Russian Icons
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Boris and Gleb
Notes:
SS Boris and Gleb
Moscow
This icon depicts the first Russian saints to be canonized, St. Boris and St. Gleb, sons of Prince Vladimir. SS. Boris and Gleb embodied the early Russian Orthodox ideals of nonviolence and spiritual humility, in their failure to resist assassination by a power-hungry brother.
This fourteenth-century icon of the sainted brothers is of particular interest for they are dressed in garb representative of times contemporary to the artist, with their kaftans, boots, and fur-trimmed caps.