Icons

"Icons were among the first religious objects brought into Russia from Byzantium at a time when Christian art was already highly developed. Although the art of the icon (the sacred picture of the Greek Orthodox church) could be said to have reached perfection in the Byzantine world, the Russians, nevertheless, were able to give it a new, national complexion and produce some of the finest examples of the art. Icons were first produced for use in churches and processions. As their size became smaller, so demand fro them as religious household objects grew. They have remained an important feature in Russia's orthodox religious cultures to this day. The 65 plates in this book show work as beautiful as that of the greatest Italian primitives. The icons date from the 14th to 17th centuries, many belonging to the School of Novgorod, once the cultural centre of Russia. Other sources include the renowned school of Rublev and Dionysus"--