The Burgess-Jastak Collection of icons consists of thirty-seven objects spanning the period from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century. Given to the University Gallery in 1991, the icon collection is not only a generous gift of considerable artistic dimension, but symbolizes as well, a statement of faith by the donors in the educational mission of the University of Delaware.

The emphasis of the collection is in nineteenth-century Russian, with Bulgaria and Greece represented by one icon each. The diversity of stylistic approaches found in these icons and the interest in the fine metalwork which adorns many of the works reflects the collectors' personal vision of this traditional and venerated art form. Carefully selected over a period of many years, it is likely that the Burgess-Jastak Collection, coupled with three other examples already in the University Gallery Collection, represents Delaware's largest publicly held repository of Orthodox icons.

Icons are sacred images of the Orthodox Christian tradition, created not for aesthetic enjoyment, but for liturgical cult and personal devotion. The Orthodox icon tradition has roots in Greco-Roman portrait commemoration, especially funerary portraiture and honorific portraiture of benefactors. When the subject of the portrait was a holy person,
empowered to aid petitioners from the afterlife, icon veneration took on more than commemorative or honorific meaning. The icon became a vehicle of communication between the earthly faithful and the spiritual realm of divine glory.

Icons are usually paintings, originally in encaustic, tempera, or even fine mosaic cubes, on specially prepared wood panels. Their subjects are often portraits of Christ, his Mother, or saints, but they may be narratives, or even depictions of liturgical hymns. Because their efficacy depends on resemblance to an original, icons need not be "beautiful" in conventionally accepted ways. They should certainly not be "original" in the sense expected of western European academic painters. Compositions are conservative and the saints are clearly formulated types. At the same time, icon painting almost never produces strict duplicates.

Many icons were made for use in church, but they were also kept in private homes, in Russian tradition, on a high shelf in the angle of two walls of the room, called the "beautiful corner." In the church, portable icons are carried in procession, like the Cross or Gospel Book, during the liturgy and at festivals. Others are set up special stands for veneration during their festival season, day or month. Still others are fixed to the piers or walls, and to the chancel barrier. The Russian church elaborated a monumental icon screen, the iconostas, from this originally simple low fence or colonnade between the nave and the sanctuary of the church.

Both in the house and in the church, icons could be covered with embroidered cloths. They receive offerings of flowers and lighted candles, or an oil lamp hangs before them. Although the smoke may dim the colors of their faces, the kissing of the icon remains an act of communication with the divine.