Andrei Rublev painted this image of St. Mark the Evangelist sometime in the late 14th or early 15th century. Icons such as this are an important window into the social and religious life of Russia at this time. Rublev's image shows Saint Mark seated in what looks like a scribe's cell, diligently writing. The art of the icon was associated with monastic institutions. Religious workshops associated with monasteries preserved artistic traditions and transmitted them to new generations of artists. Rublev would have been schooled in this environment, learning the techniques of tempera painting and studying Byzantine models for his compositions. The Russian Orthodox Church played an important part in the institutional development of medieval Russia, and its visual culture reflects this. Historians of Russian art can draw on a rich body of archival materials to shed light on the patronage and production of icons in this period. Understanding the social and institutional context helps us to better appreciate the purpose and meaning that icons held for believers.