Although this is not in line with Orthodox tradition, Venerable Nilus Stolobensky was more often depicted in wooden carved statues and bas-reliefs than in icons. The museum collection features a rare carved icon of this monk and ascetic who has been canonized by the Church.

Saint Nilus Stolobensky is dressed in monastic robes. He is depicted full length, standing in a cell. He holds a rosary and a cross in his left hand. The bas-relief is framed by a rough wooden frame of a rectangular shape.

Nilus was born at the end of the 15th century in Zhabensky village of Derevskaya Pyatina, Novgorod Land. There is no information about his parents or his secular name. At a young age, he lost his parents and went to the Krypetsk Monastery where he took monastic vows under the name of Nilus in honor of Saint Nilus the Elder of Sinai. Having spent some time in the monastery, Nilus left it. In 1515, he went into the wild forest near the Cheremkha (Seremkha) River. He built a cell there and lived as a hermit for 13 years. As the fame of the hermit living in the forest spread through the local villages, people began visiting Nilus, asking for guidance and prayer.

In 1528, tired of all the attention, he left Seremkha and established a hermitage on Stolobny Island in Lake Seliger. During his first winter there, he lived in a dugout. In the summer, he built a hut and a chapel. He lived as a hermit for 27 years, foraging for food and accepting fish from fishermen who occasionally visited the island. Not willing to lie down for sleeping, Nilus slept upright, leaning against hooks driven into the wall. Before his death, he dug his own grave in his chapel and made a coffin for himself. He used to go there and repent his sins. On December 7, 1555, the monk passed away.

Before his death, Saint Nilus was visited by a confessor, Abbot Sergius of the Nikolsky Rozhkovsky Monastery. Saint Nilus received the sacrament of confession and communion from Abbot Sergius. When Abbot Sergius and other monks arrived on the island the next day, they found out that Saint Nilus had died and buried him. Five years later, a tomb was erected over his grave in the chapel. In 1595, the first icon of Saint Nilus was painted. According to the church historian Yevgeny Golubinsky, this was when the local veneration of Saint Nilus began.