Mineral composition of colors of icons from the Lower Pechora river

The article presents the results of study of mineral colors with icons of the 18th century “The Holy Virgin of three hands”, “Archangel Michael the terrible Governor”, “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker”. Natural paint was studied by X-ray, X-ray fluorescent and microprobe analyses. It was established that pigments with similar chemical and mineral composition were used in all three icons. The red pigment was vermilion. The brown pigment was ochre illite-montmorillonite composition with phase iron of smectite composition. Blue-green pigment had mainly a montmorillonite composition. The similar chemical and mineral composition resulted in our conclusion about the source material for all three icons, hypothetically attributable to different icon-painting workshops - Velikopozhensky monastery and Vygoleksinsky community.