Journal articles on the topic 'Byzantine Icon painting'

Abstract In the context of the flagrant mistakes that are encountered in ecclesiastical painting and the lack of basic knowledge in this field, this study comes to present how Hermeneia has evolved throughout history. Starting from the Byzantine period, passing through the post-Byzantine period and reaching to the present day, Hermeneia and her predecessors, manuscripts and sketchbooks, aimed to help and maintain a canonical-artistic-ecclesial unity throughout the Orthodox Christian area. Another aspect of the article presents some ways of approaching Hermeneia from various points of view: technical, iconographic-illustrative, compositional, academic and theological. Throughout history, Hermeneia has been synthesized and structured in such a way as to provide a maximum of information but its volume should not be difficult to use by iconographers.

Seni lukis Byzantine adalah salah satu warisan kesenian dunia yang belum banyak dibahas oleh kalangan akademisi seni di Indonesia. Warisan seni lukis Byzantine sering disamakan dengan Ikonografi, yaitu gambar-gambar suci yang sampai hari ini masih dipertahankan fungsinya dalam gereja-gereja yang menggunakan ritus Byzantine (Gereja Orthodox dan Gereja Katolik Ritus Byzantine). Seni Byzantine dibagi tiga periode, yaitu awal, tengah, dan akhir, dimana pada periode Tengah-Akhir muncul ikon berjenis Menologion. Seni lukis Byzantine dikaji menggunakan Ikon Pesta Transfigurasi yang merupakan digitalisasi dari ikon aslinya yang berasal dari abad ke-16 untuk menjelaskan bentuk visual, struktur dan hubungannya dengan narasi. Kajian menemukan ada kesamaan antara visualisasi narasi ikon dengan struktur pesta Gerejawi yang memiliki tiga pola (Pra Pesta – Pesta – Pasca Pesta/Apodosis).Byzantine painting is one of the world's artistic heritage that art academics have not widely discussed in Indonesia. The legacy of Byzantine painting is often equated with iconography, which is sacred images that still retain their function in churches that use the Byzantine rite (Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Church). Byzantine art had developed in three periods, namely beginning, middle, and end, wherein the Middle-Late period, an icon of the Menologion type appears. The byzantine painting was studied using the Transfiguration Feast Icon, digitizing the original icon dating from the 16th century to explain its visual form, structure, and relationship to narrative. The study found similarities between the visualization of the iconic narrative and the ecclesiastical party structure with three patterns (Pre Pesta – Pesta – Post-Pesta / Apodosis).

Orthodox churches in the east of Ukraine, built (or restored) during the period of the state independence, are painted either in the style of academic painting or in the Byzantine style. Moreover, the style of academic painting is more typical of temples painted in the 1990s and the early 21st century; and in the last two decades, the customers and icon painters prefer the Byzantine style of painting. Answering the questions related to the reasons for changing the style of painting of Orthodox churches in the east of Ukraine at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, the author offers her point of view from the standpoint of culturology. In contrast to the style of academic painting, the Byzantine style of painting conveys through visible images the invisible, spiritual, mystical, spiritual, which was the subject of search in the analyzed historical period.The author of the article analyzes the processes taking place in the religious culture and art of our state after gaining independence and comes to the following conclusions.There are several main reasons for the change in the style of painting Orthodox churches in the east of Ukraine at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries: the search for national identity as one of the important and defining processes in the culture of Ukraine, which is relevant for all regions of Ukraine (both for the West and for the East); the perception of Kyivan Rus as the main (in historical retrospect) monument in the history of Ukrainian statehood (the time of Rus, of course, is associated with the Byzantine style of temple painting); the spread of icon-painting schools and the increased interest in canonical (Byzantine) iconpainting; the desire to adhere to the ancient Byzantine statutes in monastic life; the development of religious tourism and exchange of experience between masters.The prospect of further research on this topic can be considered the study of regional features of church painting, creativity, and various components of the work of individual Ukrainian artists, including icon painters.

The fragment of stone icon with the image of Virgin, outstretching her arms in prayer, has been found in 1949 during the excavations of B. A. Rybakov on the site of Vshchizh, the small city of Chernigov principality. After the invasion of Batu Khan in 1238 it was destroyed and depopulated until the 16th century. T. V. Nikolaeva included the icon into the catalog of Rus stone icons as local craftsman’s production of 12th (?) century, exquisitely made and preserved the painting. The icon has been reproduced on the poor-quality black and white photography and for a long time did not attract the attention of researchers. The examination of digital image of the icon showed that T. V. Nikolaeva opinion was incorrect. The icon preserved not only the painting but also the gilding and Greek letters of dipinto representing the monogram of Mother of God. Usually the dipinti or their traces preserve very poorly on a stone and bone, especially on the icons which have been worn on the breast. The painted inscriptions were wiped away and later replaced by carving or repainting. Gilding, painting and dipinti are known on the Byzantine stone and bone icons but they have not been found on the icons made by Rus craftsmen in pre-Mongolian time. The using of all these techniques, fine relief, thickness of the plate (less than 1 cm) permit to consider the icon from Vshchizh the work of Byzantine, probably Constantinople, craftsman. The iconography makes it possible to attribute the image of Virgin to the type of Hagiosoritissa, and the style permits to date the icon to the second half of 12th — the beginning of 13th century.

The purpose is to study the themes and the stylistics of the upper and lower churches’ iconostases of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa. The comparative method was used in order to study the topic and identify the artistic and stylistic features of Odessa Cathedral iconostases. It allows comparing the objects of study with analogues from the world art. Iconological, iconographic methods and figurative-stylistic analysis were also applied. The iconostases of the Transfiguration Cathedral upper and lower churches in Odessa are organically inscribed in the architectural environment, thanks to which the synthesis of arts is reached. Classical architecture and the original spatial architectonics of the upper temple altar barrier determined the theme and the style of the icon-painting. It was found out that the decoration and the icons in the Transfiguration Cathedral upper and lower churches’ iconostases combine the multi-temporal traditions of Christian art. The upper church central iconostasis reflects the influence of Renaissance architecture and art. The icon painting characteristic feature is a combination of the European art heritage, specifically Italian and Northern Renaissance, classicism, baroque and academicism of the XIX century. A three-dimensional style of painting based on the Western European tradition is observed. The decoration of the lower temple altar barrier contains architectural elements of Byzantium, Ancient Rus and baroque. The icon painting was created in the canonical Byzantine style of the Paleologue Renaissance period. By studying the features of the Transfiguration Cathedral iconostases, the main trends in church art of the second half of the XX–XXI centuries were identified: the application and combination of the renaissance-academic and the Byzantine-Ancient Rus styles. A detailed study of Odessa Cathedral iconostases was conducted for the first time. The features of the icon-painting themes and stylistics in the connection with the architectonics of the iconostases and the temple’s architecture were revealed. Practical significance is due to the possibility of using research materials in monographs on art history of Odessa, in the preparation of textbooks and methodological instructions with an in-depth study of icon-painting, monumental and decorative art, in the working-out of lectures’ and practical classes’ texts.

The field of Leonardo da Vinci Studies has seen rapid advancement in recent years. Multiple research projects have been conducted on Leonardo’s observation of the natural world in relation to his inventions and painting techniques. Nonetheless, there lacks a consensus on how nature has impacted Leonardo’s interpretation of religious icons, such as the Virgin and the Christ Child. Therefore, this paper emphasizes Leonardo’s recreation of visual narrative using symbolism and natural setting within his series of icon paintings. The study opens with an inspection of the preceding Byzantine style and late-Medieval icon painting as a comparative reference, then discusses early experimentations that introduce symbolic themes in conjunction with natural elements. This is followed by visual analyses of the Paris Virgin of the Rocks and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. Evaluations will be performed on the two paintings’ intentions in remodeling theological narratives with compositional symbolism, technical enrichment, and geological presentations. The study reveals Leonardo’s use of a recreated natural environment as a manifestation of divinity, which functions in concert with his humanized divinity to realize a personalized view of sacred iconography. This aesthetic privatization ultimately transforms icon painting from a collectivized liturgical tool to an individualized interpretation of godhood.

It still seems to me correct to date the icon “Christ Pantocrator” from the Rublev Museum back to around 1200 or to the first quarter of the 13th century, that is, the pre-Mongol period. Masterfully painted, but far from the refined roots of the Constantinople style, the icon bears clear signs of the art of Northern Greece and Macedonia, and the tradition of Kastoria seems to be especially close. The origin of the object remains unclear; it could have been the work of both a Greek and a Russian master. However, even if we consider both the icon board and its painting to be by Russians, it is very close to Byzantine art, and precisely of this region. Probably, such closeness is an indication of the influence of Northern Byzantine art on the development of regional features of the painting of 13th century North-Eastern Russia.

In this article a miraculous icon of the Virgin Hodegetria with twelve Great Feast (Dodekaorton) scenes (third quarter of the fourteenth c.) in the church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Nessebur (Mesembria) in Bulgaria is presented. The icon, which belongs to the category of inlaid icons, bears a silver revetment (eighteenth-nineteenth c.). The iconography, as well as the style and the technique of painting, seems closely related to the Palaeologan icons of the second and mainly the third quarter of the fourteenth century. This allows us to suppose that the main icon, as well as the framing icon, are works of anonymous painters, probably from a painting workshop of Constantinople or a local one, influenced or formed in the Byzantine capital.

