Zegani Monastery, nestled in a picturesque, dense forest near the village of Zegani in the Gurjaani Municipality of Kakheti, was established in the late sixth or early seventh century. Among its oldest buildings are the main church, dedicated to the Mother of God, and the Chapel of St Marina.

In medieval Georgia have been developed a number of local icon-painting styles, among which must be singled out so called Svaneti “school of icon-painting”. Although we don’t have documented evidence about these workshops, the extent material allows us to attribute to Svaneti, north-western highland region of Georgia, an impressive number of painted icons. Numerous icons preserved in the Saveneti Museum and in the local churches demonstrate stylistic and technical features which differ from the Pro-Byzantine stream of medieval Georgian religious painting. The icons produced in the workshops of Svaneti are in majority dating back to the 13th-15th cc. Most of the icons are not in their original place, but their subject, size and shape make us suppose that they were created for different purposes: for chancel barriers, burial places and for private devotion as well.

From the 1880s to 1910, a new stage began in Georgia’s fine arts development, propelled by professionally educated artists of the older generation that "gave birth" to modern Georgian secular painting. It was a move that partially broke the link with the Tiflis feudal, oriental, and portraiture painting school, which ceased to exist in 1880.