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Assembly of All of the Saints

Painting
Large and heavy oil and tempera on flat wooden panel bordered in dark brown paint and gold leaf geometric designs in blues, oranges, green, and red. The central image features nineteen saints all dressed in Orthodox stoles with cross designs in varying colors kneeling before a gold square alter with an orthodox cross, wine goblet, and tray of rolls. Behind them stands a collection of other male and female saints in varying arrays of clothing. Above, Jesus and God are seated in the clouds with a circular Holy Ghost icon between them. Mary stands on the left and John the Baptist stands on the right.

2005.02.044

Panel

Tempera

Betsy Scheuring Icon Collection

2005.02

Betsy Scheuring

Gift

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

circa 1900

St. Petersburg

Russia

21 in

16 in

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)

Surveying the Sacred: Analysis of the Scheuring Collection of Eastern Orthodox Icons (2025)

Cultural/Historical Context

The official saints recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church based in Constantinople were already numerous by the time Prince Vladimir of Kievan Rus adopted Orthodox Christianity in 988. Russian saints were gradually added to the Holy List beginning with Vladimir himself, his grandmother Olga, and two of his twelve sons, Boris and Gleb. This icon depicts the glory of all of the saints in the hierarchy, with the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit visible at the top. The symbols of the four Evangelists flank this central group, and the Mother of God and St. John the Baptist stand at the sides in the clouds. All of the saints below stand and kneel around a large cross on an altar. The altar holds a chalice covered by a veil (pokrov) for the wine, a paten (diskos), with its star-cover (asteriskos) for the host of the Eucharist, and a Gospel book in the center. Some of the figures in the left background derive from the Old Testament: Moses with his tablet and David with his harp. This icon shows the influence of western style in the rounded modeling of the faces and the use of perspective in the spatial illusion. The colors are vivid and the quantity of gold is dazzling. One figure in the left foreground lacks a halo.

Assembly of All of the Saints picture number 1