В статье предпринимается попытка описания различных аспектов византийского влияния на средневековое церковное зодчество и изобразительное искусство (иконопись) аланских храмов, расположенных на территории Северного Кавказа. Анализируются проблемы сохранения этого уникального культурного наследия, а также работа художников-реставраторов, осуществляемая в этом направлении. Эта проблема актуализируется датой празднования 1100-летия Крещения Алании, к которой приурочена активизация исследований аланского христианского наследия. Поскольку учреждение Аланской митрополии осуществлялось Византией, то вполне логично искать в аланской христианской архитектуре черты византийского влияния. Основное внимание уделено состоянию Шоанинского и Сентинского храмов, расположенных на территории современной Карачаево-Черкесии. Упомянутым храмам наносится серьезный ущерб. Дело не только в недостаточном финансировании, выделяемом на поддержание их в должном состоянии, но и варварской деятельности «черных археологов», туристов, оставляющих граффити на средневековых стенах и т.д. Необходима более существенная работа с населением в целях пропаганды бережного отношения к своему наследию.Кроме того, в статье анализируется вклад молодых историков и художников в деле изучения элементов византийского наследия в области архитектуры и иконописи в средневековых храмах на территории Карачаево-Черкесии, в частности, в храме в селении Коста Хетагурова. Интересным представляется открытие, сделанное А. Виноградовым и Д. Белецким: ими были обнаружены изображения византийских крестов и тамг, спрятанных под слоями штукатурки в Архызском храме. Ценным источником, наведшим исследователей на упомянутые находки, является опубликованный в 1857 г. на иврите в «Записках Императорского Археологического общества» дневник караима А. Фирковича. The article attempts to describe various aspects of the Byzantine influence on medieval church architecture and fine art (icon painting) of Alanian temples located in the North Caucasus. The problems of preserving this unique cultural heritage, as well as the work of restoration artists carried out in this direction, are analyzed. This problem is updated by the date of the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the Baptism of Alania, which is timed to intensify research on the Alanian Christian heritage. Since the establishment of the Alanian metropolis was carried out by Byzantium, it is quite logical to look for features of Byzantine influence in the Alanian Christian architecture. The main attention is paid to the state of the Shoanin and Sentin temples, located on the territory of modern Karachay-Cherkessia. The mentioned temples are seriously damaged. It is not only the lack of funding allocated to maintain them in proper condition, but also the barbaric activities of "black archaeologists", tourists leaving graffiti on medieval walls, etc. More instructing of the population is needed in order to promote respect for their heritage.In addition, the article analyzes the contribution of young historians and artists in the study of the elements of the Byzantine heritage in the field of architecture and icon painting in medieval churches in North Ossetia, in particular, in the church in the village of Kosta. The discovery made by A. Vinogradov and D. Beletsky is interesting: they discovered images of Byzantine crosses and tamgas hidden under layers of plaster in the Arkhyz temple. A valuable source that led researchers to the mentioned finds is the diary of Karaim A. Firkovich published in 1857 in Hebrew in the "Notes of the Imperial Archaeological Society".

Since Manolis Chatzidakis’s pivotal publications on post-Byzantine Cretan icon painting in the 1970s, research in the field is, by now, very well established. In turn, these studies have demonstrated the contribution of Venetian Crete’s artistic production to European culture. Despite Giorgio Vasari’s condemnations of the ‘Greek style’, Byzantine icons remained popular in Renaissance Europe among Western patrons. Research on Venetian Crete has greatly benefitted from the survival of its archives, presently housed in Venice (Archivio di Stato di Venezia), an incredibly rich and invaluable source of information. One of the best-known published and referenced documents from these archives, supporting the wider popularity and dissemination of Cretan icons, is a contract offered to three Cretan painters dated 4 July 1499 concerning the production and delivery of 700 icons of the Virgin in just 42 days, by 15 August 1499, the day of the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin. This paper revisits the information the famous contract provides with the aim to scrutinise it further.

The icon Prophet Elijah in the Desert with Life and Devotion of the late 12th – early 13th century from the village of Vybuty near Pskov is the oldest living icon of the Kyivan Rus. The close connection of the icon with ancient Byzantine traditions is indicated by its unusual composition, where the author combines the images of Elijah in the center of the icon, the scenes from his life are on both sides and below, and above there are prayers with angels and apostles. In the scholars’ opinion, this rare plot combination is inspired by an ancient tradition – the icons are placed on the architrave of the altar partition on a similar principle in Byzantine temples. There is a very significant parallel for the structural construction of the monument – the arrangement of the fresco painting of the deaconicon of the Church of the Assumption (1252) in Morača (Montenegro), which is similar to a separate small church devoted to the prophet Elijah. The stylistic analysis of the monument and the Byzantine tradition of reproduction of ancient single images of the saints in the center of life icons makes it possible to suggest that the image borrowed from a monumental painting of a Sinai temple is reproduced in the center of the icon under study. Today it is impossible to find and determine with certainty an early Byzantine image of the prophet Elijah, which can be considered as a certain unit of reference for the following iconographic and artistic incarnations. However, it is well known that the most important role in the spread of Byzantine icons in the lands of Rus belongs to Kyiv. Greek icons have been transported from the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery to other principalities. Often the artists have been invited to the northern principalities. Another important factor is the existence in Kiev of the ancient Elijah’s Church, where there were undoubtedly early Byzantine icons of the prophet. The first mention (dated 944) of the church is found in the work of Nestor the Chronicler The Tale of Bygone Years. The iconographic and stylistic analyses of the monument give reasons to suppose that the studied icon reproduces early Byzantine traditions, borrowed directly from one or another imported monument or its interpretation in Kyiv art of pre-Mongolian times.

To identify and analyze ways of depiction of clothing in the iconography of the Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv region in the second half of the 17th - the first half of the 18th centuries. The author conducted a field exploration of painted icon monuments from the mentioned period in the collections of Ukrainian museums. The data obtained was supplemented with information from published scientific papers and archival sources. The analysis performed made it possible to trace the peculiarities of the depiction of different fabrics in the iconography of the Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv region in the second half of the 17th – first half of the 18th centuries, and to identify the aspects of the effects on it of Byzantine and Western European painting techniques. It is revealed that in the Ukrainian icon painting till the end of the 17th century was used a method for depicting fabrics, whose roots go back to the Byzantine system of tempera painting. Although white levkas remained dominant in Ukrainian iconography, by the beginning of the 18th century masters could tone grounds and make imprimaturas, which had their influence on the process of painting clothing and the icon in general. Since about the second quarter of the 18th century the use of grisaille underpaints has been encountered in some icons. These innovations demonstrate the impact of Western European painting at the technical and technological level. Gold and silver were widely used for decorating icons. In that time to decorate the icons were widely used leaf gold and silver and powdered gold and silver. For the first time, the subject of research is the process of painting the garment part of the icons of Left-Bank Ukraine and the Kiev region in the second half of the XVII - the first half of the XVIII centuries. The methods of depicting clothing and common techniques for decorating and depicting texture of fabrics are described and analyzed in detail. The study expands knowledge about Ukrainian icon painting and reveals the technique of its creation.

Abstract The present paper offers some thoughts on the complex issue of Italianate elements in Cretan icon painting by emphasizing the extent to which they can be considered to stem from motifs worked out in the mid-to-late fourteenth century in the wider, fluid space between Venice and the Eastern Mediterranean. It focuses on a cluster of Marian panels that, on account of their mixed Byzantine and Western character, have been hitherto confined to the margins of art-historical research and improperly labeled as works of a so-called “Adriatic” school. The critical reassessment of these works illuminates the ways in which innovative compositional, iconographic, and stylistic solutions were developed by masters well acquainted with both Palaiologan and Venetian art, and reproduced in a chain of replicas, some of which can be reasonably attributed to Cretan workshops.

The article seeks to reflect upon the manner of perceiving reality (the so-called reversed perspective) associated with the Byzantine tradition of icon painting which was in evidence in the Ruthenian and Russian cultural circle from the 12th to the first half of the 17th century.

Traditional Serbian religious art originated in Byzantine culture and conserved Byzantine elements until modern times. However, since the end of the 17th century, many changes in traditional icon painting have been introduced. Previous studies focused on the changes in iconography and style, but very little attention was paid to the changes in painting materials and techniques. This research focuses on the blue pigments on icons from the first half of the 18th century. Eight icons with blue areas of a different hue were selected for the study. Due to its rarity in nature, price, and iconographical importance, the blue pigment was particularly praised by painters. Therefore, the choice of the blue pigment can be related to historical information to trace influences and the development of the painter’s practice. Imaging techniques, several portable, non-destructive analytical techniques, such as XRF and FTIR, followed by optical microscopy and SEM-EDX analysis of the samples were used to characterize blue pigments and the painting technique. An analysis showed that icon painters at the beginning of the 18th century used pigments such as azurite, an indigo-organic colourant of plant origin, and Prussian blue. Contrary to the traditional belief that natural ultramarine blue was used, it was not confirmed in any studied examples.

Icon painting in the Ukraine is rooted in the Byzantine culture, after the conversion to the Christian religion. During the medieval epoch, Kiev became the artistic center for highly skilled icon painters. The icons were painted on wooden boards, specially made for this purpose. Historic dating of some even well-known icons is uncertain or not precise. Here we present for the first time radiocarbon dates for selected icons. Both liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating methods were applied, allowing intercomparison.

