Icon "The Miracle of Theodore Tiron and the Serpent"

This 19th-century icon is a copy, that is, a replica, of an image by Nikifor Savin, an icon painter of the Stroganov school. In this way a later master preserved for his own time a composition created at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Stroganov school took shape at the end of the 16th century. Its masters were renowned for virtuoso drawing, fine rendering of small details, abundant ornament and bright, pure colours. Nikifor Savin was among the school's best-known representatives, together with Nazary, Fyodor and Istoma Savin.

Theodore Tiron is a Christian saint venerated as a great martyr. A soldier from Amasya in Asia Minor, he was burned in 306 for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods. In Old Russian writing he is also known as a dragon slayer: the apocryphal "Tale of the Deeds of Fyodor Tirinin" tells of his victory over a serpent. The icon is painted in tempera on gesso over a wooden panel.