Graphical Abstract: The authentication of cultural heritage assets is a complex process of scientific investigation which regards obtaining information about: author (painter), the period when it was made, the owners and other data related to the main contexts of their evolution in time (routes travelled). This work presents a comparative study of the paper used in the preparation layer of three icons painted in Russian style. As an analysis techniques were used the micro and macro photography assisted by Optical Microscopy (OM), SEM-EDX and micro-FTIR.