Journal articles on the topic 'Saint Annunciation'

Using the evidence of Aquitanian chants, this article explores the possibility that a twelfth-century relief panel of the Annunciation today in the interior of Conques was originally designed for the West facade, where it completes the composition of the divine plan of Salvation. This hypothetic reconstruction also uncovers the important role of the patron saint, Sainte-Foy, and how she is promoted as second after Mary and efficacious intercessor.

Mary’s acceptance of God’s gift takes place after meditation that is happening inside her during the annunciation. If you wish to learn about the process of how Mary made the decision of accepting the gift it is valid to study the selected phrases that appear in Saint Luke’s description of the event. The particular formulas, that refer to or encourage reflection on the selected events from the history of the chosen people, include and present the idea of the secret of God’s choice as well as Mary’s free and deliberate decision.

During the fourteenth century, Venetian chronicles, art, and ceremony fostered provocative analogies between angelic annunciation and the political voice of the Venetian populace. Such analogies imagined a city whose civic and heavenly members were united through the sound of unanimity. At the intersection of the state’s civic and celestial bodies stood the doge, considered to be the image of the Republic and of its patron, Saint Mark. A complex of sung ceremonies and musical compositions addressed to the doge dramatized the notion that the voice, as a ritual instrument, could engender real political or spiritual change in the state and its leaders. Performances of acclamations to the doge positioned him within Venice’s sacred and civic hierarchies, while state art and ceremony forged symbolic resemblances between ducal acclamation and angelic annunciation. A repertory of occasional motets evidences polyphonic play with the notion that vocal rituals centered on the doge could activate the spiritual ideals of the state: the anonymous Marce, Marcum imitaris (c. 1365) draws a sonic analogy between spiritual likeness and musical imitation in order to dramatize the concept of the doge as Mark’s image, whereas Johannes Ciconia’s Venecie mundi splendor/Michael qui Stena domus elides a text dedicated to the Annunciate Virgin with one addressed to the doge, creating musical echoes and simultaneities in its praises of Venice’s temporal and celestial leaders.

The subject of the paper is an exact analysis of the orientation of the Serbian monastery churches: the Church of the Virgin Mary (13th century), St. Nicholas' Church (13th century), and an early Christian church (6th century). The paper determines the azimuth of parallel axes in churches, and then the aberrations of those axes from the equinoctial east are interpreted. Under assumption that the axes were directed towards the rising sun, it was surmised that the early Christian church's patron saint could be St. John the Baptist, that the Church of the Virgin Mary was founded on Annunciation day to which it is dedicated, and that St. Nicholas' Church is oriented in accordance with the rule (?toward the sunrise?) even though its axis deviates from the equinoctial east by 41? degrees.

On the iconostasis of the church of the Decani monastery, there are the Holy doors that were carved by Patriarch Antonije Sokolović. On the front side of the Holy doors, the iconographer Longin painted the Annunciation. The figures of the Saint King Stefan of Decani and Saint Nicholas are painted on the back of the Holy doors, whose authorship is the subject of this paper. Mirjana Ćorović Ljubinković and most of the experts at the time attributed this painting to Antonije. In 2005, the theory mentioned above has been called into question, and these scenes, without further analysis and evidence, were attributed to Longin. The question of the authorship of the back of the Holy door required complex research that has not been accomplished so far. By analyzing the artistic language of this painting, it can be concluded that it is not Longin’s work and that it has a different author’s writing, and a different style. Under the influence of Cretan art, this painting approaches the Peć school, to which Longin belongs to. By analogy with the characteristics of the carving of the Holy doors, and the other pair of Antonije’s Holy doors in Peć, and by comparing the ducts of the letters, it can be assumed that the author is Antonije. Thus, the former theory of Mirjana Ćorović Ljubinković and her like-minded scholars about Antonije’s authorship proved to be well-founded and withstood the test.

Sculptures are not capable of creating as complex scenes as painting does, except sculptural relief that creates the illusion of perspective and narration through the different planes. And it is not a question of establishing conceptual criteria in the manner of El Paragone, but rather discovering the constructive possibilities of sculpture in certain proposals, such as the representation of content through mass, height and depth, that is, the three-dimensionality. Already in the past, sculptors made an effort to obtain complex results such as the challenge to gravity (deceiving gravity), by means of optical effects, the colour, using movement, light and other components. The Niké by Peonio, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini, the Annunciation by Günther or many of the works by Canova, Orrico, Quinn, Bethencourt, etc. are samples of those professional boasting, always depending on the materials used. The Baroque period is the most fruitful stage in the production of these sculptural purposes, creating, as Quirin Asam did, authentic theatrical productions where the characters seem to float.