Recent conservation and restoration work on the icon of the Virgin and Child which stood on the altar in the Church of St. Nicholas at Prijeko in Dubrovnik has enabled a new interpretation of this paining. The icon, painted on a panel made of poplar wood, features a centrally-placed Virgin holding the Child in her arms painted on a gold background between the two smaller figures of St. Peter and St. John the Baptist. The figures are painted in the manner of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Dubrovnik style, and represent a later intervention which significantly changed the original appearance and composition of the older icon by adding the two saints and touching up the Virgin’s clothes with Renaissance ornaments, all of which was performed by the well-known Dubrovnik painter Nikola Božidarević. It can be assumed that the icon originally featured a standing or seated Virgin and Child. The Virgin is depicted with her head slightly lowered and pointing to the Christ Child whom she is holding on her right side. The chubby boy is not seated on his mother’s lap but is reclining on his right side and leaningforward while his face is turned towards the spectator. He is dressed in a red sleeveless tunic with a simple neck-line which is embroidered with gold thread. The Child is leaning himself on the Virgin’s right hand which is holding him. He is firmly grasping her thumb with one hand and her index finger with the other in a very intimate nursing gesture while she, true to the Hodegitria scheme, is pointing at him with her left hand, which is raised to the level of her breasts. Such an almost-realistic depiction of Christ as a small child with tiny eyes, mouth and nose, drastically departs from the model which portrays him with the mature face of an adult, as was customary in icon painting. The Virgin is wearing a luxurious gold cloak which was repainted with large Renaissance-style flowers. Her head is covered with a traditional maphorion which forms a wide ring around it and is encircled by a nimbus which was bored into thegold background. Her skin tone is pink and lit diffusely, and was painted with almost no green shadows, which is typical of Byzantine painting. The Virgin’s face is striking and markedly oval. It is characterized by a silhouetted, long, thin nose which is connected to the eyebrows. The ridge of the nose is emphasized with a double edge and gently lit whilethe almond-shaped eyes with dark circles are set below the inky arches of the eyebrows. The Virgin’s cheeks are smooth and rosy while her lips are red. The plasticity of her round chin is emphasized by a crease below the lower lip and its shadow. The Virgin’s eyes, nose and mouth are outlined with a thick red line. Her hands are light pink in colour and haveelongated fingers and pronounced, round muscles on the wrists. The fingers are separated and the nails are outlined with precision. The deep, resounding hues of the colour red and the gilding, together with the pale pink skin tone of her face, create an impression of monumentality. The type of the reclining Christ Child has been identified in Byzantine iconography as the Anapeson. Its theological background lies in the emphasis of Christ’s dual nature: although the Christ Child is asleep, the Christ as God is always keeping watch over humans. The image was inspired by a phrase from Genesis 49: 9 about a sleeping lion to whom Christ is compared: the lion sleeps with his eyes open. The Anapeson is drowsy and awake at the same time, and therefore his eyes are not completely shut. Such a paradox is a theological anticipation of his “sleep” in the tomb and represents an allegory of his death and Resurrection. The position, gesture and clothes of the Anapeson in Byzantine art are not always the same. Most frequently, the ChristChild is not depicted lying in his mother’s arms but on an oval bed or pillow, resting his head on his hand, while the Virgin is kneeling by his side. Therefore, the Anapeson from Dubrovnik is unique thanks to the conspicuously humanized relationship between the figures which is particularly evident in Christ’s explicitly intimate gesture of grasping the fingers of his mother’s hand: his right hand is literally “inserting” itself in the space between the Virgin’s thumb and index finger. At the same time, the baring of his arms provided the painter with an opportunity to depict the pale tones of a child’s tender skin. The problem of the iconography of the Anapeson in the medieval painting at Dubrovnik is further complicated by a painting which was greatly venerated in Župa Dubrovačka as Santa Maria del Breno. It has not been preserved but an illustration of it was published in Gumppenberg’sfamous Atlas Marianus which shows the Virgin seated on a high-backed throne and holding the sleeping and reclining Child. The position of this Anapeson Christ does not correspond fully to the icon from the Church of St. Nicholas because the Child is lying on its back and his naked body is covered with the swaddling fabric. The icon of the Virgin and Child from Prijeko claims a special place in the corpus of Romanesque icons on the Adriatic through its monumentality and intimate character. The details of the striking and lively Virgin’s face, dominated by the pronounced and gently curved Cimabuesque nose joined to the shallow arches of her eyebrows, link her with the Benedictine Virgin at Zadar. Furthermore, based on the manner of painting characterized by the use of intense red for the shadows in the nose and eye area, together with the characteristic shape of the elongated, narrow eyes, this Virgin and Child should be brought into connection with the painter who is known as the Master of the Benedictine Virgin. The so-called Benedictine Virgin is an icon, now at the Benedictine Convent at Zadar, which depicts the Virgin seated on a throne with a red, ceremonial, imperial cushion, in a solemn scheme of the Kyriotissa, the heavenly queen holding the Christ Child on her lap. The throne is wooden and has a round back topped with wooden finials which can also be seen in the Byzantine Kahn Virgin and the Mellon Madonna, as well as in later Veneto-Cretan painting. The throne is set under a shallow ciborium arch which is rendered in relief and supportedby twisted colonettes and so the painting itself is sunk into the surface of the panel. A very similar scheme with a triumphal arch can be seen on Byzantine ivory diptychs with shallow ciborium arches and twisted colonettes. In its composition, the icon from Prijeko is a combination ofthe Kyr i ot i ss a and the Hodegitria, because the Virgin as the heavenly queen does not hold the Christ Child frontally before her but on her right-hand side while pointing at him as the road to salvation. He is seated on his mother’s arm and is supporting himself by pressing his crossed legsagainst her thigh which symbolizes his future Passion. He is wearing a formal classical costume with a red cloak over his shoulder. He is depicted in half profile which opens up the frontal view of the red clavus on his navy blue chiton.He is blessing with the two fingers of his right hand and at the same time reaching for the unusual flower rendered in pastiglia which the Virgin is raising in her left hand and offering to him. At the same time, she is holding the lower part of Christ’s body tightly with her right hand.Various scholars have dated the icon of the Benedictine Virgin to the early fourteenth century. While Gothic features are particularly evident in the costumes of the donors, the elements such as the modelling of the throne and the presence of the ceremonial cushion belong to the Byzantine style of the thirteenth century. The back of the icon of the Benedictine Virgin features the figure of St. Peter set within a border consisting of a lively and colourful vegetal scroll which could be understood as either Romanesque or Byzantine. However, St. Peter’s identifying titulus is written in Latin while that of the Virgin is in Greek. The figure of St. Peter was painted according to the Byzantine tradition: his striking and severe face is rendered linearly in a rigid composition, which is complemented by his classical contrapposto against a green-gray parapet wall, while the background is of dark green-blue colour. Equally Byzantine is themanner of depicting the drapery with flat, shallow folds filled with white lines at the bottom of the garment while, at the same time, the curved undulating hem of the cloak which falls down St. Peter’s right side is Gothic. The overall appearance of St. Peter is perhaps even more Byzantine than that of the Virgin. Such elements, together with the typically Byzantine costumes, speak clearly of a skilful artist who uses hybrid visual language consisting of Byzantine painting and elements of the Romanesque and Gothic. Of particular interest are the wide nimbuses surrounding the heads of the Virgin and Child (St. Peter has a flat one) which are rendered in relief and filled with a neat sequence of shallow blind archesexecuted in the pastiglia technique which, according to M. Frinta, originated in Cyprus. The Venetian and Byzantine elements of the Benedictine Virgin have already been pointed out in the scholarship. Apart from importing art works and artists such as painters and mosaic makers directly from Byzantium into Venice, what was the extent and nature of the Byzantineinfluence on Venetian artistic achievements in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? We know that the art of Venice and the West alike were affected by the Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and by the newly founded Latin Empire which lasted until 1261.The Venetians played a particularly significant political and administrative role in this Empire and the contemporary hybrid artistic style of the eastern Mediterranean, called Crusader Art and marked by the strong involvement of the Knights Templar, must have been disseminated through the established routes. In addition to Cyprus, Apulia and Sicily which served as stops for the artists and art works en route to Venice and Tuscany, another station must have been Dalmatia where eastern and western influences intermingled and complemented each other.However, it is interesting that the icon of the Benedictine Virgin, apart from negligible variations, imitates almost completely the iconographic scheme of the Madonna di Ripalta at Cerignola on the Italian side of the Adriatic, which has been dated to the early thirteenth century and whose provenance has been sought in the area between southern Italy (Campania) and Cyprus. Far more Byzantine is another Apulian icon, that of a fourteenth-century enthroned Virgin from the basilica of St. Nicholas at Bari with which the Benedictine Virgin from Zadar shares certain features such as the composition and posture of the figures, the depictionof donors and Christ’s costume. A similar scheme, which indicates a common source, can be seen on a series of icons of the enthroned Virgin from Tuscany. The icon of the Virgin and Child from Prijeko is very important for local Romanesque painting of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century because it expands the oeuvre of the Master of the Benedictine Virgin. Anicon which is now at Toronto, in the University of Toronto Art Centre Malcove Collection, has also been attributed to this master. This small two-sided icon which might have been a diptych panel, as can be judged from its typology, depicts the Virgin with the Anapeson in the upper register while below is the scene from the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. The Virgin is flanked by the figures of saints: to the left is the figure of St. Francis while the saint on the right-hand side has been lost due to damage sustained to the icon. The busts of SS Peter and Paul are at the top.The physiognomies of the Virgin and Child correspond to those of the Benedictine Virgin and the Prijeko icon. The Anapeson, unlike the one at Dubrovnik, is wrapped in a rich, red cloak decorated with lumeggiature, which covers his entire body except the left fist and shin. On the basis of the upper register of this icon, it can be concluded that the Master of the Benedictine Virgin is equally adept at applying the repertoire and style of Byzantine and Western painting alike; the lower register of the icon with its descriptive depiction of the martyrdom of St.Lawrence is completely Byzantine in that it portrays the Roman emperor attending the saint’s torture as a crowned Byzantine ruler. Such unquestionable stylistic ambivalence – the presence of the elements from both Byzantine and Italian painting – can also be seen on the icons of theBenedictine and Prijeko Virgin and they point to a painter who works in a “combined style.” Perhaps he should be sought among the artists who are mentioned as pictores greci in Dubrovnik, Kotor and Zadar. The links between Dalmatian icons and Apulia and Tuscany have already been noted, but the analysis of these paintings should also contain the hitherto ignored segment of Sicilian and eastern Mediterranean Byzantinism, including Cyprus as the centre of Crusader Art. The question of the provenance of the Master of the Benedictine Virgin remains open although the icon of the Virgin and Child from Prijeko points to the possibility that he may have been active in Dalmatia.However, stylistic expressions of the two icons from Zadar and Dubrovnik, together with the one which is today at Toronto, clearly demonstrate the coalescing of cults and forms which arrived to the Adriatic shores fromfurther afield, well beyond the Adriatic, and which were influenced by the significant, hitherto unrecognized, role of the eastern Mediterranean.

