An icon to rememberAt the end of the Byzantine period, a new burst of creative energy took hold of Russian artists. More and more artists appeared as Russians became more and more interested in art. Earlier in the Byzantine period, “art related to religious worship, such as statues and all religious imagery throughout the empire, was destroyed under Leo III by iconoclasm” (Kleiner and Mamiya 326). This era lasted almost a hundred years. During this period, icon painting became very popular. “These paintings are small portable paintings representing Christ, the Virgin or saints” (Kleiner and Mamiya 342). One of the most famous and influential icon artists of this era was Audrei Rublev. Around 1410 he designed his masterpiece, the Trinity of the Old Testament (Figure 1), one of the most beautiful and popular icon paintings in Russia. Rublev's Old Testament Trinity was a very spiritual and important icon painting in the 15th century. Audrei Rublev was born around 1360 and was known as a Russian painter and monk (“Rublev” 304). He was so spectacular that his work had a profound influence on the development of Russian art as a whole. His paintings are generally attributed to a more linear quality (“Rublev” 304-305). “Rublev worked alongside Theophanes the Greek and Prokhor of Gorodets, who were perhaps his teachers, painting the Cathedral of the Annunciation and also with the icon painter Daniil Chorny” (Hamilton 93). Although very little is known about his life, his first appearance was in 1405 (Hamilton 93). Audrei Rublev spent most of the rest of her life at the Andronikov Monastery, where she is buried today (“Rublev” 304). He lived to be seventy years old and died around 1430. Audrey Rublev was one of Russia's greatest icon painters in the Middle Ages. “The Old Testament Trinity was dedicated to Saint Sergius Radonezhsky around 1411” (“Rublev” 305). It was found in 1918 in a storeroom near the Dormition Cathedral. Although there remains enough serious and irreparable damage. “The painting depicts three angels in silent communication with each other, seated around an altar table with a chalice which indicates that the subject of their contemplation is self-sacrifice” (Treasures of Art in Russia 61) . The central figure, God the Father, is further back than his companions, God the Son on the left and the Holy Spirit on the right..