In this article, a postcolonial reading is undertaken of L’annonce faite à Marie (The annunciation of Mary), a 1912 play by Paul Claudel. Several celebrated authors from Africa and the Caribbean, belonging to the black postcolonial world, willingly acknowledge their debt to Paul Claudel, including Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Édouard Glissant and Saint-John Perse. Nevertheless, postcolonial theories generally exclude the study of Western and medieval works from the purview of postcolonial studies. It may thus appear paradoxical to propose a postcolonial reading of Claudel’s play, written by a French playwright who does not belong to the colonized world. The play is furthermore set in the Middle Ages. However, many critics, mostly Anglo-Saxons, have successfully matched medieval texts and postcolonial studies. In fact, postcolonial theoretical tools are capable of casting new light on the study of L’Annonce faite à Marie, regarding, for example, relations of gender or power, marginalization and migration. Given Claudel’s avowed impact on the literature of the black world, in view of the play’s focus on situations of domination, the postcolonial approach may be legitimately applied to the study of L’Annonce faite à Marie, despite the ‘medieval’ particularities of this play.

Saint Sampson, whose feast is celebrated on June 27, was depicted among holy physicians. However, his images were not frequent. He was usually accompanied with Saint Mokios (in Saint Sophia in Kiev, the Transfiguration church in the Mirozh monastery and the church of the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the Temple in the monastery of Saint Euphrosyne; possibly also in Saint Panteleimon in Nerezi and Saint Demetrios in the village of Aiani near Kozani; furthermore, in the church of Saint Nicholas in Manastir and, afterwards, in the katholikon of the Vatopedi monastery). In a later period, he was usually shown in the vicinity of Saint Diomedes (in the churches of Saint Achillius in Arilje, Saint George in the village Vathiako on Crete, Saint Nicholas Orphanos in Thessaloniki, the Annunciation in Gracanica, the narthexes of the Hilandar katholikon and the church of the Holy Virgin in the monastery of Brontocheion at Mistra, the katholicon of the Pantokrator monastery and the church of Saint Demetrios in Markov Manastir). There are no substantial data regarding the identity of the saints depicted next to him in the metropolitan Church of Saint Demetrios at Mistra, while in a number of cases the image of the saint shown next to him has not been preserved (e.g. Saint Irene in the village of Agios Mamas on Crete, Gregory?s Gallery in the church of Saint Sophia in Ohrid and the church of the Holy Virgin (Panagia Kera) near the village Chromonastiri on Crete). On the other hand, in the church of the Holy Virgin in Mateic, Saint Sampson is, exceptionally, depicted among bishops, while in the church of the Holy Archangels in Prilep and the chapel of the Holy Anargyroi in Vatopedi, he is, as usual, surrounded by holy physicians but his mates are not featured - neither Saint Mokios, not Saint Diomedes. The earliest known commemorative text dedicated to him is the extensive hagiography - Vita Sampsonis I, composed in the seventh or the early eighth century. Other hagiographies, which mostly date from the tenth century, are completely based on the earlier writing. Such a composition can be found in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople. In the extensive text (Vita Sampsonis II), Symeon Metaphrastes added a part that included detailed descriptions of a number of posthumous miracles, mostly healings; all these events are also mentioned in the short Hagiography. Finally, in the late thirteenth century, Constantine Akropolites wrote the still unpublished Hagiography (Vita Sampsonis III), in which he presented an account of events from the later history of the Saint?s hospital. The hagiographies inform us that Sampson was a Roman by birth and a kin of Emperor Constantine. He inherited a fortune, which he distributed to the poor. Then, he departed for Constantinople, where he found a modest home. Patriarch Menas ordained him a priest. Relying on the medical knowledge, Sampson was saving the sick and he even cured Emperor Justinian from an incurable disease. For that reason, the Emperor found a large house, in which he established and fully equipped a xenon (hospital, ?????), whereas Sampson was appointed as the skeuophylax of the Great Church. The Blessed continued to work there until his death. His venerable leipsana, which rested in the church of Saint Mokios, constantly issued the cures. His feast was celebrated in the hospital founded by him. Long time had passed between the period in which the Saint had lived and the epoch in which his earliest hagiography was compiled. During that time, some events could have fallen into oblivion and accounts of other events could have been invented. Accordingly, the results of the researchers of Saint Sampson?s xenon?s history are valuable. The hospital was housed in Sampson?s home, where he provided not only health care, but also food and bed. It was presumably founded in the fourth century. The xenon was burned in the Nika riots in 532 and Emperor Justinian had it renovated and expanded. Based on some documents issued in the Empire of Nicaea, it may be concluded that the xenon had vast estates. The Crusaders first sacked it, to subsequently use it for their own needs, as they established the Order of Saint Sampson. The hospital soon received many properties in Constantinople and its environs, Hungary and Flanders. It seems that after the liberation of Constantinople, the activities of Saint Sampson?s hospital were ceased and that there was a monastery at its place in the Palaiologan period. Anyway, the reputation of its holy