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his icon depicts the Transfer of the relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari, Italy. The event is celebrated on the 9th of May. Deacons carry the remains of Nicholas, with various clerics following closely behind, as lay people kneel and bless themselves. The other saints, which are depicted on the mid left and right border and in the upper corners, have no specific relationship to this event, but were simply added by order of the person who had the icon painted. Often these border saints are called family saints (it was common to put the name saint of the person or persons gifting the icon). At upper left is The Venerable Antoniy. At upper right is the female saint, the Venerable Evdokia. On the left border is Saint Alexander Nevskiy, and on the right Saint Panteleimon.

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his icon clearly illustrates the new and popular “Pan Slavic” style that was born at the end of the 19th century and continued up until the revolution. Somewhat similar to the Art Nouveau movement in Western Europe, much of the inspiration for this new Russian style came from antique Russian decorative arts that had recently been cataloged and exhibited. Nicholas appears here very much in the style depicted by contemporary Russian painters such as Nesterov. The borders are incised and then painted to simulate cloisonné and champleve enamel. The inscription identifies the subject as “The Holy Nicholas Wonderworker of Myra.”