Noah is the tenth (the last) of the Antediluvian patriarchs who were direct descendants of Adam. His hagiography can be found in the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament. According to the Bible, God, wishing to save the righteous man, alerted Noah to the upcoming worldwide flood sent to mankind for its sins. God ordered Noah to build an ark and take all his family and animals on it: a pair of each species and 7 pairs of sacrificial ones. According to legend, Noah had been building the ark for 120 years, it is believed that he even grew the trees to make the vessel on his own. All these years, the prophet encouraged people to repent and also climb the ark. However, no one listened to the prophet. When the waters of the global flood descended, the vessel was washed ashore to the top of Mount Ararat. There is no evidence that the modern Mount Ararat is the very peak.

The image dates from the end of the 17th – the first third of the 18th century. It was allegedly painted by masters of the Yugskaya Dorofeyevskaya Pustyn (Monastery). The icon was intended for the iconostasis in the Church of Our Lady of Molchan. The icon was situated in one of the upper tiers of the iconostasis where they placed images of the Old Testament forefathers.

As a support for the icon they used a panel. It was polished, covered with a thin cloth – pavoloka and several layers of levkas – a mixture of glue and chalk. The icon painters used tempera – paints from powdered pigments diluted in raw egg yolk. Each master had his own recipe for an egg base – some added kvass, linseed oil or a drop of clove essential oil to the yolk. Powdered pigments were ground beforehand with a pestle on a ceramic tile, gradually adding yolk there until the paint became of the desired consistency.

Noah was portrayed in a pink shirt – chiton and in a brown himation – woollen cloak. The highlighted areas on the chiton were accentuated with yellow ochre, and on the himation – with whitewash. The hair and beard of the prophet were also painted with whitewash.