founder persisted throughout the thirteenth century. Constantine Akropolites wrote the already mentioned Hagiography, and in one of his letters he spoke of the Saint, who was also mentioned in a poem by Manuel Philes (died around 1345). In Constantinople, the veneration of Saint Sampson had two centres - the hospital named after him and the church of Saint Mokios, where his leipsana rested. According to the synaxaria of the Typikon of the Great Church and the Church of Constantinople, the feast dedicated to the Saint was celebrated at his xenon. The former text informs us that the service was held by the Patriarch, whereas Symeon Metaphrastes relates that the vigil on the eve of the feast took place over the relics in the church of Saint Mokios. The Patriarch celebrated the feast dedicated to Saint Sampson with hospital clergy in the church within the xenon, both mentioned by Metaphrastes. It was either this church or a shrine from a later period that housed the iconostasis noted down by Constantine Stilbes, an eyewitness of the Latin capture of the Byzantine capital. Written sources and archaeological finds are consistent in that the hospital was located between the churches of Saint Sophia and Saint Irene. However, the first excavations carried out at the site of the xenon were not properly documented, whereas archaeologists involved in further investigations could not rely on reliable data, though they carefully examined all finds. The question arises why Saint Sampson was at first usually depicted in the company of Saint Mokios, a presbyter who died a martyr?s death in Constantinople (May 11), and later, together with Saint Diomedes, the physician who died in Nicaea (August 16). Therefore, this paper briefly presents the hagiographies of the two saints and the churches in the Byzantine capital where their relics rested - the monastery of Saint Mokios, which did not exist in the mid-fourteenth century, and Saint Diomedes, which was counting its last days in the fourteenth century, reduced to a small monastery. Dobrynja Jadrejkovic (subsequently Antony, archbishop of Novgorod) noted down around 1200 that the saint?s stick, epitrachelion and robes were kept at the hospital of Saint Sampson, whereas in the church of Saint Mokios, under the altar, rested Saint Mokios and Saint Sampson. He also mentioned that water flew from the latter?s grave, as well as that the church of Saint Diomedes was near the Golden Gate and that the relics of Saint Diomedes rested there. However, the Russian pilgrims who visited Constantinople during the Palaiologan period mentioned neither Saint Sampson?s hospital, not the church of Saint Mokios, whereas the church of Saint Diomedes, but not his relics, was noted down only by an unknown traveller who described the pilgrimage undertaken between the late 1389 and the early 1391. The answer to the question of what happened to the leipsana that once laid in these churches is not possible to provide. The fate of the relics of Saint Sampson, previously kept in his xenon, is not known, nor is it known where the commemorations of the three saints were held in the capital during the Palaiologan period. Anyway, the depictions of Saint Sampson accompanied by Saint Diomedes - whose oldest examples are preserved in Arilje - indicate that the connection of these two priest-physicians had already begun by the time when the church was painted (1295/1296), but, judging by the available sources, the only evidence on the process is given by the paintings. Although Saint Sampson founded the hospital which was probably the oldest in Constantinople, and though his leipsana, kept in the church of Saint Mokios, had healing powers, while his relics in the xenon were visited by pilgrims, it seems that the respect for this saint in the Byzantine capital was not reflected in the frequency of his images among holy physicians: he was fairly rarely shown among them. As a matter of fact, the earliest representations of Saint Sampson originated from Constantinople. They can be found on lead seals made for the hospital in the second half of the sixth and during the seventh century. On the other hand, there is no any known preserved depiction of this saint in the mural decoration of the early churches. Accordingly, it may be assumed that the veneration of Saint Sampson was initially limited to Constantinople, and that it was only later, since the time when his short hagiography was included in the synaxarium and his extensive hagiography was written for the Metaphrastes?s comprehensive work, that it was adopted in other areas of the East Christian world. It may seem paradoxical that the preserved images of the Saint dating from the period when his xenon flourished are less numerous than those from the time when the hospital, in all probability, did not exist. It seems that after the liberation of Constantinople from Latin rule, Saint Sampson was earnestly honoured and that the believers frequented the monastery at the site of the old xenon, though the hospital did not exist anymore. The former assumption is corroborated by the writings of Constantine Akropolites and Manuel Philes, whereas the latter is supported by the coins from the Palaiologan period found in the sacral building within the complex that once belonged to Saint Sampson?s hospital. Although his miraculous leipsana rested in the church of Saint Mokios, the posthumous miracles of Saint Sampson, described in later hagiographies, mostly took place in his xenon, which housed the relics that were visited by pilgrims and where commemorative services dedicated to him were held. The veneration of the Saint was long fostered within the institution founded by him - the ancient hospital where trained doctors worked - i.e. it was nurtured between the reputation of medical skills based on secular knowledge and miraculous healings.

