Old Russian Icons

Icons are a necessary feature of Byzantine architecture, with several of them being displayed in each Church on the screen (iconostasis) separating the nave from the sanctuary, and in the homes of faithfuls. They embody symbolically the presence of God and Saints on this Earth, creating a veritable link between the human and the Eternal.

Russian icons are an interesting class in the wider group of Byzantine iconography. Stemming originally from the canons of the Palaeologan Renaissance at the core of the Byzantine tradition (Constantinople and Mount Athos in particular), the Russian style incorporates a number of external inputs, especially from the 18th century onwards, when Saint Petersburg attracted artists from all around Europe as one of the main cultural centres of the Old Continent. These artists influenced the style and craft of Russian icon painters, who developed harmonious and elaborate iconographies.

For the first time not only a precisely dated work of a great ancient Russian icon-painter Andrey Rublev but also a miniature of doubtless Rublev’s work is introduced into science. It is really providential that a scientific discovery fell on the 575th year from the death of a reverend icon painter, who departed in God on October 17, 1428.

rezumat: Cercetătorii bulgari au fost preocupaţi de studiul operelor rusești de artă sacră din teritoriile bulgare încă de la mijlocul secolului , deși nu foarte intens. Viitoarele abordări ar trebui să colecteze, să catalogheze și să studieze colecţii mai mari de icoane rusești, tipărituri și obiecte de cult, adunând informaţii despre modalităţile de obţinere a obiectelor, despre donatorii lor și poveștile individuale. O atenţie deosebită se cuvine și pictorilor ruși care au locuit în Bulgaria, precum și bulgarilor care au studiat artele în Rusia, pentru a picta apoi icoane în locurile lor de obârșie. In uenţa artei ortodoxe ruse asupra subiectelor și stilurilor artei bulgare este, de asemenea, un domeniu de cercetare care promite foarte mult. cuvinte cheie: icoane rusești, icoane ăcătoare de minuni, gravuri, lubok, relaţii artistice. Ivanka Gergova Институт за изследване на изкуствата, Българска академия на науките, So a () résumé: Dès le milieu du e siècle, les chercheurs bulgares s'intéressent à l'étude des oeuvres d'art religieux russe qui sont arrivées dans l'aire culturelle bulgare ; mais ces études n'ont jamais été menées de manière intensive. Les futures approches devront collecter, cataloguer et étudier les collections plus importantes d'icônes, d'estampes et d'objets russes de culte, en rassemblant toutes les informations nécessaires qui concernent les modalités d'acqui-sition de ces objets, leurs donateurs et leurs histoires individuelles. Une a ention particulière devra être accordée aux peintres russes qui ont vécu en Bulgarie, ainsi qu'aux Bulgares qui ont étudié les arts en Russie, sachant que ces derniers ont peint des icônes après le retour en Bulgarie. L'in uence de l'art orthodoxe russe sur les sujets abordés et les styles utilisés dans l'art bulgare pourra compléter ce panorama. La présente étude se propose de faire le bilan des recherches en cours.

The icon of the Miracle of St George and the Dragon from the collection of Mikhail Pogodin (State Russian Museum) is noted for its individual artistic features and its lack of direct analogues in Old Russian art. Engelina Smirnova (1976) attributes the icon to the democratic movement in the early 14th-century art. Yet the icon’s close connection with the late 13th-century art does not give enough reason to group it with other ‘red background’ icons, which originated at the time when Novgorod began to develop its own, highly distinct style of iconography. The centrepiece of Pogodin’s icon bears striking similarity to the recently uncovered icon of the Miracle of St George and the Dragon from the collection of Sergei Vorobiev (Moscow), dated to the year 1300. The similarity of the two icons is reflected not only in the composition but also in several very rare details and unique inscriptions. A number of details – St George’s banner, the harness, the horse’s headdress (the chanfron) – all have Western origin and clearly indicate that the Novgorod iconographers were acquainted with Crusader iconographic traditions and works of art of the Latin East. The Romanesque and Early Gothic elements, which came to Rus through the provincial centers of the Latin East in the 13th century, can clearly be seen in Pogodin’s icon, both in the artistic traits and in the border scenes’ details (the headdresses and clothing). The artists tend to show a wide array of characters in profile, as stocky, clumsy figures with large heads, low waists and pointy shoes. These elements are rather far from the Byzantine tradition, but can be observed in Western European miniatures painted around the year 1300. The artists’ infatuation with graphics, which – from an artistic point of view – prevail over the paintwork, is another element that links the Novgorod icon with Western European miniatures, despite obvious differences in their provenance. On the other hand, the way the faces are depicted in the  above mentioned icon of St George and the Dragon finds close parallels in the late 13th-century art of Crusader Cyprus. This may be a clear indication of the fact that the stages of stylistic evolution were common for most Eastern regions of the epoch, as well as evidence of direct contacts between Novgorod and the Latin West (and Latin East) in preceding decades. All these facts, elements and
traits clearly indicate that the evolution of early 14th-century Novgorod art was far richer in cultural contacts and far more dependent on outside influence, than previously thought.