This text is focused on the transformation of the definition of the icon in Byzantine image theory from an identification of graphe with painting in the writings of John of Damascus (ca. 675-754) to the equation of graphe with typos understood as the imprint of an intaglio on matter in the theory of Theodore Studies (759-826). The virtues of painting, therefore, are that its masters see their works admired and feel themselves to be almost like the Creator. Is it not true that painting is the mistress of all the arts or their principal ornament? If I am not mistaken, the architect took from the painter architrave's, capitals, bases, columns and pediments, and all other fine features of buildings. The stonemason, the sculptor, and all the workshops and crafts of artificers are guided by the rule and art of the painter. Indeed hardly any art, except the very meanest, can be found that does not somehow pertain to painting. So I would venture to assert that whatever beauty there is in things, it has been derived from painting.

The Byzantine icon has a complex language because it comprises true iconic hierophanies or sacred images, with a profound theological symbolism, hard to express. The image and the symbol are two indissoluble realities by which the human spirit is helped to feel and know the mystery of the real presence of God. By means of the symbol, the icon and the liturgical realism, in general, do not contain only the epiphanic anamnesis or the representation of the evangelical and ecclesial events in symbolical portrayals or aesthetic figures, but their very accomplishment, continual topicalization. The Byzantine art is not a discipline annex of Theology, it is rather its practical, and effectively lived, application, the rightly-glorifying faith being the norm of the rightly-glorifying high glorification. Theology is not just word, verbal expression, but also icon, symbolical representation. The Eastern Church had the genius and method of creating the analogy of the celestial and earthly Church in symbols and images; the Christian faith has led to the exceptional cultural creation represented in monuments of architecture and painting. The icon and the symbol are, however, forms of the presence and work of God in and via visible matter.

A 15th century St Theodoros icon of outstanding quality is on display at the Zakynthos Ecclesiastical Art Museum. On the basis of certain stylistic characteristics, this icon has been attributed to the legendary Cretan painter Angelos Akotantos. In order to explore the latter attribution, the icon was subjected to examination via multispectral imaging, while microsamples were investigated through an optical microscope (OM), a scanning electron microscope coupled with an energy dispersive analyzer (SEM-EDX), μ-Raman and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The data were evaluated in the light of the findings of recent analytical studies conducted on several genuine Angelos icons. Identified materials include gypsum, gold leaf, bole, natural ultramarine, lead white, charcoal, green earth, red lake, minium, cinnabar, and red and yellow ochres. The identified materials resemble those employed by Angelos, while the identification of ultramarine is of particular significance, as this extremely expensive and rather rare pigment was very often used by the particular painter. Moreover, multispectral imaging reveals notable painting technique similarities between the icon in consideration and known Angelos icons, while cross sections of corresponding samples exhibit almost identical structures. Overall, the present work considerably strengthens the suggestion that the St Theodoros icon in consideration was painted by Angelos and also widens our knowledge regarding the late Byzantine painting.

The article explores the directions of contemporary Ukrainian sacral art in the work of the painter I. Zilinkо, his contribution to the development of sacred art of the temples of Ternopil region. The main directions of stylistic orientation in the formation of modern sacral art, the evolution of paintings from realistic tendencies of Ukrainian sacral painting of the seventeenth century to experiments with stylization of iconic figures in search of greater spirituality of the face, the introduction of our own modern iconography, based on tradition. The article explores the directions of contemporary Ukrainian sacral art in the work of the painter I. Zilinkо, his contribution to the development of sacred art of the temples of Ternopil region. Sacred art is the object of study of many scientists, historians, archivists, art historians, local historians, journalists. Among them, in particular, D. Stepovyk, M. Golubets, K. Moskalets, V. Sventsitska. However, the issue of the development of the modern sacred art of Ternopil region (1990–2018) requires additional study. The purpose of the article is to highlight the main directions in the work of Igor Zilinka, to specify the formation of the sacral and artistic environment of the churches of the city of Ternopil, to study the temples with modern interiors, to analyze the observance of traditions in icon painting and the search for modern aesthetic forms. After the revival of the Ukrainian Church, the construction of new temples began. The construction of churches led to the search for masters who could carry out their interior decoration. Famous Ternopil painter Igor Zilinko has become a “sacred” artist who has been successfully working in this field for many years. One of the first works of Igor Ivanovich was the decoration of the church of the Sacred Heart of Christ in the village of Veluky Gai, Ternopil district (1920). The murals of the church are classic paintings that date back to the works of the famous master of Ukrainian icon painting of the seventeenth century Ivan Rutkovych. It is the only church that reflects the realistic trends of Ukrainian sacral painting of the seventeenth century. Here the traditions of folk art are combined with creative bold search for new content and form. Next was the work on painting the temples in the villages of Petrykiv, Pronyatin, Kupchintsy, in the Ternopil region. On the initiative of Fr. Pavel Repely, the parish priest of the church of the village of Petrykiv, the painter was oriented to the heritage of Byzantine-Ukrainian icon painting. It is the first church in the Ternopil region that depicts the Eastern traditions of icon painting. Igor Zilіnko later managed to form his own style in the contemporary Ukrainian icon, following the Byzantine iconographic tradition. Particularly noteworthy is the iconostasis created by Igor Ivanovich for the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Ternopil in 2007. The artist very responsibly approached the choice of plots, taking as a basis the traditional composition of Ukrainian iconostases. The author has preserved the foundations of Ukrainian church traditions and has reflected the saints of the Ukrainian Church. An interesting development in the decoration of the spatial environment of the temple is the Church of St. Sophia of the Wisdom of God in Ternopil. For the decoration of the church, the parish priest Fr. dr. Vitaliy Kozak invited the already known master of sacral painting Igor Ivanovich Zilinko, who at that time developed his own iconographic style. The figures of the saints are exaggerated, unnatural in height, reflecting the idea of an invisible celestial world, without a realistic image. Creativity of Igor Zilinko is one of the most striking pages of contemporary Ukrainian art culture, evokes joyful aesthetic experiences, encourages contemporaries to creative pursuits to create monumental images that combine tradition with the actual spiritual needs of modern society.

The last decade of the reign of Nicholas I (1845 - 1855) was the time when the projects of renewal of church paintings in Russia appeared. Public discussion of the problems of the tradition of the Russian art started with the publication in 1845 of a brochure "On Icon-paintings" by the Ostrog bishop Anatoly, who wasn't, however, a zealous adherent to the traditional icon-paintings, his "theory" of icon-paintings tending towards neoclassicism. In difference from the Right Reverend Anatoly's approach in his brochure, the Rev'd Grigoriy Debolsky argued for the inseparable connection between the national spirit (narodnost') of the church paintings and the tradition of icon-painting in an article published in the same year. Russian Academic school did not respond to the new attitudes in society: propelled by the Emperor, this school acknowledged the tradition in symbolic terms only - in the Byzantinine golden impressions in the paintings in St Isaac's Cathedral. On the whole, the ensemble of these paintings promised to become a brilliant legacy of Bologna academism. 1848, the year of a wave of revolutions in Europe that were perceived as a direct threat to the Empire, opened a period of Nicholas's reign marked, on the other hand, by the intensification of censorship, and, on the other hand, by the two projects of renewal of national church art: those by Duke G.G. Gagarin and by I.P. Sakharov, an archaeologist. The first project, which had at its base the idea, taken from French artists, of christianising ancient art, was an attempt to adapt the Byzantine tradition to the framework of the academic artistic paradigm. Sakharov's project, on the contrary, presupposed complete rejection of this academic paradigm and going back to the icon-paintings that were not yet "spoiled" by Western influences. On the eve of the Crimean war the government made an attempt to expand the national tradition by including in it the ancient paintings from the Mount Athos, in particular, the wall-paintings by Panselinos, which, as A.N. Mouravyov claimed, "are on a par with the works by Rafael and Michelangelo in colouration and modest comportment of the figures". In the new era, marked by the Great Reform of Alexander II, the attempts at a renewal of church paintings that flourished in Nicholas's times, become, for the most part, a thing of the past.

During the last decades, manuscripts have become increasingly available through digitization and deposition in online repositories. This trend has very much facilitated primary source research, as scholars are no longer subjected to time- and effort-consuming processes such as travel, applications for photography permissions, and so on. In this framework, the authors set forth the results of research that deals with post-Byzantine panel-painting varnish recipes which were found in a hitherto unpublished Greek painting manual dating back to 1824. The recipes in consideration are compared to those existing in the renowned “Hermeneia” by Dionysios of Fourna (early 18th century) painter’s manual. A brief discussion dealing with various pertinent terms, along with a note on data deriving from the analytical investigation of varnish samples stemming from post-Byzantine icons are also included in this work. The study reveals a shift towards lean and intermediate varnish recipes during the early 19th century that might reflect the progression of resins and oleoresins, and the gradual replacement of oil-based varnishes. In addition, a unique recipe describing various methods of varnish application is transcribed and commented upon. Finally, the analytical data revealed an unexpected employment of a protein-based varnish in a mid-19th century icon.

Depictions of military martyrs were among the most popular subjects in icon painting in Rus’. Between the 11th and the 17th century local workshops adopted canonical Byzantine models and gradually developed and changed them depending on local factors and conditions. The present article attempts to classify the most common iconographic types and to describe the dynamic of the changes in the iconographic canon on the basis of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of extant and known works.