The doctrine of Adam and Eve as prototypes of New Adam and New Eve (the so-called theory of recapitulation) was first encountered in the epistles of the apostle Paul. Revealing the main feature of this teaching, the supreme apostle reports that the disobedience and sin that Adam and Eve committed were corrected by New Adam and New Eve (see: Rom. 5, 14-15). As a result, instead of the death of Adam and Eve and their descendants (by bodily birth), humanity received immortality, starting with New Adam and New Eve and their descendants (by spiritual birth). Subsequently, the pre-nicene christian writers, for example, Irenaeus of Lyon, Tertullian and Victorinus of Poetovio, resorted to the doctrine of Adam and Eve as prototypes of New Adam and New Eve. Developing the theory of recapitulation, Irenaeus of Lyon in his works — «Against heresies» and «Proof of the apostolic sermon» — used the epistles of the apostle Paul and the typological method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The saint of Lyon taught, first, that on that day (that is on friday), on which Adam was born, New Adam, or the Lord Jesus Christ, was born; secondly, on that day (that is on saturday), on which Adam violated the only commandment of God (see: Gen. 2, 16-17), the incarnate Son of God suffered. In addition, what the virgin Eve did not fulfill, being disobedient, since she ate the forbidden fruit, the Virgin Mary did, being obedient, since she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. Following tradition in the presentation of the theory of cancer-capitulation, Tertullian in his treatise «On the flesh of Christ» uses the epistles of the apostle Paul, the works of Irenaeus of Lyon and the typological-mysterious method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The first latin theologian in his work resorted to analogies: the first is an uncultivated land, that is, since the first Adam was created from an uncultivated earth — the Second Adam was also created from an uncultivated earth, or was born from the Blessed Virgin Mary; the second — the heard word, that is, because through the heard word the first Eve sinned — the second Eve also through the heard word did not sin, or became the cause of the salvation of the entire human race. Developing the theory of recapitulation, Victorinus of Poetovio in his works — «On the сreation of the world» and «On the life of Christ» — relied on the epistles of the apostle Paul, the works of Irenaeus of Lyon and the typological method of interpreting Holy Scripture. The saint of Poetovio taught, first, that on that day (that is on friday), on which Adam was born, the incarnate Son of God was born; secondly, on that day (that is on saturday), on which Adam and Eve violated the only commandment of God (see: Gen. 2, 16-17), the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place and the Lord Jesus Christ suffered; and, thirdly, on that day (that is on the resurrection), on which God the Father and the Son of God created light, the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place, the incarnate Son of God rose from the dead and the second time He will come to earth to judge all human genus.

