This late 19th-century Russian icon depicts Saint Nicholas of Myra, the wonderworker, flanked by images of Jesus Christ and Mary. He’s shown in half-length, dressed in vestments and holding the gospels in his left hand. Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek bishop who was credited with numerous miracles and the giving of gifts. As such, over the centuries, his story was adapted to become the basis of ‘Sinterklaas’, or Santa Claus.According to legend, on one occasion, he discovered an impoverished peasant who, in desperation, sought to sell his daughters into slavery. Shocked by this, during the night, Nicholas climbed atop the peasant’s home and dropped three bags of gold surreptitiously down the chimney. The sisters had hung their stockings to dry by the fire and, in the morning, found them brimming with salvation. He was also known to place coins in the shoes of those who left them outside.In 1087, his relics were taken to Italy from Myra and tales of his compassionate p...