The sacred art of Jerzy Nowosielski, an outstanding Polish painter of the second half of the 20th century, is an example of the creative continuation of the Byzantine tradition in Poland, but also an embodiment of the debate with the painting tradition of the East and with the experience of the Church. Both in theory and in painting practice, the artist redefined the concept of the icon, attempting to expand its formula so that it not only spoke of the Kingdom, but also included the image of the earthly, imperfect reality of the pilgrim Church. In his designs of sacred interiors for churches of various Christian denominations, Nowosielski wanted to combine three theological disciplines and their respective ways of representation: Christology, sophiology and angelology. Beside a classical icon, called by the painter a “Christological- Chalcedonian” icon, Nowosielski demanded a “sophiological” icon, bringing into the space of a church an earthly, painful reality, traces of inner struggle and doubt – hence the presence of doloristic motifs in his icons. The “inspired geometry” also became a complement to the holy images; the artist noticed a huge spiritual potential in abstract painting, to which he eventually assigned the role of icon painting. The poetic concept of “subtle bodies” – abstract angels testifying to the reality of the spiritual world – drew from the early Christian theological thought, which argued about the corporeality of spiritual entities, from Byzantine angelology, the tradition of theosophy and occultism, but also from the art of the first avant-garde, especially that from Eastern Europe, which inherited the Orthodox cult of the image. Nowosielski’s bilingualism as a painter – practicing abstraction and figuration in tandem, including within the church – paralleled the liturgical practice of many religious communities using different languages to express different levels of reality: human affairs and divine affairs. The tradition of apophatic theology, proclaiming the truth about the “unrepresentability” of God, was also important in shaping Nowosielski’s ideas. For Nowosielski’s monumental art, the problem of the mutual relationship between painting and architecture proved crucial. The artist based his concept on the decisive domination of painting over architecture and the independence of monumental painting. His goal was the principle of creating a sacred interior as a holistic, comprehensive vision of space which leads the participants of liturgy “out of everyday life” and into a different, transcendent dimension, in which the painter saw the main purpose of sacred art. From his first projects from the 1950s till the end of his artistic practice Nowosielski tried to realize his own dream version of the “ideal church”. In many of his projects he introduced abstraction into the temple, covering the walls, vaults, presbyteries, sometimes even the floors with a network of triangular “subtle bodies”. Forced to compromise, he introduced sacred abstraction into murals, as accompanying geometries, or into stained glass windows. The interiors, comprehensively and meticulously planned, were supposed to create the effect of “passing through”, “rending the veil” – from behind which a new, heavenly reality dawned. In practice, it was not always possible to achieve this intention, but the artist’s aim was to create an impression of visual unity, a sense of “entering the painting”, of being immersed in the element of painting. Painting in space was supposed to unite a broken world, to combine physical and spiritual reality into an integral whole. When designing sacred interiors, Nowosielski used the sanctity of the icon, but also the pure qualities of painting which were to cause a “mystical feeling of God’s reality”. The aim of sacred art understood in such a way turned out to be initiation rather than teaching. In this shift of emphasis Nowosielski saw the only chance for the revival of sacred art, postulating even a shift of the burden of evangelization from verbal teaching to the work of charismatic art.

In the church of Saint George in the village Gornji Kozjak near Stip on the fresco-icon of Jesus Christ Antiphonetes (the Guarantor) on the south face of the northwest pier there was found the graphite inscription made by the scribe Nestor in the time of despot Tornik. The analysis and the quality of fresco painting as well as the morphology of letters indicate the period between the last decades of XIII and the very beginning of the XIV century. These enable the identification of despot Tornik with the famous apostate from Byzantium Kotanitzes Tornikios who twice run over to Serbian territory. Together with Serbian troops he has been devastating the border region between Serbia and Byzantium for nearly twenty years (1280-1299). He led exciting and adventurous life and become settled in the lower valley of the river Bregalnica. His long Serbian episode was finished when the king Milutin changed his political orientation towards Byzantium and Kotanitzes became too heavy burden for both sides. He was sacrificed and delivered to Byzantine emperor Andronicus II in 1299, when long negotiations about the wedding between the king Milutin and the Byzantine child ? princess Simonida were completed. Kotanitzes was still in prison in 1306. .

The images of the Mother of God in Italy represent a significant part of the cultural heritage of European and world sacred art and icon painting of various chronological periods and stylistic features. A special place in this dimension belongs to the icons of the Mother of God in Rome. Ever since the first centuries, images of the Virgin have been represented in the paintings of the Roman catacombs. The iconographic heritage of Rome represents different periods and a unique interweaving of styles. Over the centuries, ancient icons of the Mother of God have been kept in Rome, made both in the technique of encaustic, tempera, and later in oil painting. Many images of the Mother of God in Rome represent the original samples of the Byzantine style of icon painting of various origins and the works of masters of the Italian artistic environment at the intersection of Western and Eastern artistic styles. A significant number of these icons are crowned and have the status of miraculous. Some of the most ancient and famous icons of the Mother of God in Rome are «Salus Populi Romani», «Madonna del Conforto», «Madonna Avvocata», «Madonna della Clemenza», «Madre del Perpetuo Soccorso», «Santa Maria del Popolo», «Madonna della Catena», «La Madonna dei Martiri» and others. Common iconographic types are Hodegetria, Agiosoritissa, Kyriotissa, Galaktotrofusa, etc. Often, these icons have several Italian-language names, which must be considered when choosing methodological tools for historiographical analysis. The article provides a general overview of the heritage of the icons of the Mother of God in Rome based on the most famous of them. English-language and Italian-language historiography was analyzed to model further relevant research directions in developing this topic by modern specialists in an interdisciplinary context. It is emphasized that in the churches of Rome, there are still many less-known and less-researched icons of the Mother of God, particularly in terms of stylistic features and painting techniques. Their detailed study and analysis of sources can effectively fill this niche in historiography and become an interesting topic for modern interdisciplinary research in the field of history, icon painting, art, restoration, and cultural heritage, as well as the basis of original concepts for exhibitions, photo catalogs, new excursion routes, etc.

Fast moving Europeanisation of Russia, started by Peter the Great and continued by his successors, showed itself, among other things, in founding the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and in the birth of Russian academic school, whose brilliant achievements were not in the least the legacy of Russian art tradition, especially that of icon-painting, for the latter was only allowed to exist as the arts of the commoners. This state of things was regarded as something to overcome during the reign of Nicholas I, when gradual re-establishment of the ties with tradition begins, seen in particular in the "Byzantine style" in Church architecture, invented by K.A. Ton in late 1820s - early 1830s at the behest of the emperor. Conservative ideology, expressed as it was in the so called theory of the official nationhood (narodnost'), starting from the times when S.S. Uvarov, the author of this theory, was appointed Minister of Public Instruction, was not reflected, however, in the academic Church painting and in the paintings which belonged to historic genre as a whole. This article is focused on the views on the academic Church paintings and traditional icon-paintings that were typical of the educated class of the 1830s and early 1840s. It is shown that the contemporaries of Russian "historical" painters, including those in the Church, saw their calling in commitment to the people (narodnost'), for "there is a need to assume... one's own character, which, while retaining its originality, would tend toward the general harmony with the European Art"; at least a part of the society has come to the opinion that at the time of the decline of famous schools of the West, it is in Russia that paintings show "life and development". (I.V. Kookolnik). In Church paintings of the 1830s the "Russian" style, oriented at the monuments of the past, originated not in the academic school itself, but in the adminicular activity, that is, as a by-product of the artistic and archaeological studies of F.G. Solntsev. A.N. Olenin, the President of the Academy of Arts, on whose intiative these studies were performed, envisaged their outcome as "the complete painting course of archaeology and ethnography for the artists". This course was born in the 1830s during two works of the artist: the making of Church calendar and the painting of Terem Palace and the churches in the Moscow Kremlin.

In the collections of the Harvard Art Museums there is an icon of the Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Roch. Although a typical product of Cretan icon painting of the turn of the sixteenth century, the icon stands out from similar contemporary artworks due to its unusual subject matter and materiality. The iconographic analysis of the icon places it at the intersection of the Latin and Byzantine traditions and suggests that it was intended as a votive offering against the plague, featuring one of the earliest depictions of the anti-plague saint, Roch of Montpellier in Eastern Orthodox art. Examination of the verso of the icon further underscores the Western European associations of the panel. The presence of an elaborate incised design on the back side of the icon suggests that the wooden panel originated from a reused piece of furniture, in all probability, a fifteenth-century Italian chest. With this case study as a point of reference, this article discusses the commercial, artistic, and cross-confessional exchanges that took place in the ethnically and culturally pluralistic societies of Venice and its Mediterranean colonies, including the trans-confessional spread of cults, the dissemination of artistic trends, as well as the mutual transfer of artworks and objects of prestige, such as icons and chests.