The article attempts to analyse the image of paradise in “The Sermon on the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin" from the collection "The Key of Understanding" (1659) by Ioanikii Galiatovskii. Paradise in his sermon is depicted as a hierarchical structure of the nine Angelic Choirs: the Angels, the Archangels, the Principality, the Authority, the Mastery, the Parish, the Throne, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim. Comparing the angelic choirs of Galiatovskii and the depiction of celestial choirs in «The Mirror of Theology» (1618) by Cyryl Trankvylion Stavrovetskyi, one can see some differences, including a change in the sequence of arrangement of angelic choirs and in the semantics of names, which Galiatovskii supplements with explanations of the saints' presence on all choirs. The theme of the Annunciation that becomes the beginning of the salvation of the human soul is brought closer to the understanding of paradise. If one compares the preaching on Gospel with a painting one can easily grasp substantial differences in the interpretation. Galiatovskii does not follow the biblical story of the Annunciation, which tells how did the Archangel Gabriel appear to the Holy Virgin and inform her of the birth of Christ. Instead, he interprets this event in anagogical (spiritual sense), describing paradise and the Blessed Virgin in a similar way. Visual art closely follows the biblical text when depicting the Annunciation – the Holy Virgin and the Archangel, who holds a white lily that means god news, are surrounded by several tiny angels that are holding a white lily flower (like in the painting by the French artist Philip de Champaign "Annunciation", 1644). Interestingly, the interpretation of the Annunciation in Ioanikii Galiatovskii’s writing is close to the theme of the Assumption. One might mention the painting "Assumption of the Virgin" (1475 - 1476) by the Italian artist Francesco Botticini, who depicted the Holy Virgin standing next to the hierarchical structure of the nine Angelic Choirs.

This article is devoted to the palaeographic dating of two precious medallions-reliquaries originating from the sacristy of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. One of them (made of silver) is decorated with the image of the Savior, surrounded by the apostles on the front side and, on the back, by the Virgin surrounded by prophets. On the front side of the second reliquary (made of gold) is a depiction of the Nativity and, on the back, part of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, i.e., St. Simeon the God-receiver with the infant Christ in his arms and surrounded by saints. Until recently, there had been no palaeographic dating for these monuments. In terms of style, they had been dated by historians of art to the last third of the 15th century and, primarily due to their rounded shape, they had been connected with the second wife of Grand Prince Ivan III, Sophia Palaeologos (despite the fact that neither work portrays the patrons). By examining the labels, which combine a number of archaic styles dating back to the end of the 14th century and include innovations of the “younger” Russian poluustav, one can attribute the medallions to the first quarter or first third of the 15th century, i.e., the time of Andrei Rublev.

In the first two decades of the 18th century, Cristoforo Tasca (Bergamo, 1661 – Venice, 1735) produced numerous artworks for Rijeka, Krk, and Karlobag. His oeuvre has now been complemented by a signed and dated altarpiece from 1725 at the main altar of the Collegiate, today a parish church in Rijeka. The author elucidates the complex circumstances behind the construction of the main marble altar and the role of its donators, the Orlando family, who created the altar iconography as directly related to the family’s patron saints. Based on the last will of Giovanni Michele Androcha from 1728, the presence of painter Cristoforo Tasca in Rijeka has been confirmed for the first time in a written document. A painting of the Annunciation, which originates from the former Benedictine monastery of St Rochus in Rijeka and is today preserved in the Benedictine monastery of San Daniele in Abano Terme near Padua, has been likewise attributed to Tasca. The second part of the article focuses on artworks that have been newly attributed to the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Augusti Pitteri (Venice, between 1691 and 1695 – Zadar ?, after 1759 ?), who moved to Zadar around 1730 and left a major opus in Dalmatia. Before 1730, a large painting of the Baptism of Christ was made for the parish church of San Martino in Burano, attributable to Pitteri. Another artwork discussed in the article is the anonymous signed painting of the Virgin with the Child and Saints from the Franciscan Church of St Anne in Koper.

