18th Century, Russian School, Icon depicting the relics of Saint Spyridon of Trimythous preserved in the temple of Kerkyra

18th Century, Russian School Icon depicting the relics of Saint Spyridon of Trimythous preserved in the temple of Kerkyra Tempera on panel, 26.5 x 19 cm Applied on a golden wooden panel, total 38 x 31 cm Saint Spyridon of Trimythous (c. 270 – December 12, 348) was the bishop of Trimythous, now Tremetousia, on the island of Cyprus. Spyridon was born into a Christian family towards the end of the 3rd century in Assia, on the island of Cyprus. It is known that he spent his early years as a cattle shepherd but, following the death of his wife, he devoted his life to religion. He was appointed bishop of his hometown, and during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Maximian, he was arrested and exiled. According to tradition, Spyridon participated in the First Council of Nicaea in 325, supporting the doctrine of the essential equality of Jesus with God the Father, but his presence is not documented. He died on December 12, 348, and was buried in the Temple of the Holy Apostles in Trimythous. His biography has been handed down by the hagiographer Simeon Metaphrastes and by the church historians Sozomen, Tyrannius Rufinus, and Socrates of Constantinople. After the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire, his tomb was opened, and the relics were brought to Constantinople. Sources claim that his body was incorrupt and smelled of basil, which was considered proof of his sanctity. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the priest Georgios Kalochairetes transported the relics to Corfu, which at that time belonged to the Republic of Venice, in 1456, and they were kept by the monk's family and, later, by the Bulgari family until the construction of a church dedicated to the saint in 1589. The relic of the saint's right hand was donated to Pope Clement VIII in 1592 and is kept in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. In this eighteenth-century icon, two angels are presented in the act of protecting and guarding the saint's relics at the temple of Kerkyra, on the island of Cyprus, where the venerated relics were kept before the construction of the place of worship dedicated to the saint in the second half of the sixteenth century. The peculiarity of the icons is already evident from the preparation of the support on which it is painted. The wooden board itself is a symbol of the cross, while the canvas is a symbol of the mandylion, or the veil of Veronica, or the Shroud; the plaster that is spread on the canvas, the levkas, is a symbol of the stone. The icons were painted on wooden boards, generally made of linden, larch or fir. On the inside of the board was generally carried out an excavation, called "chest" or "ark", so as to leave a relief frame on the edges. The icon is not a personal interpretation but a rite with precise canons to be respected; unlike paintings, of which the name of the author is often known, the icon must remain anonymous. Theology considered icons to be works of God himself, made through the hands of the iconographer