suzdal, where she managed to conquer her passions and devote her mind and heart entirely to God. Her memory is honoured on the 16th of December.
Icon with water-gilding on plywood. The wood has been prepared in heat and gilded with gold leaf 24K, in accordance with traditional Byzantine techniques. The icon has been painted with egg-tempera paints for best performance and endurance of colors used. The colors were chosen based on studies and analyses of older icons by renowned iconographers, after ARTIS had first conducted conservation treatments on them.
Saint Sophia was a Princess and daughter of the nobleman Yuri Sabourov. In 1505, she was married to the successor to the Russian throne, the great Prince Basil III Ivanovich. Despite her natural beauty and virtues, their marriage was not a happy one, because Sophia could not conceive a child. So, terrorised by the thought that his brother’s sons would inherit the throne, the prince married Elena Glinski, and on November 25th, 1525, he ordered Sophia to become a nun at the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Moscow. Later on, she was sent to the Monastery of the Holy Protection in Suzdal. Through her ascetical struggles, she managed to conquer her passions and devote her mind and heart entirely to God. Saint Sophia reposed in 1542. Her memory is honoured on the 16th of December.