Russian collector sponsored the return of the 17th century icon to Russia

MOSCOW. Collector of icons Mikhail Abramov sponsored the return to Russia of a valuable 17th-century icon stolen in 1995 from a church in the Yaroslavl Region and recently discovered in a gallery in Venice.

“Resurrection - The Descent into Hell” (1640) depicts 18 scenes of Christian holidays and the Passion of Christ. The icon belongs to the church of St. Nikola Nadein, a branch of the Yaroslavl State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve. In Italy, it was accidentally found by Levon Nersesyan, an expert on the icons of the State Tretyakov Gallery.

“When I saw her, I immediately realized that the icon in terms of performance is much higher than those works of the average level, which can mainly be found in European anticar markets,” Nersesyan told The Art Newspaper. “This is a huge icon, the place of which should be in the iconostat of a large church.”

Mikhail Abramov is the founder of the Museum of Russian Icon in Moscow, which contains mainly Russian, Greek and Ethiopian icons from Abramov’s personal collection. The Resurrection has already become the 20th icon, which has been returned to the Russian museums with the help of Abramov over the past ten years. Most of the returned relics were stolen during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The level of security in museums at that time was unprecedentedly low, and Russia’s cultural heritage was highly valued abroad, for several thousand dollars were offered for Russian icons at European auctions. The hunt for icons is still ongoing. Not so long ago, criminals brutally dealt with an elderly couple from the Nizhny Novgorod region and stole icons from the 16th-17th centuries from their home.

Nikolai Zadorozhny, director of the Museum of Russian Icon, did not disclose the price that was paid for the return of the icon to Russia, but noted that Abramov had already spent “hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars” on this matter and would continue to make efforts to return the stolen treasures to Russia.

“I want to contact dealers and collectors, do not hesitate to contact us, we can always find a compromise in which the owners do not suffer financially,” Zadorozhny said in an interview with The Art Newspaper. “Abramov is ready to reimburse expenses and financial losses, and we will be able to return these works to their rightful owners.”

Zadorozhny spent several years in prison for collecting icons in Soviet times, when a huge number of religious icons and Karin were destroyed or sold by the state. In 2012, the director of the museum was temporarily detained by police at the Moscow Domodedovo airport during the repatriation of another icon from Germany. “Resurrection - The Descent into Hell” returned to Russia on September 9. After being examined by restorers in Moscow, it will be delivered to Yaroslavl.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru