2020 № 2

Articles

Lev Lifshits Recently Uncovered 15th-Century Byzantine Icon of the Mother of God

Abstract

The article is devoted to the recently discovered Greek icon of the Mother of God from a private collection in Moscow. A comparative stylistic analysis provides a solid basis for classifying this outstanding monument as one of the best works of Byzantine painting of the first quarter of the 15th century. The peculiarities of its iconography make it possible to consider it to be a copy of one of the most revered Constantinople relics. The inclusion of this work into the history of art allows us to clarify our ideas about the developmental stages of the Late Palaeologue style and to revise the dating of such famous icons as the image of St. Marina from the collection of the Byzantine Museum in Athens.

Keywords

Icons, style, painting, iconography of the Mother of God, color, tone, Palaeologue era.

Engelina Smirnova Late 16th-Century Icon The Resurrection — The Descent into Hell in a Private Collection in Moscow. Rare Features of Iconography and Style

Abstract

A small “Descent into Hell” piadnitsa icon (N.V.Shutov's collection in Moscow, late 16th century) reproduces the iconography of some large image that has not survived. The figure of the forefather Noah in the left group of forefathers, which is unique for the depictions of this scene, confirms the peculiarity of the Russian iconographic tradition already noted in the scientific literature. The compositional structure of the work reflects the concept of one of the significant trends in Russian icon painting of the late 16th century.

Keywords

Icon, “Resurrection of Christ”, iconographic tradition, forefathers, originality of Russian versions, compositional structure, Russian icon painting of late 16th century.

Anna Zakharova On the Recently Uncovered Mural of Deisis in the Church of Dormition of the Virgin in Labovo

Abstract

The author proposes an attribution of the depiction of a Deisis recently uncovered in the church of the Dormition in Labovo. The comparative stylistic analysis of the wall painting shows that this depiction is closest to works of the second quarter and middle of the 11th century, such as the frescoes in Panagia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki and, especially, the murals in the Saint Sophia cathedral in Ohrid and the church of Saint Leontius in Vodoča. Thus it is possible to confirm the dating of the church construction to the 10th or the first half of the 11th century previously proposed by other scholars

Keywords

Byzantine painting, murals, Deisis, Albania, Labovo, Ohrid

Tatiana TsarevskayaImages of Novgorod Saints in the John’s Cell of the Episcopal Chambers in Veliky Novgorod: The Time and Circumstances of Their Appearance

Abstract

The article clarifies the choice of a pair of Novgorod Holy bishops— Nicetas and John,— depicted on the slopes of the niche with the fresco Sophia, the Wisdom of God in “John’s cell” in the Bishop’s (Vlavychnaya) chamber of the Novgorod Kremlin. The time and circumstances of the addition of this iconographic formula are specified. The programmatic meaning of these images is revealed through a message from Archbishop Pimen of Novgorod, delivered in 1563 to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich IV in the location of the Russian army before the capture of Polotsk. Relying on the traditions of bookishness, the Novgorod archpastor called on the tsar to depose Roman Catholics the heretics and Lutherans the iconoclasts. The upcoming battle, in his opinion, was fought for the Orthodox faith of the “Greek Law”, and in this struggle the icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, significant for Novgorod, was the banner of true faith. The Novgorod Holy Bishops who accompanied it as miracle-workers and whose relics rest in the of St.Sophia Cathedral, acted as guarantors of the inviolability of Orthodoxy.

Keywords

Monumental painting, fresco, St Nicetas of Novgorod, St Ioann (John) of Novgorod, The Episcopal Chamber (Chamber of Facets), iconography, Veliky Novgorod, Old Russian art, restoration.

Leonid Beliaev, Irina Elkina Dating the First Stone Cathedral of the Alekseevsky Conception Monastery: an Attempt of Self-­Correction

Abstract

One of the problems of dating buildings based on archaeological materials is their attachment to written history and its sources. This connection does not always help, often it becomes a hindrance in establishing an independent date. Within archaeology itself, there is another source that negatively affects the formation of an independent chronology. This is the traditional hierarchy of dates, according to which earlier dates seem more desirable to the researcher. The dating of the stone cathedral of the Alekseyevsky (later Zachatievsky, of Saint Anne's conception) convent is a good example of this mechanism. It was originally dated by the authors to the end of the 16th c. (the second half of the 1580s). After 15 years, the revision of our own position allowed us to come to the conclusion that the church was built between the late 1510 and 1550. This also makes it likely to be identified with the Church of Alexius the Man of God, mentioned in the famous list of buildings by the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin.

Keywords

Church archaeology, monastic archaeology, source analysis, hierarchy of sources, architecture of Moscow in the 16th century

Andrey Yaganov On the Chronology of Stone Construction in the Kashinsky Klobukov Monastery in the Second Half of the 17th Century — ​ First Third of the 18th Centure

Abstract

Using the example of the history of the Trinity (St.Nicholas) Cathedral of the Klobukov Monastery, the article attempts to identify the causes and chronology of the revival of stone construction in Kashin in the second half of the 17th century. A number of archival and bibliographic sources, field observations and studies allow to adjust the generally accepted dating of the monument and outline the main reconstruction stages of the Klobukov monastery ensemble in the second half of the 17th— first third of the 18th centuries.

Keywords

Kashin city, Nikolsky Klobukov monastery and its history, Russian architecture of the second half of the 17th— first third of the 18th centuries, corporate construction, field research of the monument.

Svetlana Baranova On Some Studies of the Tiled Decor of the St. Nicholas the Wet (Mokry) Church in Yaroslavl

Abstract

The article is dedicated to a fragment of tiled decor from the St. Nicholas the Wet (Mokry) Church in Yaroslavl, which adorned the temple during the first construction period (1665–1672). During numerous restorations and repairs of the monument the rare terracotta tiles had been painted over and replaced, changing their typology and in some cases the image on the obverse plates as a result. It was possible to reconstruct the history of their creation through the previously unknown documents from the archive of A.V.Filippov, which provided new information on a rare architectural technique used in decorating ancient Russian tiled monuments.

Keywords

Tile, copy, church of St. Nicholas the Wet (Mokry), Yaroslavl, painting over tiles, restoration.

Elina Dobrynina Reconstruction of the Lost Patristic Miscellany in tipo Anastasio Based on Three Fragments (Mosq. Syn gr. 73, Paris, Bnf, Coisl. 28 and Suppl. gr. 1156)

Abstract

This article describes the now-lost minuscule codex, three fragments of which are kept in the collections of Paris and Moscow. The handwriting of ‘tipo Anastasio’ and transitional features in decoration allow us to date the partially reconstructed codex to the late 9th— early 10th centuries. So the previously unknown fragment of the ‘Finding of the Holy Cross and nails’ of Menander the Protector, which was identified in Mosq. Syn.gr. 73 belongs to the earliest copies of this text.

Keywords

Greek paleography, manuscript studies, Byzantine book illumination, ornament, décor of the transitional period, minuscule ‘tipo Anastasio”, fragments (parchment), Menander Protector, The Finding of the Holy Cross and nails.

Irina Shalina The Oldest Podea of the Miraculous Icon of the Tikhvin

Abstract

The article is devoted to the oldest hanging embroidered podea of the miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God, the origin of which can be connected with the Assumption Cathedral of the Big Monastery in Tikhvin. Archival sources make it possible not only to confirm this, but also to reconstruct the original composition of the podea and trace the history of its existence and restoration. The artistic style of embroidery brings it closer to the works created in the Kremlin workshop of Grand Duchess Solomonia Saburova, which makes it possible to assume that the podea was embroidered at the time of the consecration of the new stone church in Tikhvin in 1515, built at the behest and at the expense of Vasily III. Most likely, the creation of this work, as well as the construction of the church-reliquary for the Tikhvin icon, was associated with the prayer of the princely family for childbirth. From that time on, the shrine of the monastery received an all-Russian veneration.

Keywords

Vasily III, Assumption Tikhvin Monastery, the Miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God, Old Russian art of the 16th century, Old Russian Embroidery, podea, iconography, workshop of Solomonia Saburova.

Isolde Thyrêt Embroidering the New Dynasty: Marfa Ivanovna Romanova and Her Tapestry The Praise of the Mother of God

Abstract

Marfa Ivanovna’s tapestry “The Praise of the Mother of God” provides insight into the farreaching role that the mother of the first Romanov tsar played in the construction of the image of Russia’s new ruling dynasty within the traditional religious framework that defined Muscovite tsardom. The tapestry showcases Marfa’s exquisite ability to use the visual medium of liturgical embroidery to invoke continuities between the traditional perception of Russian rulers and that of the new Romanov tsar. By placing Mikhail Fedorovich’s name saint into the position of the name saint of Irina Godunova, who is seen in a tapestry of the same theme produced by Irina Godunova’s workshop, Marfa Ivanovna asserted that her son followed in the footsteps of previous Russian rulers whose power was legitimized by divine grace. A reference to the Old Testament figure Joseph in the inscription next to Mikhail Fedorovich’s name saint underscored this point even further. But Marfa Ivanovna not only provided the support that Irina Godunova had lent to her brother Boris’s ascendance to the throne. In Marfa Ivanovna’s tapestry Marfa’s name saint, dressed in monastic garb, joins the choir of Old Testament figures in a liturgical round dance in honor of the greatest intercessors of all, the Mother of God. The implied intimate connection between Marfa Ivanovna and the divine, which underscored the value of the tsar mother’s intercession, is expressed in an inscription next to Saint Marfa. Marfa Ivanovna cleverly combined traditional notions of both royal mothers and tsaritsa-nuns acting as intercessors for the Muscovite tsars in order to ascribe to herself an essential role at the early seventeenth-century Muscovite court.

Keywords

Marfa Ivanovna Romanova, Irina Godunova, Saint Irina, Saint Marfa, Old Russian embroidery, altar cloths, Fedor Ivanovich, Romanov dynasty.

Irina Kyzlasova, Anzhela Ulanova Mikhail Andreevich Ilyin: “…Blown up by the Germans during the Retreat” (Studies of the Architecture of the Moscow Region during the War)

Abstract

The article contains basic biographical information about M.A.Ilyin (1903–1981), a prominent art historian who worked in a number of institutions, including the Institute of Art History and Moscow University. This text precedes the first publication of the scientist's report, compiled in 1942 (or 1943), based on the survey of the architectural monuments destroyed in the Moscow region districts Vereisky and Naro-Fominsky, known to the author since childhood. The article provides new information (in particular, about the lost stone icon, a gift from the German Emperor Rudolf to Tsar Ivan the Terrible) and gives a vivid impression of the catastrophe. The publication is complete with Ilyin’s unique photographic portraits and a graphic self-portrait.

Keywords

Mikhail Ilyin, new document, architecture of the Moscow region, destruction, the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945, portraits of the scientist.

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