{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O135177"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O135177/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC5639/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC5639/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC5639","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU2012","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O135177/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O135177","accessionNumber":"W.16-1940","objectType":"Icon","titles":[{"title":"The Twelve Feasts","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Religious icon painting","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tempera","id":"AAT15062"},{"text":"panel","id":"AAT14657"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Tempera on panel","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"}],"styles":[{"text":"Russian School","id":"x31821"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BC5639","2017JU2012"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS (VA)","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"53","box":"L"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Icon","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Russia","id":"x29110"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Mrs Alexander Tweedie","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"14.25","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11.375","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from departmental object file","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by Mrs Alexander Tweedie, 1940\r\nThis icon was given to the V&A by the estate of the travel writer Mrs. Alec-Tweedy. Born Ethel Brilliana Harley, Mrs. Alec-Tweedy went on several world tours and wrote widely about her adventures. As her sons were both killed during the First World War and as she was predeceased by her husband, Mrs. Alec-Tweedy left several works of art to the V&A upon her death in 1940, including two icons (W.15-1940 and W.16-1940). Icon W.16-1940 contains an inscription on the reverse which records its purchase in St. Petersburg in 1898.\n\nHistorical significance: While this icon is of a type widely found in Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a central image of the Resurrection surrounded by festival scenes, the style and iconography of this icon is unusual and can be connected to icons produced in Eastern Russia during the nineteenth century. The pattern on the exterior edge of the panel imitates designs on Japanese Imari porcelain and has a very oriental character. Additionally, the iconography and details of the festival scenes are sometimes incorrect and seem to indicate a painter who was not entirely familiar with the customary theological and artistic trends of Russia at this time. The figures are also not well painted, again suggesting an attribution to a provincial school. While it is known that Mrs Alec-Tweedy took a trip from China to Russia on the Trans-Siberian railway in 1926, it would seem, due to the reverse inscription, that she had already acquired this icon in St. Petersburg in 1898. \r\n\r\nThe scenes surrounding the main image of the Resurrection are labelled in black ink, as are the figures within each scene. These scenes make up the <i>dodekaorton</i>, or twelve great feasts of the liturgical year. The twelve scenes depicted are:\r\n\r\n(Four running across the top):\r\n\r\n1)\tThe Nativity of the Virgin\r\nThis scene shows the birth of the Virgin Mary in the house of her parents Saints Joachim and Anna. Saint Anna is shown in her bed to the left side of the scene, while Joachim watches from the upper right. The Virgin is bathed by her nurse in the lower right. \r\n\r\n2)\tThe Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple\r\nThis scene shows the Virgin being presented by her Parents Joachim and Anna to the High Priest Zachariah, however, the priest is erroneously named Symeon, who is the high priest in the Temple when Christ is presented.\r\n\r\n3)\tThe Annunciation.\r\nIn this scene the Archangel Gabriel announces that the Virgin will give birth to the son of God. \r\n\r\n4)\tThe Nativity of Christ.\r\nIn this scene the Virgin and Christ are shown in an awkward cave, the space of which is not clearly delineated. Two male figures watch from over a hill side and may be shepherds. The main focus of the scene, however, is the hermit addressing the prophecy of Isaiah to Joseph. \r\n\r\n(Second row down on the left and right)\r\n\r\n5)\tThe Presentation of Christ in the Temple.\r\nHere, according to the traditional iconography, Christ is handed by the Virgin over to the High Priest Symeon. Joseph and Anna stand behind the Virgin. \r\n\r\n6)\tThe Baptism of Christ.\r\nIn this scene Christ stands in the waters of the river Jordan while John the Forerunner (the Orthodox name for John the Baptist) places his hand on his head. An angel witnesses the event from the opposite shore of the river, but oddly, the Holy Spirit is omitted from the composition.\r\n\r\n(Third row down on the left and right)\r\n\r\n7)\tThe Entry into Jerusalem.\r\nIn this scene, Christ sits astride a donkey and rides towards a wall with a figure before it. He is followed by two apostles. Many of the iconographical details of this scene have been omitted. \r\n\r\n8)\tThe Transfiguration.\r\nChrist stands in a <i>mandorla</i> of orange light between the prophets Moses and Elijah. Below Christ, three unnamed figures meant to represent Peter, John and James are depicted. \r\n\r\n(Four running across the bottom)\r\n\r\n9)\tThe Exaltation of the Cross.\r\nIn this scene, Saints Constantine and Helena stand before the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem while the Patriarch Makarios raises the True Cross for the people to see. \r\n\r\n10)\tThe Ascension\r\nThis scene does not correspond to the traditional iconography of the Ascension, but attempts to reconstruct the feast in a truncated manner. The Virgin on the left, faces the few Apostles shown to the right. Above them Christ sits in a <i>mandorla</i>  held aloft by two angels.\r\n\r\n11)\tThe Holy Trinity, or, the Hospitality of Abraham.\r\nHere, in a scene from the Old Testament, We see three angels sitting at a table which is set with red vessels. Abraham and Sarah are absent from the imagery here, but the addition of the Terebinth of Mamre, a tree near Abraham's house is visible to the left of the angel in the centre of the composition.\r\n\r\n12)\tThe Dormition of the Virgin.\r\nIn a scene which has, again, been visually abbreviated from the normal iconography, the Virgin is portrayed laid out on an awkward bed, surrounded only by Peter and Paul. Above her, in a mandorla, Christ holds her soul in the form of a small child. This forms a visual parallel with the imagery in which the Virgin holds the Christ child.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Icon, 'The Twelve Feasts', Russian, 19th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.16-1940"],"accessionNumberNum":"16","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1940,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-22","recordCreationDate":"2007-05-22","availableToBook":false}}