Gift of Russian and Greek Icons

The gift of Russian and Greek Icons from the private collector, Dr. John Foreman, includes fifty-three icons, an enamel hanging lamp, and a carved wooden cross. The icons, which date from the 17th to 19th centuries, are mostly painted wooden panels, but also include an enamel processional icon, and several that are distinguished by enamel-work frames.

Dr. Foreman, a retired ophthalmologist who practiced in Montreal, is fascinated by the ritual and liturgy of the Orthodox Church and has collected icons for many years. The proposed gift to the Malcove Collection at the University of Toronto represents approximately fifty percent of his icon collection.

The icons will be installed in the Malcove Gallery alongside the icons already held in the Malcove Collection. Both collections date from the post-Byzantine period, that is after 1453, and will complement one another. The Foreman icons will introduce the subject matter of the nativity scene, not yet represented in the Malcove Collection. A selection of Dr. Foreman’s icons was previously exhibited in a 1965 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition, Images of Saints.