The type of hymnographical icon “Only-begotten Son and Word of God” was created in Moscow in the time of Tsar Ioann IV the Terrible after the fire of 1547 in domestic Church, now Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral, by contemporary Pskov’s artists. The original icon “Only-begotten Son and Word of God” is the upper right detail of the four-part icon from the Annunciation Cathedral

One of the most stable iconographic versions in Byzantian Art was the one of St Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia. Judging from the extant monuments his portrait image does not display any psychological variety and had undergone little change over the centuries. As distinct from Byzantine iconography of St Nicholas the Russian iconography treated his image in a variety of ways from very early times. Moreover, they followed either ready-made com positional schemes used in Byzantium for depicting other saints or created new com positions not found theretofore. In the period from the 11th  through 16th century in Russia a number of iconographic canonical versions appeared, particularly widespread were St Nicholas of Zaraisk and of Mozhaisk, complex bust and shoulder images, round icons with St Nicholas' "portrait", and also special compositions illustrating the local literary works about him. Add to this a large number of miracle-making icons bearing the Saint's image which gave rise to some novel and therefore easily recognizable types of depiction. Many traditional iconographic depictions acquired special names in Old Russian art. The names came from the repeated stories about the miracles performed by each of St Nicholas icons in question.

The article is about the decoration of the former Demidoffs' house church in the villa of San Donato. A part of it is now located in the church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Thaumaturge in Florence (architect M. T. Preobrazhensky). The author has suggested the probable appearance of the house church in the villa of San Donato based on notes of contemporaries , analysis of the palace's blueprints and the remaining elements of the decoration. The ecclesiastical purpose of the surviving building of the "Demidoffs ex-chapel" has been questioned and analyzed, based on D. Silvestri's original sketches, from which it follows that this is the building of the Odeon-a concert and theater hall. Particular attention is paid to the carved decoration of the church, made in A. Barbetti's workshop, to the iconostasis and the gallery of local and small icons. Local icons of the iconostasis and icons of the apostles executed in an academic manner by famous religious painter V. V. Vasilyev. However, the gallery of small icons of the second tier of the iconostasis and the doors-kiots is stylistically close to the icon-painting of the 17 th century. Also, based on historical analysis and analysis of style, the author sets up a hypothesis that the gallery of small icons from Demidoffs' church belong to "Nevyansk" or "Peshekhonovsk" icon-painting schools. Keywords: Demidoff the Prince of San Donato, Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nich-olas the Thaumaturge in Florence, M. T. Preobrazhensky, D. Silvestri, A. Barbetti, V. V. Vasilyev, "Nevyansk" icon-painting, "Peshekhonovsk" icon-painting.

A study of the census books of the Pskov land allows us to determine the origin of a number of old icons of the 14th century, including images of Hodegetria and the Pantokrator (“Eleazarovsky”), which became famous as wonderworking (both from the Pskov Museum), as well as “Boris and Gleb” (Tretyakov Gallery), which were included in the  ecoration of the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral of the Snetogorsky Monastery (1309), painted in 1313. At the same time, the monumental worship icon of Hodegetria constituted a single ensemble with images
of the saints in the lower register of the frescoes on the eastern wall of the church, built on the site of the martyrdom death at the hands of German knights of the first hegumen and brotherhood and conceived as a memorial pantheon. The composition of Hodegetria, dating back to Byzantine iconography such as the Cypriot image of the Mother of God of Arakiotissa (1192), is known in Russia only from the monuments of Pskov and, starting from the 13th century, becomes incredibly lasting here. The unique features of the Snetogory icon, primarily the figures of incense angels on the sides of the Virgin, are explained by the memorial function of the monument. The artistic features leave no doubt that the image was created simultaneously with the frescoes of the church in 1313 by its chief master, who represented the leading line of Pskov art, reflecting both the spiritual quest as extreme asceticism, of which Snetogorsky monastery became the center in these years; and the ideals of the urban elite, whose representatives were its main customers and donators.

For more than 350 years, a precious Russian orthodox icon has been part of the interior decoration of a Lutheran church in the Bavarian village of Kalbensteinberg. It was diligently studied and described in several publications by the Franconian scholar Johann Alexander Doederlein in 1724. These writings can be considered as the beginnings of academic research on Old Russian painting.

We analyze the sujet "Meal of the Righteous and the Unrighteous" (also: Feast of the Pious and Impious", russ. Трапеза благочестивых и нечестивых), which appears prominent on Russian broadsheets (лубки) as well as on icons of the "Guardian Angel" (Ангел Хранитель) and connect it with the literature of the Old Believers (Староверцы).
Appeared in: Russische Küche und kulturelle Identität, ed. Norbert Franz, Potsdam 2013, 349-378.

Статья посвящена образам огня в русской старообрядческой иконописи XVIII-XIX вв. Автором анализируются основные иконографические сюжеты, где этот мотив появляется-Богоматерь Огневидная, Архангел Михаил-Воевода, Собор Архангела Михаила, Софья-Премудрость Божья, Неопалимая Купина, Огненное восхождение пророка Ильи и другие. Рассматривается способ изображения огня и языков пламени, а также функции этого мотива. Устанавливается связь данного мотива со старообрядческой идеологией.