[3][7] According to the art critic Vladimir Stasov, the painting Welcoming the Icon is full of "such content, such types, and such truth that make it one of the most significant and important creations of the New Russian School".

[10] From 1862 to 1873 (with interruptions), Konstantin Savitsky studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in the class of history painting, where his mentors were Fyodor Bruni, Alexei Markov, and Pavel Chistyakov.

[19] On the proceeds from the sale of the painting, Savitsky managed to make a foreign trip in 1874–1876 (with interruptions), during which he lived and worked in Poland, Germany, and France.

[20] In February 1875, Savitsky's family suffered a misfortune: his wife, Ekaterina Vasilyevna, committed suicide (it is believed that the cause of the tragedy was unfounded jealousy).

[31] It is probable, that in 1877 and early 1878, the artist devoted most of his creative efforts to working on the canvas Welcoming the Icon, but no reliable information about this activity has survived.

[37] Discussing Savitsky's work, one of the critics wrote: "Under the influence of the real direction in art in recent times, we have come into fashion to portray clerics perhaps prosaically... We dare to think that this is a big mistake".

[38] In a letter to the artist Ivan Kramskoi dated May 9, 1878, Pavel Tretyakov described the situation as follows: "There are different opinions about Savitsky, but people mostly like the Icon, except for the priest, who is unanimously attacked".

[39] During the same period when Savitsky was creating Welcoming the Icon, the artist Ilya Repin undertook to develop the theme of the procession of the cross.

[37] The artist Ivan Kramskoy, who tried to change Repin's mind, wrote to him in a letter dated May 9, 1878: "...as for Savitsky, I will say one thing: I am not blind, thank God, and I understand what there is in this picture and what you rejoice in, but I do not share your sacrifice: stopping your painting".

[44][37] In the end, Repin continued to work on the theme of the procession—between 1880 and 1883, he wrote Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate,[45] and in the 1890s, he returned to the subject "in the oak forest".

Despite the fact that the canvas had already been purchased by Pavel Tretyakov, Savitsky decided to continue working on it, resulting in his staying in St. Petersburg until early summer.

In a letter dated April 25, 1878, Savitsky wrote to Tretyakov: "I repeat to you, much respected Pavel Mikhailovich, that I make all the corrections to the painting with the deepest conviction of extreme necessity.

[7] In 1893, while working in the Tretyakov Gallery on a variant of Welcoming the Icon at the request of the collector and patron of art Ivan Tsvetkov, Savitsky once again tried to adjust the color of the copied canvas.

[3][50] On a country road at the edge of the forest, a passing tarantass stopped with a miraculous icon, which, at the request of peasants from a neighboring village, was brought out for viewing and veneration.

[52] The priest, climbing out of the carriage and supported by one of the sextons, is dressed in a purple kalimavkion and a red, gold-embroidered epitrachelion, over which is thrown a black fox-fur coat.

Elena Levenfish wrote that "the alienation of this man, his reflection on what is happening, makes the viewer think, and before him, as if the thoughts and feelings of individual people are revealed and, merging together, appear as a common national disaster".

[55] Art historian Dmitry Sarabianov noted that Savitsky sought to “highlight this figure, emphasize it, make it the main character in a multi-voiced 'chorus' of peasants".

Instead, it is broken, creating an open space in the foreground between the figures of the grandmother and granddaughter on the left side of the painting, as well as a boy and a girl at the right edge of the canvas.

[63] It depicts Tatiana Nikitichna Tsvetkova, the mother of Ivan Tsvetkov, whose collection previously included this sketch and a variant from the Astrakhan Picture Gallery.

According to Stasov, Savitsky presented a painting at the Travelling Exhibition, "although again large, but excellent, although dirty and gray in color, but full of such content, such types, and such truth, which make it one of the most significant and important creations of the new Russian school".

[66] In an article published in 1883, Twenty-five Years of Russian Art, Stasov also gave high praise to Welcoming the Icon, ranking it among the best examples of "choral" paintings of the Russian school of painting[66] (“choral” referred to canvases depicting multifigure scenes from folk life, presenting a variety of types and characters,[35] but "there is no single protagonist").

[67] The artist and critic Alexander Benois, in the book History of Russian Painting in the 19th Century, the first edition of which was published in 1902, wrote that Welcoming the Icon, which appeared at the exhibition in 1878, is considered "the best work that Savitsky has ever done".

[9] Comparing Welcoming the Icon with Vasily Perov's Rural Procession at Easter, painted in 1861, art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov wrote that this comparison allows us to "clearly see what a big step forward in the depiction of village life the Itinerant movement made in a short period of time" and how much more complex, richer, and diverse rural realities are shown in Savitsky's work.

Fedorov-Davydov noted that Welcoming the Icon also demonstrates Savitsky's increased pictorial skill—the artist uses a beautiful and rich range of colors with subtle shades, and the “beautifully painted landscape” is not just a background but includes the whole scene, with the connection of figures to the landscape achieved through richer means of tonal painting than in Savitsky's previous works.

[68] According to Fedorov-Davydov, the further development of what Savitsky achieved in Welcoming the Icon can be seen in Ilya Repin's Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate and in the works of Vasily Surikov.

[70] Art historian Sofia Goldstein wrote that the painting Welcoming the Icon fully revealed Savitsky's talent as a "painter of folk motifs" who was able to "come close to understanding the complex psychology of the people".