The present paper deals with a long inscription which was uncovered in the autumn of 2015 on the external wall of the southern apse of the 12th century Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky. It contains an almost fully legible list of assassins of the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Andrey Yuryevich, who was murdered in Bogolyubovo on June 29th, 1174. The writer places a curse on the murderers and wishes eternal memory to the prince. The graffito probably dates from 1175–1176 when Andrey’s younger brother Vsevolod Yuryevich ruled in Pereyaslavl. It is the oldest inscription from the North-Eastern Rus’ to have a fairly precise dating. The discovery corroborates the general accuracy of the chronicles in respect to the murder and serves as a source for the study of Old Russian princely titles and other terms of social hierarchy. Andrey Yuryevich is called the grand prince and his murderers are collectively given the pejorative name of parobki (servants) despite the high social status of at least some of them. As the first example of anathematising state criminals in Rus’, the inscription has relevance for church history as well. Valuable new information is provided by the list of assassins. It includes the names of 11–13 individuals. The list indicates that the main conspirator, the boyar Kuchcko's son-in-law named Peter was the son of someone named Frol. That Frol may have been the founder of the Church of Saints Florus and Laurus in the Moscow Kremlin. The patronymic of the third of the murderers Yakim Kuckovičь is spelled with a c., which may be an indication of Kuchko's Novgorodian origin. The fourth on the list is Ofrem Moizich. The authors accept the Arabic origins of Ofrem’s patronymic suggested by V. S. Kuleshov. The latter traces it back to the name Muʕizz which could have belonged to a Muslim from Volga Bulgaria. The fifth conspirator Dobryna Mikitich is tentatively identified as the Rostov boyar Dobryna the Tall. He played a prominent role in the feud triggered by the assassination of Andrey Yuryevich and perished in the Battle of Yuryev Field on June 27th, 1176. The last person on the list bears the rare Slavic name Styrjata which elsewhere is attested only in the 12th century graffiti inscriptions from the Annunciation Church at Gorodische near Novgorod. From the standpoint of linguistics the inscription demonstrates an advanced stage of the yer-shift. In this respect it is similar to the Novgorod birchbark letter No. 724 which dates from the same period. The inscription was read with the help of a three-dimensional model created by the RSSDA Lab. (https://rssda.su/ep-rus).

Three cinquecento polychrome wood-carved altars have been preserved on the island of Lopud near Dubrovnik, the most monumental of which is situated in the parish church of Our Lady of Šunj. Its retable was constructed to resemble a classical aedicule, with an intricately carved frame and a central figural depiction of the Assumption of the Virgin, complemented by a complex iconographic programme in the symmetrically arranged adjoining scenes. Filling the small cassettes of the predella are reliefs of the Annunciation and Christ as the Man of Sorrows, together with perspectively rendered narrative scenes of the Last Supper and the Washing of the Feet, while in the pediment is a frontal depiction of the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity. In the narrow side wings between the columns and pilasters are four bas-reliefs of local patron saints depicted half-turned towards the central image, and thus achieving an overall plastic harmony for a demanding content. In terms of space, the main scene is well-developed through a pronounced sculptural modelling of the figures of the eleven apostles in the round, the most prominent of which is that of St Peter, placed in the foreground and turned to face the nave of the church, while the others are consumed by the miraculous assumption of the Virgin into heaven. She is followed high up by a pair of small angels and several tiny symbolical cherubim heads, all of which helps to achieve an extremely convincing religious scene. Its attractiveness is significantly heightened by the all’antica realism and pedantic Roman-inspired modelling which highlight the skill of a highly trained and talented master wood carver, which leaves no doubt that this is a special work of art, and indeed, the most beautiful carved wood retable in the east Adriatic which has survived to date. In this first complete study of the altar, the author traces historical records in which it is mentioned without the exact year of its creation, origin or carver being cited. He dispels the tradition that the altar was brought from England, supposedly from the Chapel of Henry VIII, and explains this tradition as having been based on the discovery of an alabaster altar, a typical product of late Gothic workshops at Nottingham, several examples of which exist in Dalmatia. From the seventeenth-century records, on the other hand, we learn that the altar in the church of the „Madonna del Sugni” (a vernacular Italo-Croatian transformation of the word Assunta) was dedicated in 1572. An examination of comparative material establishes that the altar’s compositional scheme draws upon altarpieces painted by Alvise Vivarini around 1480, while its morphological features find their closest parallel in the activities and mannerisms of the Venetian workshop of Paolo Campsa, who worked from the 1490s to the early 1550s, and who sold his works in the wide area under the government of La Serenissima. The Republic of Venice profited a great deal from this export, while its urban centre’s innumerable wooden altars disappeared following subsequent changes of fashion. A group of securely attributed works shows that Paolo Campsa frequently borrowed formulas and idioms from Venetian painters of the older generation; analogies with two of Vivarini’s altar paintings confirm that he repeated this technique on the Lopud altar, even though altars as complex as this are not found in the surviving oeuvre of this artist. An overview of the extremely numerous works attributed to this fecund wood carver has not led to a secure attribution of this scenically developed altar to his hand. However, an analytical observation points to significant similarities with individual figures considered by scholars of Renaissance wooden sculpture to be products of his workshop - more a factory, in fact - or of his circle which, without a doubt, Paolo stamped with his mark. Apart from the assumption that there are master wood carvers who have not been identified, or formally and clearly differentiated, who followed his teachings and mannerisms, this paper opens the possibility of locating more exactly the place of the altar’s creation. Since Campsa’s workshop was active even after his death, it can be assumed that the altar was made in the 1560s or 1570s, and that it was transported and assembled on the island of Lopud for its dedication of 1572. Furthermore, the author observes the meaning of the subsequent addition of the background, which was painted once the altar reached its destination; it shows a summarized depiction of the scenery of Lopud and a tiny settlement with a precisely and proportionately drawn sailing ship docked at the island’s bay. The background reveals that the nature of the work was votive and, by identifying the layers of local historical circumstance and by combining them with the relevant written sources, it can be connected to the activities of the distinguished ship owner Miho Pracat, the richest citizen of the Republic of Dubrovnik during the cinquecento. Two more wooden sculptures can be added to Miho Pracat’s donation to his home island: the figures of St Catherine and St Roch which were also made in Venice and which had originally belonged to a small altar of his family in the local church of St Francis, known from archival records. This altar was composed of an older polychrome triptych, now unfortunately lost, and which, together with a pair of side statues, formed a piece resembling a number of altarpieces from Paolo Campsa’s workshop. Thus, the analysis of these works of art reveals key components of visual culture, and a peculiar mosaic of sixteenth-century artistic production in a peripheral community of the small island of Lopud under the government of the Republic of Dubrovnik.

