The icon is a
tempera painting on wood, in size, with the central portion being original and the rest being a later expansion undertaken possibly to accommodate a larger
riza. The icon depicts
Jesus Christ as a child being held in the arms of
his mother, Mary. They embrace cheek to cheek, with the child gazing towards and reaching for Mary. She holds him with one arm and solemnly looks out towards the viewer. The faces and hands are painted with greenish olive
sankir, a mix of
ochre pigment and
soot, and transparent layers of brighter ochre; the child's face is rendered in a lighter shade than the mother's, perhaps to reflect the difference in their age. The child's clothes are painted with dark ochre and gold. The original painting bore the inscription
ΜΡ ΘΥ, an abbreviation for 'Mother of God', of which only parts survive. Among icons of Virgin Mary with Jesus,
Our lady of Vladimir is classed as an
Eleusa icon (
Russian:
Oumilenie), due to the tender attachment between mother and child. Theologians and believers have also commented upon the icons symbology and the religious sentiments it inspires. Contemplating the icon, theologian
Henri Nouwen, remarked that the Virgin's eyes glance at neither the child or the viewer but appear to "look inward and outward at once"; that her free hand gestures towards the baby to "open a space for us to approach Jesus without fear"; and, that the child is shown as "a wise man dressed in adult clothes." Literary scholar,
S. S. Averintsev interpreted the mix of maternal tenderness and poignant sorrow seen in Mary's expression, as representative of the emotions generated by the events of
Nativity and
Calvary, respectively. Its artistic quality has been highly praised. Art historian
David Talbot Rice said that "[Our Lady of Vladimir] ...is admitted by all who have seen it to be one of the most outstanding religious paintings of the world." Art historian
George Heard Hamilton praises its "craftsmanship and conception", and notes how in its representation of the subject's faces, the icon subtly transitions from its normal use of contour lines to a refined surface texture. It is painted in an artistic style typical for Byzantine art of the period with features including smaller mouths, refined eyes, and elongating Mary's nose. However, by avoiding the use of demarcating line, as became common in later Byzantine art, and by setting up the complex interplay of the mother and child's glances, the icon adds to the illusion of life in the piece. The child's features are reminiscent of
classical sculpture, though the artist renders an expression truer to an actual infant's. The expressive and humanistic character of the icon differentiates it from earlier Byzantine art and exemplify the artistic developments seen during the
Komnenos dynasty. == Significance ==