The so-called Zvenigorodsky Chin is one of the most beautiful icon ensembles of Old Russian painting. The chin (row) consists of three 'poyasnye' icons - the Saviour, the Archangel Michael and St Paul. The chin could form part of the iconostasis of either the princely Church of the Assumption or the neighboring Church of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery whose ktitor (Gr.-founder) was the prince of Zvenigorod. The painting of the Zvenigorodsky Chin is noted for the special purity of colour, nobility of tonal transitions and light colour scheme. The golden backgrounds are illuminated radiantly and there is a tender blend of bright faces, pure nuances of ochre, blue, rose and green tones of the clothing. The icons come from Zvenigorod, near Moscow, and were once part of the Deisus and its 7 figures. The remaining three icons were discovered by the art restorer G.O. Chirikov in 1918 in a woodshed near the Church of the Assumption at Gorodok during exploration by an expedition of the Central State Restoration Workshops into the ancient princely temple of Yuri of Zvenigorod, the second son of Dmitry Donskoy.
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