The article is devoted to the work of the Russian painter Dobrolyubov Vladimir Petrovich, who in 2020 marks the centenary of his birth. Special attention is paid to the presentation of his ideals, which inspired the artist to create wonderful paintings depicting the world around him, landscapes and landscapes, urban environment, monuments of ancient Russian architecture, decoration and interiors of the oldest churches from Moscow to Yaroslavl, Pereslavl Zalessky, Staraya Ladoga. From the Russian North to the Crimean mountains and Tsemeskiy Bay. Vladimir Petrovich Dobrolyubov (05.07.1920-24.02.1975) - a student of I.I. Mashkov, N.P. Krymov, G.G. Ryazhskiy, K.F. Yuon, V.V. Krainev, P.I. Kotov, V.I. Finogeev, K.G. Dorokchov. Dobrolyubov V.P., was the veteran of the Great Patriotic war (1941-1945), - the 75th anniversary of the Victory which we celebrate this 2020 year. The author analyzes the paintings of V.P. Dobrolyubov - a natural colorist, nugget, artist, philosopher and citizen of his country. His thoughts on the art of painting based on the beauty and traditions of the Russian school of iconography were the Foundation, the spiritual platform, for all of his painting, created in a short period of life. The author's paintings Dobrolyubov V.P. is of well-deserved interest for art studies and make a worthy, significant contribution to it not only by their high appreciation of color, color spot, and lyrical appearance, but also as works of the history of Russian painting and in particular, the Moscow school of painting, 30-60-ies of XX century, of which he was a representative. Also noteworthy is his understanding of art, his creative pictorial, original, author's handwriting, and also an amazing vision of color and color spot, his own, individual. As well as the interpretation of personal perception, the attitude and understanding of the fundamental foundations of realism in the domestic and world fine arts, expressed and approved in their own, no one repeats, coloristic pictorial language. Dobrolyubov V.P. considered icons, the Russian icon, as a work of art, which following the tradition of Byzantine masters of iconography, undoubtedly constitutes the core of the soul of the artistic creative process, and especially the work of iconographers such as Andrei Rublev, Theophanes the Greek, Vladimir-Suzdal, Moscow, Yaroslavl school of icon-painting as an objective reality of the world of spiritual images in their own work. Artistic creativity, in his opinion, as a representative of the Moscow school of painting, is not an abstract search and self-expression of the artist's beliefs and ideas, but the result of a deep, divine transformation of the soul, its path to truth and to the foundations of realistic art, through the perception of artistic images. Russian iconography of the XIV-XVII centuries, brought to Russia from Byzantium, Dobrolyubov V. P. considered the Russian school of iconography the main, unsurpassed, imperishable Foundation and a masterpiece of Russian fine art. Everywhere in his memories, in his understanding of the basics of art, the artist renounces the concept of copying the image and the icon for him is like a conditional historical symbol, indicating the spiritual image of past centuries. An artistic image is born in the soul of the painter and of course exists outside of iconography, but then it can appear in the minds of other people who contemplate the master's canvases, in which the image of the universal universe and the beauty of the universe is encoded, if you want, encrypted in the very deep images of Russian iconography. Therefore, the icon itself, its image and composition, as a work of art created once in the depths of past centuries, is personified in the mind of the author, as grace and inspiration sent from heaven. Dobrolyubov V.P. confirms the aesthetic and spiritual platform created for any person. Therefore, Russian icons created as spiritually and artistically perfect, self-sufficient works of Russian culture are inextricably linked to the General process for Russian art history, its ability to testify to its highest level in the hierarchy of world art. For the artist Dobrolyubov, Russian iconography is an inseparable part of his spiritual platform, and his works of painting – and, temple art, in conjunction with ancient Russian architecture, with the interiors of churches and their decoration, as well as the sacrament of divine services, baptisms, weddings and funerals, and are the most essential foundation, being, as the very artistic image of all his art work and now, in 2020. Today, 45 years after his death in 1975, his artistic paintings are just as beautiful and heartfelt.

This publication analyses the artwork by Petro Kholodny Sr., the distinguished artist of the first third of the XX century, from private collections, that gives an opportunity to better comprise and study the artist's searches in different periods of his creative work in the visual-stylistic and genre-thematic spheres. The Moscow collection of easel paintings by the Kholodny family is analysed, showing a range of artistic interests up to 1917. Landscapes and sketches from this collection testify his fascination with plein-airism and, at the same time, with heritage of impressionism. Artist’s portraits and landscapes from various private collections outside and within Ukraine and little-known works of sacral painting of the Lviv period are also analysed: sketches of icons; the “Blahovishchennia” (Annunciation) icon reflecting the national line of modernist style in Ukraine. The mentioned images greatly expand the interpretation of Kholodny Sr’s searches in the synthesis of modern art and Ukrainian-Byzantine tradition and his coloristic feeling.

The murals of the single-aisle timber-roofed basilica of the Transfiguration (Shen Sotiri) in Tremisht (Permet, southern Albania) date from 1560. Several features, such as the Theotokos Blachernitissa, the Passion cycle, the courtiers? hats and clothes of certain military saints, as well as the style of the frescoes, lead us to the artistic tradition of the Ohrid Archbishopric. Moreover, a few iconographic peculiarities seem to be associated with Ioannis from Gramosta (before the mid-sixteenth century). Consequently, the ?Tremisht painter? might have been a member of Ioannis? workshop, representing thus the beginning stages of the so-called ?School of Gramos? of Post-Byzantine icon painting.

Relying on post-Byzantine tradition, eleven painters from five generations of the Dimitrijevic-Rafailovic family, accompanied by Maksim Tujkovic, painted several thousand icons and several hundred iconostases between the late seventeenth and the second half of the nineteenth century. They worked in major Orthodox Christian monasteries in Montenegro, Kosovo and Metohija, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia, but their works can mostly be found in modest village churches in the Bay of Kotor (Cattaro) and on the South Adriatic coast. The decoration of these churches was financially supported by the local population headed by elders. Along with a reconstruction of their biographies and a chronological overview of their major works, this paper seeks to trace stylistic changes in the Bay of Kotor school of icon-painting. While simply varying a thematic repertory established in earlier periods, the painters from the Bay of Kotor were gradually introducing new details and themes adopted from Western European Baroque art under indirect influences coming from the monastery of Hilandar, Corfu, Venice and Russia. This process makes this indigenous school of icon-painting, which spanned almost two centuries, comparable to the work of Serbian traditional religious painters (zografs) and illuminators active north of the Sava and Danube rivers after the Great Migration of the Serbs (1690). Despite differences between the two, which resulted from different cultural and historical circumstances in which Serbs lived under Ottoman, Venetian and Habsburg rules, similarities in iconography and style, which were inspired by an urge to counteract proselytic pressures, are considerably more important.

An absolute masterpiece of linear perspective as well as a true icon of the Renaissance, Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation of Christ (conserved at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino) is one of the greatest enigmas of the Italian Quattrocento. Uncertainty surrounds not only the date and the original intended location of the painting, but also the subject matter itself. Despite long-running disputes about the overall significance of the picture, and in particular about the identification of the three figures in the right foreground, the Flagellation remains an unsolved puzzle. Continuing in a rich and varied hermeneutic tradition, this article proposes a new interpretation of this famous painting, diverging both from a political reading (based on the supposed links with the Byzantine Empire) and from the other traditional solution which argues for the ordinary nature of Piero’s iconography. The analysis of the geometrical pictorial space and its potential theological significance leads to a reconsideration of the painting as a visual meditation on temporality inspired by Saint Augustine, as well as a singular spiritual exercise.

The problems of synthesis of religious art and literature in medieval culture are considered in the article. The nature of interactions of the artistic material and its text basis is investigated. Historical lore and the descriptions of the eyewitnesses of the Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, Apostles have been of a great significance at the early stages of icon painting images development. The period of iconography formation on the base of the evidences, memories and sacred texts has lasted till the 8th century. Gradually the icon is transformed into a peculiar sacred matrix, independent cult object, where the problem of historical similarity is replaced by reality, determined by the consent of Christian community. The necessity of comprehension with the help of faith and mind of what is reproduced by the sacred images – their spiritual, true idea – appears in the foreground. Starting from the 17th century Ukrainian masters gain knowledge of iconographic canons, technique of icon painting, theological admonitions and precepts from Herminia – a special reference book-teaching aid for the painters. The image of a certain saint, especially the physiognomic features, is described in them by words. Several descriptions of the saints’ appearance in their lifetime are also known. These are in particular the images of Saint Nicholas, kept in ancient synaxaria. According to the dogma on veneration of icons (adopted by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787), the inscription of the saint name is an integral attribute of the icon painting. It determines sameness between the image and its prototype. Inscriptions, signatures and accompanying texts are introduced consistently into ancient easel works, wall paintings and miniatures. The images of saints are applied to the faithful, showing them the opened books, unfolded scrolls. In the Old Ruthenian art the classical thematic structure of the saints’ life cycles, basing on the Byzantine hagiography, has been supplemented with plots of the actions of Kyiv recording. Sometimes in Ukrainian monuments the inscriptions are placed near the image, on the icon’s background. These are the so-called supplementary texts. The plots of the living icons have been connected with the written sources. The synthesis of written sources and artistic material is the most evident in the book miniature. Observation of convergence of the visual material and literature shows, that the experience of various arts isn’t transferred mechanically on the surface foreign for them, but is changed, transformed, adopted by art, which has perceived it and at the same time crystallizes the peculiarity of each of them.

Abstract The paper presents the stages and the operations involved in the preservation and restoration of two icons on wooden support, from the XIX-th century, which are part of the heritage of the ”Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail and Gavriil” church, from Galați. The two icon have inventory numbers as part of the collection as followed: 112 for the first icon and 113 for the second one. Both icons have the same theme, ”The Grieving Mother from Rohia” and are made by anonymous painters in egg tempera, on lime wooden support, without ground. Being part of the same collection, they were deposited in the same place and as a direct consequence, they suffer from similar deteriorations and degradations that affect both the support and the painting layer. Both panels are attacked by xylophagous insects and the painting layer has detachments, gaps, cracks, clogged dirt and a cracked and degraded varnish layer. Ten samples taken from the already detached areas were analyzed by optical microscope, SEM-EDX and micro-FTIR. Based on the chemical elements identified in the EDX spectrums, the pigments used to create the painting layer are: ultramarine natural blue Na8-10Al6Si6O24S2-4, carbon black, earth green, K[(Al,FeIII),(FeII,Mg)](AlSi3,Si4)O10(OH)2, ocher (FeO), burned or natural umber Fe2O3· H2O + MnO2·n H2O+ Al2O3, lead white (2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2) and yellow iron oxide (Fe2O3·4H2O). It was also determined that the gold leaf usually used in byzantine icons was replaced in the case of both icons: the icon number 112 has silver leaf covered with varnish, while the halo of the icon number 113 was created with yellow metallic pigments (realgar or orpigment).The pigments were also identified by determining specific peaks in micro-FTIR spectrums. For natural ultramarine blue the peaks between 628 - 724 cm-1 were assigned; the peaks in the interval 795 - 887 cm-1 confirm the presence of carbonates (calcium and lead based). The earth green pigment (aluminum - silicates) had the peaks between 1464 - 1599, while the carbon black pigment was confirmed by the peaks in the interval 921 - 1060 cm-1. After the pigments and the materials used by the author were identified, the restoration process begun with the following stages: consolidation of the painting layer (fish glue 8% and japanese paper), stopping the xylophagous attack (encapsulation with nitrogen), consolidation of the wood supports (colophon and wax, 1:1), cleaning the painting layer (ethylic alcohol and distilled water, 1:1), filling the gaps and reintegrating the fillings in tratteggio, all followed by the process of varnishing the two icons.

