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In the mid-17th century, changes in liturgy and practice instituted by Patriarch Nikon resulted in a split in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The traditionalists, the persecuted " Old Ritualists " or " Old Believers ", continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice.

From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time.

The Stroganov movement and the icons from Nevyansk rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.