The objectives of the research. The article is devoted to the study of the main parameters of the Marian theme embodiment in the art of music, with highlighting the aspects of history and genre stylistics. It is noted that the choice of the topic is related to the study of the works by the Kharkiv composer of Polish origin Konstanty Antoni Gorski, who worked in Kharkiv for many years (1880–1910) and belongs to the founders of his academic musical culture. The article lays the methodological basis for studying interpretation of the Marian theme in the works by this author, for that the analysis of the relevant sources (theological, musicological, etc.) has been carried out to derive the genre-stylistic classifications for this phenomenon (confessional, genre, national classifications). The results of the study. It is noted that the Marian theme in music can be classified as one of its central themes. This is due to the general ethical and natural content of the European music of the academic layer, which itself, as it is known, originated from the Church music and retained the features of high contemplation inherent in the cult genres, which determined the prospect line for the subsequent development of the Christian world music. The study emphasizes that the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary acts as a part and an important component of the New Testament, where two her main hypostases are presented. The Virgin Mary is honored and praised, firstly, as the Mother of the Son of God, who experienced suffering with him for the good of humanity, and secondly, as the intercessor and guardian of people who believe in her divine power and destiny. Here, the two interpretations of the Blessed Virgin’s image should be borne in mind, which are implemented at the confessional level – in the Catholic and Orthodox liturgical service. The whole branch of knowledge, called Mariology, is devoted to the study of these issues in the European theology and art history. The musical aspects of this field, presented in the monograph by O. Nemkova (2013), are closely related to religious teachings, as well as to their secular reflection at the level of the genre, style and stylistics of the musical works. The musical interpretation of the Blessed Virgin’s image, coming from Catholicism is based on the postulates of Her Divine destiny, which is reflected in the canonical texts in Latin, among which two main ones stand out – “Stabat Mater” and “Salve Regina”. These texts are realized in the cantata genre, the basis of which is the style of da chiesa, that is, the concerto itself in the church that accompanies the service in honor of Virgin Mary. The latter takes place in such holidays: Conception of Mary by Her mother Anna, Nativity of Mary, Presentation of Mary, Annunciation, Dormition of the Mother of God. The prayer “Ave Maria” is also very popular, and it has become for many European authors the basis of both applied religious and secular works, an example of which is the music of Early Baroque, Romanticism and Modern times. The secularization processes that began in the music of the Christian world on the turn of the Late Renaissance and Baroque (the watershed here is the 1600 year, the official year of the opera genre birth), called to life two groups of works on Marian themes: 1) the compositions nearby to the canonical original, as a rule, Latin texts (they were distributed among Catholics by religion and in Catholic countries); 2) the works modified, based on translations and free narrations of canonical texts given in the national languages and in suitable stylistics of one or another national culture (this is characteristic of Protestantism, as well as of Orthodoxy). There is also a deep line of interpretation of the Blessed Virgin’s image, personifying the eternal idea of motherhood and femininity, which is equally characteristic of many national musical cultures, in particular, the non-religious wave that manifested itself in Slavic music, first at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, and then – during the last two decades of the 20th century. It is noted that Gorski, remaining a devout Catholic by the nature of his activity in such interfaith cultural center as Kharkiv in the late 19th – the first two decades of the 20th centuries, embodied in his work the traditions and demands coming from the Polish (Catholic) as well as the Ukrainian (Orthodox) and French and German (Lutheran, Protestant) musical cultures. On this basis, three of his opuses devoted to Virgin Mary arose: the Catholic cantata “Salve Regina” (for voice, violin and organ), the concerto-cantata in French “Salutation a la Sainte Vierge” (for soprano accompanied by choir, organ, string quintet and two French horns), and the choral concerto for the Orthodox mixed choir “Zriaszcze mia bezglasna” on the Old Slavonic text. Each of these works is a special genre form, with which Gorski works as with a standard model equipped with a lexical layer of a certain musical stylistics, primarily national. The Polish song and romanza sources are traced in the first of the works, along with the obvious influence of the opera arias. In the cantata on the French text, echoes of not only opera scenes are heard, but also the elements of the programme music, story-telling, characteristic of French musical style. Finally, the Orthodox choral Concerto on the Old Slavonic text demonstrates the typical genre of the Ukrainian music – the large form intended for collective choral performance that was the equivalent of a symphony in the Western European musical culture. Conclusion. It is proved that, guided by the world experience, Konstanty Antoni Gorski embodies all these models in three Marian works – the canonical church cantata, the larger-scale secular cantata, the a cappella choral concerto, while remaining a composer with original and unique intonational thinking. Gorski in these three compositions appears as a neoclassic, subordinating the original genres to his own creative intentions, which makes the music of these compositions comprehensible and accessible to a wide audience. It was that for the purpose to popularize the opuses by Gorski this article has been written.