Коллекция иконописи поступила в Государственный художественный музей Югры в 2011 году из собрания Художественной галереи Фонда поколений. Большинство предметов были крайне мало изучены, так как долгие годы находились в частных собраниях и практически не публиковались. Целью настоящей статьи является введение в научный оборот ряда произведений, что даст возможность в последующем исследовать их в контексте развития иконописания в России в период c XVI по XIX век. Несмотря на то что здесь не представлена иконопись Урало-Сибирского региона, коллекция дает возможность познакомиться с иконописью Поволжья и Русского Севера, с иконописными школами Ярославля, Новгорода, Мстёры, Ростова, Вологды и другими. Статья включает описание и анализ иконографии и стилистических особенностей произведений, ряд предметов представляют особенный интерес. Материал структурирован в несколько блоков: иконы и иконография Богоматери; иконы и иконография святых Николая и Георгия; иконография Страшного Суда; академическая манера иконописания; поздняя иконопись по византийским канонам; народные иконы XIX века. В анализе произведений автор опирается на исследования Ю.Г. Боброва, Г.И. Вздорнова, Т.Н. Арцыбашевой, М.М. Красилина, Н.И. Комашко, Р.В. Багдасарова, А.Н. Овчинникова, С.Н. Галуновой. The collection of icon painting came to the State Art Museum of Ugra in 2011 from the collection of the Art Gallery of the Generations Foundation. Most of the items have been very little studied, as they were in private collections for many years and practically never published. The purpose of this article is to introduce a number of works into the scientific turnover, which will enable us to study them in the context of the development of icon painting in Russia in the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Although the iconography of the Ural-Siberian region is not represented here, the collection gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the iconography of the Volga region and the Russian North, with the iconographic schools of Yaroslavl, Novgorod, Mstyora, Rostov, Vologda and others. The article includes a description and analysis of the iconography and stylistic features of the works; a number of items are of special interest. The material is structured in several blocks: icons and iconography of the Mother of God; icons and iconography of Saint Nicholas and Saint George; iconography of the Last Judgement; academic style of iconography; late iconography according to Byzantine canons; folk icons of the 19th century. In analysing the works, the author relies on the studies of Y.G. Bobrov, G.I. Vzdornov, T.N. Artsybasheva, M.M. Krasilin, N.I. Komashko, R.V. Bagdasarov, A.N. Ovchinnikov, and S.N. Galunova.

Theophanes the Greek was one of the well-known artists of exceptional personality who lived in the second half of the 14th century. His talent stood out on account of the expressionist manner in which he portrayed his art creations and their impact on the school of Russian religious painting. His artistic talent, “swift brush” painting manner and life adventure can be compared with those of Doménikos Theotokópoulos (El Greco), another famous Greek painter, who brought the Cretan dramatic and expressionistic style to the West, influencing the Spanish Renaissance two hundred years after Theophanes. The artistic heritage of Theophanes stands between the short vibrant period of the Palaeologan Renaissance when the Byzantine Empire went through a terminal crisis, and the European Proto-Italian Renaissance. The artist seized the opportunity to unleash his creative work in the ancient Russian cities, unfolding his talent in the creation of large mural paintings. Characterized by his contemporaries as “Theophanes the Greek, icon painter and philosopher”, he enjoyed a high reputation in medieval Russian society. Present article questions Theophanes’ belonging to the hesychast movement and the attribution of the Muscovite icons and manuscripts to the painter. Considering the impact of Theophanes on Russian visual art, D. Talbot Rice stated: “It was thanks to the teaching of Greek immigrants like Theophanes that a sound foundation was established Russian painting, and it was on this basis that local styles were founded.” And it was in the Russian principalities that Theophanes developed his very distinctive style, enjoying carte blanche from the princes and boyars (aristocracy) to apply his creativity in various domains.

Статья посвящена реконструкции первоначальной живописи иконы «Великомученик Георгий» из Юрьева монастыря в Новгороде (ГТГ). В работе использованы данные технико-технологических исследований, проведенных в Третьяковской галерее в 2019 г. На примере широкого круга памятников византийского и древнерусского искусства рассматриваются особенности иконографической программы, а также приводятся аналогии первоначальным орнаментам на воинском облачении святого Георгия The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the original painting of the icon "Great Martyr George" from Yuriev monastery in Novgorod (State Tretyakov Gallery). The paper uses data from technical and technological research conducted at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2019. Using the example of a wide range of Byzantine and Old Russian art, the features of the iconographic program are considered, as well as the analogies are given to the original ornaments of the military vestments of St. George.

Byzantine icons of the 14th century in Russian museums are scattered material. In this regard, the situation when it is possible to identify or at least raise the question of whether two icons of such an artistic level from different collections belong to the same master is almost unique. The Late Paleologian icon of the Resurrection of Lazarus from the the Russian Museum can without exaggeration be called the pearl of the collection. The icon was received by the Russian Museum in 1928 from the collection of G. N. Gamon-Gaman through the State Museum Fund. There is a small icon of the Nativity of Christ distinguished by high pictorial skill in the collection of the new Patriarchal Museum of Church Art at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The study of this late Paleologian monument is just beginning, but the special relevance of its research is due to the fact that the artistic features allow us to compare this image with the aforementioned icon of the Resurrection of Lazarus, a landmark monument of the collection of the Russian Museum. A number of features of the icon of the Nativity painting technique makes it possible to speak about a significant stylistic community of these two monuments despite the fact that the preservation of it is not the best. The similarity of the nuances of color, the principles of shaping, the presence of common characteristic techniques in the construction of gaps, the picturesque solution of clothes, the dashed manner of modeling the light part of the slides, individual handwriting and great similarity in individual details, the general features of the drawing of the hands and feet of the characters, the nature of the vegetation image, the proportions of the figures, the size of the image, the features of gilding halos (on top of the paint layer) ― all these aspects reveal such a close similarity of painting techniques that it becomes possible to raise the question of identifying in this case the individual manner of one master and the belonging of these two icons to the festive row of the same iconostasis. Technical studies of the icon of the Resurrection of Lazarus were carried out by S. I. Golubev during the restoration in the Russian Museum in 1986–1990, the research results of which definitely make it possible for a more substantive comparative analysis of the two icons.

Northern Lemkovyna has been developing traditional plastic arts in the Byzantine style for a very long time. This type of art is one of the talismans that have preserved the national identity of the Lemko-Rusins through the centuries. This paper investigates the specificity of the Byzantine style in the Lemko stonemasonry, which is primarily the drawing of the iconography of memorial forms: the position of the hands and feet of the crucified Jesus Christ as in the Christian tradition of the Eastern rite, a three-armed cross, Cyrillic inscriptions, and so on. This clearly emphasizes the nationality of the memorials surrounded by Polish works of the Roman Catholic rite, with Latin, not Rusin inscriptions, more elongated Latin cross, iconography of Jesus according to the Roman Catholic tradition, etc. Despite centuries of repression, the Lemko Rusins have managed to preserve their national and religious identity in the vicinity of non-ethnic elements by observing Byzantine traditions in the plastic arts and religious cult. The flourishing development of plastic arts, in particular, artistic stonemasonry, in the second half of the 19th - first third of the 20th century can be considered a component of the national Rusin Renaissance, which has not yet been properly investigated by historians. In further research, other cases of Lemko-Rusin plastic arts can be investigated, eg. icon painting, embroidery, and so on.

Although traditionally associated with Eastern Christianity, the practice of venerating icons became deeply rooted in the Catholic societies of the broad Adriatic region from the Late Middle Ages onwards and was an indispensable part of everyday popular piety. The evidence lies in the massive amount of icons located today in public and private collections throughout the Italian Peninsula, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro. At a time when Greeks were branded as “schismatics”, and although the Byzantine maniera greca had become obsolete in Western European art, icon painting managed to survive at the margins of the Renaissance, and ultimately went through its own renaissance in the sixteenth century. Omnipresent in Catholic households, icons were very often donated to churches as votive offerings and were gradually transformed into the focal points of collective public devotion. Through the combined study of visual evidence, archival records and literary sources, this article will shed light on the socio-political, confessional, and artistic dynamics that allowed for Byzantine or Byzantinizing icons to gain unprecedented popularity throughout the Catholic milieus of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Adriatic, and become integrated into domestic and public devotional practices.

The subject of the research is the formation of the theological theory of the image in the church-artistic tradition of Christian art. The aim is to identify the main aspects of the formation of the theory of the image in the pre-Iconoclastic period based on the works of representatives of the Cappadocian school, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Maxim the Confessor, John of Damascus, as well as after the approval of icon veneration, reflected in the works of Patriarch Gregory of Constantinople, Theodore the Studite, Simeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Patriarch Nikephoros. To trace how the influence of theological thought was reflected in Byzantine church art. To determine the specific features of the phenomenon of the iconographic image and to highlight the significance of its dogmatic foundations in religious art. In the study of the works of Byzantine theologians, historical and cultural analysis was used, which allowed a more holistic view of the worldview of the era in which they created, and the ideas they defended. The study allows us to conclude that for the defenders of icon worship, the "soil" was prepared by the great theologians of the Cappadocian school, who in turn converted and reinterpreted the Neoplatonic teachings of Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who transformed their ideas into a christocentric doctrine of salvation. The dogmatic ideas of the theologians influenced the change of the ancient art form, giving it a new content, which, in turn, can become an important criterion that helps to identify and evaluate genuine spirituality in the works of church art. The study of the theological theory of the image is an important element in determining the fidelity of the artistic transmission of the essence of the creed and understanding of the sacred content of medieval temple painting, as well as a necessary reference point for modern icon painters, allowing them to choose in their work a system of expressive means corresponding to theological dogmas.

