St Peter. From Deisus Tier

This work was painted by the leading master of Old Russian icons — Andrei Rublev. The graphia (contour scratched on the chalk priming), light-green underpainting with the pinkish ochre on the face and the image of the right foot survive best of all from the original early-fifteenth-century paintwork. The expressive silhouette, slow and repetitive rhythms and monumental forms convey the spiritual power of one of the leading apostles.