В статье рассказывается о мемориальном комплексе «Летопись Грузии», возведенном в Тбилиси по проекту народного художника СССР и РФ, президента Российской академии художеств З.К. Церетели. Дается описание исторического места, основных элементов многофигурной уникальной композиции. Рассказывается о творческом методе З.К. Церетели, глубоком погружении в историю Грузии и создании образов выдающихся личностей, сыгравших ключевую роль в духовном и государственном становлении древнейшей кавказской страны: Святая Равноапостольная Нина (IV в.) – просветительница Грузии, Мириан III – Святой Мириан – царь Иберии, Вахтанг Горгасали (ок. 457-502), царица Тамара, чей образ вдохновлял Шота Руставели. Жемчужиной ансамбля является храм в честь Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы. The article tells about the memorial complex «Chronicle of Georgia», designed in Tbilisi on the project of the People's Artist of the USSR and Russia, President of the Russian Academy of Arts Z.K. Tsereteli. The description of the historical place, the main elements of the multi-figure unique composition is given here. It tells about the creative method of Zurab Tsereteli, the deep immersion in the history of Georgia and the creation of images of outstanding personalities who played a key role in the spiritual and state formation of the ancient Caucasian country: Saint Nino (IV century) – educator of Georgia, Mirian III – Saint Mirian – king of Iberia , Vakhtang Gorgasali (circa 457-502), the queen Tamara, whose image inspired Shota Rustaveli. The pearl of the ensemble is a church dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.