The Palekh icon in the Louvre’s collection: semiotical analysis of Theotokos’s apparition to St. Sergey Radonezhsky

Abstract

There is one Palekh icon of the XIX century in the Louvre's collection. The accompanying documents indicate that it is not of artistic value. However, the comparison with samples from Russian museums shows, that the French version has rare artistic and conceptual features. This article describes the results of the semantic analysis of the ”Theotokos’s apparition to St. Sergey Radonezhsky”, reveals the symbolic system of the Louvre's icon. It is concluded that the icon painter's goal is not to illustrate literary material, but to interpret a given plot (semiosis), endowing it with new meanings, adequate to the time and status of the customer.