Abstract One of the key sacred objects at the Austrian pilgrimage shrine of Mariazell is the Schatzkammerbild or Treasury Image, a late fourteenth-century painting of the Virgin and child in the style of a metal-encased and adorned Byzantine icon. Originally commissioned by King Louis I of Hungary, it was later donated to Mariazell. This essay traces significant changes in the life of this precious object over approximately four centuries, focusing on how its materiality was meant to stimulate feelings of hope and assurance concerning public security. From votive image given in thanks for a miraculous victory, it was transformed into a powerful heavenly object to be used against the threats of Ottoman and Protestant enemies. Then from the 1670s it began to be appropriated by its Habsburg patrons as an assurance of the security they could provide against individual and collective threat, as King Louis had done in the past.

Nikolai Ivanovich Petrov (1840–1921) – Russian and Ukrainian scholar, professor of the Kiev Theological Academy, long-term curator in the Museum of Church Archaeology at the Kiev Theological Academy. A significant place in this collection belonged to the Byzantine icons bequeathed to the museum by A.N. Muravyov and Porfiry Uspensky. N.I. Petrov himself was engaged in the acquisition of these collections. The works of icon painting (unique in themselves), originating mainly from Sinai and Mount Athos gave impetus to the development of the science of Byzantine art in Russia. Unfortunately, most of them were lost during the World War II, but photographs from the archives make it possible to continue studying them. N.I. Petrov managed to appreciate the collection of ancient Sinai and Athonite icons at its true worth, lay the foundation for their systematic scientific study, make many correct dating and iconographic descriptions of the works acquired by the Museum, sometimes even more accurately than Academician N.P. Kondakov. Николай Иванович Петров (1840–1921) — русский и украинский ученый, профессор Киевской духовной академии, многолетний хранитель Церковно-археологического музея Киевской духовной академии. Значительное место в этом собрании принадлежало коллекциям византийских икон, переданных музею наследниками А.Н. Муравьёва и Порфирия Успенского. Именно Н.И. Петров сам занимался приобретением этих собраний. Произведения иконописи, происходившие главным образом с Синая и Афона, уникальные и сами по себе, дали толчок развитию науки о византийском искусстве в России. К сожалению, большая часть из них утрачена во время Второй мировой войны, однако архивные фотографии позволяют продолжать их изучать. Н.И. Петрову удалось оценить по достоинству коллекцию древних синайских и афонских икон, положить начало их систематическому научному изучению, сделать много верных датировок и иконографических описаний произведений, приобретенных музеем, иногда даже точнее, чем это делал академик Н.П. Кондаков.

The second half of the 15th century in the Russian Church history marked a strong decline of spiritual life, which naturally found its reflection in the icon painting. The feeling of integrity of an image, its depth were lost. At the same time, the weakening influence of the Orthodox Balkans and the Byzantine Empire gave way to the influence of the Catholic West with its profoundly different principles of religious art.In this transitional period of the Russian cultural life, characterized by the transformation of the medieval worldview and the formation of new artistic ideals, appeared parsuna (a rough Russian transliteration of the Latin word “persona”) - an early secular portrait of a lay person in the iconographic style that represents an important transition in Russia’s art history. The first pasruna were painted, most probably, by the iconographers of the Moscow Kremlin Armoury in the 17th century. The painters of these portraits were usually monks that tended to be anonymous, showing a humility.Although the stylized forms used in parsuna reveal a lack of concern with preserving the actual features of a person, but rather their overall image (special attributes and signatures allow to define represented), it still can be viewed as one of the very first attempts to look at person not only through the rigid iconographic canons, but also through a prism of psychological interpretation. Thus, this transitional image may be concerned as the initial fundamental step on the way to the further introduction fo the European portrait tradition in Russia.In this study, we would like to consistently trace how parsuna, thanks to its completely new stylistic value, can be considered one of the earliest stages on the way to the secularization of the Russian art in the early 17th century, which led to the separation from the strict iconographic religious canons and, consequently, to the rapprochement with the European art.

The cross-section stratifications of samples, which were removed from six icons, are studied using optical microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and micro-Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The icons, dated from the 14th to 19th centuries, are prominent examples of Byzantine painting art and are attributed to different artistic workshops of ​​northern Greece. The following materials are identified in the cross-sections of the icon samples using micro-Raman spectroscopy: anhydrite; calcite; carbon black; chrome yellow; cinnabar; gypsum; lead white; minium; orpiment; Prussian blue; red ochre; yellow ochre; and a paint of organic origin which can be either indigo ( Indigofera tinctoria L. and others) or woad ( Isatis tinctoria L.). The same samples are investigated using micro-FT-IR which leads to the following identifications: calcite; calcium oxalates; chrome yellow; gypsum; kaolinite; lead carboxylates; lead sulfate (or quartz); lead white; oil; protein; Prussian blue; saponified oil; shellac; silica; and tree resin. The study of the cross-sections of the icon samples reveals the combinations of the aforementioned inorganic and organic materials. Although the icons span over a long period of six centuries, the same stratification comprising gypsum ground layer, paint layers prepared by modified “egg tempera” techniques (proteinaceous materials mixed with oil and resins), and varnish layer is revealed in the investigated samples. Moreover, the presence of three layers of varnishes, one at the top and other two as intermediate layers, in the cross-section analysis of a sample from Virgin and Child provide evidence of later interventions.

Статья посвящена результатам работы по исследованию техники и технологии, а также реконструкции первоначального вида иконы «Благовещенье» («Благовещенье Устюжское») первой трети XII в. из Государственной Третьяковской галереи. Рассмотрены этапы изготовления деревянной основы, изначально рассчитанной на другое изображение и подвергшейся значительной переделке. Последовательно описана сложная система живописи, включающая ряд редких технических приемов, характерных для произведений византийского круга. В процессе исследований выявлена специфическая особенность памятника в виде авторского изменения первоначального замысла декорации фона. Реконструкция композиции, выполненная на основе полученных данных, показала значительные расхождения с имеющимися слоями поновлений и дала возможность более точного сопоставления иконы с другими произведениями, включая сохранившиеся списки XVI в. The article deals with the results of the research of technology and technology, as well as the reconstruction of the original appearance of the icon "Annunciation" ("Annunciation of Ustyug") dating back to the first third of the 12th century, from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery. The design of the original wooden base, initially manufactured for a different image and subjected to significant alteration, is considered. A complex system of painting is consistently described, which includes a number of rare techniques typical of Byzantine pieces of art. In the process of research, a specific feature of the artifact was revealed: the author changed the original idea of the background decoration. The reconstruction of the composition, based on the obtained data, showed significant discrepancies with the existing layers of renovations and made it possible to compare more accurately the icon with other works, including the surviving lists of the 16th century.

Introduction. The images of holy warriors were extremely popular in the art of Byzantium and the countries of the Byzantine cultural circle of the 11th – 14th centuries. They are known for numerous images in iconography, monumental painting, applied art. They are numerous in sphragistics. The image of a warrior horseman best known for the early 13th century monuments is the rarest and most recent formation. Introducing new sigilographic monuments into the scientific circulation and determining the time of appearance of this iconographic type on their basis are among the main goals of the proposed research. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is an interdisciplinary integrated approach that involves using methods of the comparative analysis of sfragistics, numismatic and other categories of monuments. Analysis. Two seals are kept in the State Hermitage Museum collection. Both sides of the first seal (M-12374) have the depiction of Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki as a horseman triumphant. On the left, under the cloak, there is the inscription ΟΔΗ. that, apparently, can be revealed as Ὁ (ἅγιος) Δη(μήτριος). On the other side of the seal there is a full-length image of Saint Stephanos with a censer and pyxis in his hands. On the front side of the second seal (M-3751) there is the same image of Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki with a similar inscription. On the reverse side of the seal there is the inscription “Defender, look at me, your slave Christopher”. Results. The images of Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki on both seals are almost identical, which implies the existence of a common prototype, most likely an honored icon. We can assume that it was in Thessaloniki in the Basilica of Saint Demetrios. Probably, the image of the warrior triumphant is the latest version of the iconography of saint warrior and it is known for the few monuments of the late 11th – 12th centuries. As a result, both seals can be dated to the same time.

Avant-Garde painters were amazed by fifteenth to sixteenth century “old style” Russian icons, which saw the light of the day in the early twentieth century after two centuries of prohibition. In the seventeenth century, ascetic had been replaced by “Western” mimetic images. Icons had a massive impact on Mikhail Larionov, the founder of Rayonism, who wrote that “Russian icon painters <…> were strongly drawn towards abstraction”. In 1913 he organized an exhibition of his Rayonnist paintings with rays of light reflected from objects. Kazimir Malevich was also influenced by icons. In his theoretical writings, he refers to Gospels. Launching his Suprematism at the “0,10 Exhibition” in 1915, Malevich placed his masterpiece in the “beautiful corner”, as an icon. Alexandre Benois said that the Black Square is a “cult of emptiness, darkness, ‘nothing’”. It will be justified that it was another type of darkness, connected to the concepts of “uncreated light” and “dazzling darkness” in Dionysius the Areopagite and Gregory Palamas’ theology. I refer to Pavel Florensky and Sergey Bulgakov’s philosophy to demonstrate how an application of Palamas’ theory, hesychasm, was reflected in fifteenth-sixteenth-century icon-painting and later in Avant-Garde theory and paintings, in particular by those of Larionov and Malevich.