VI - XX centuries. Book: Evseeva L., Komashko N., Krasilin M.

Author	Book	Description	Year	Price	Book type
Liliya Evseeva, Natalia Komashko, Mikhail Krasilin, Hegumen Luka (Golovkov), Elena Ostashenko, Engelina Smirnova, Irina Yazykova, Anna Yakovleva	History of Iconography. Origins. Traditions. Modernity	Gift edition with beautiful color illustrations. From Contents: Theological foundations of the icon. Iconography. Technique icons. Byzantine icons of the VI-XV centuries. Greek icon after the fall of Byzantium... - @Verkhov S.I., @(format: 2000x1440, 288 pp.) @ Album with illustrations @ @	2014	763	paper book

Ideology

Schools and styles

Over the course of many centuries of the history of icon painting, many national icon painting schools have been formed, which have undergone their own path of stylistic development.

Byzantium

The iconography of the Byzantine Empire was the largest artistic phenomenon in the Eastern Christian world. Byzantine artistic culture not only became the ancestor of some national cultures (for example, Old Russian), but throughout its entire existence it influenced the iconography of other Orthodox countries: Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Rus', Georgia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt. Also influenced by Byzantium was the culture of Italy, especially Venice. Byzantine iconography and the new stylistic trends that emerged in Byzantium were of utmost importance for these countries.

Pre-Iconoclastic era

Apostle Peter. Encaustic icon. VI century. Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai.

The oldest icons that have survived to our time date back to the 6th century. Early icons of the 6th-7th centuries preserve the ancient painting technique - encaustic. Some works retain certain features of ancient naturalism and pictorial illusionism (for example, the icons “Christ Pantocrator” and “Apostle Peter” from the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai), while others are prone to conventionality and schematic depictions (for example, the icon “Bishop Abraham” from the Dahlem Museum , Berlin, icon “Christ and Saint Mina” from the Louvre). A different, non-antique, artistic language was characteristic of the eastern regions of Byzantium - Egypt, Syria, Palestine. In their icon painting, expressiveness was initially more important than knowledge of anatomy and the ability to convey volume.

Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus. Encaustic icon. 6th or 7th century. Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai.

The process of changing ancient forms and their spiritualization by Christian art can be clearly seen in the example of the mosaics of the Italian city of Ravenna - the largest ensemble of early Christian and early Byzantine mosaics that has survived to this day. Mosaics of the 5th century (mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Orthodox baptistery) are characterized by lively angles of figures, naturalistic modeling of volume, and picturesque mosaic masonry. In the mosaics of the late 5th century (Arian Baptistery) and 6th century (basilicas of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Church of San Vitale), the figures become flat, the lines of the folds of the clothes are rigid, schematic. Poses and gestures freeze, the depth of space almost disappears. The faces lose their sharp individuality, the mosaic laying becomes strictly ordered.

The reason for these changes was a purposeful search for a special figurative language capable of expressing Christian teaching.

Iconoclastic period

The development of Christian art was interrupted by iconoclasm, which established itself as the official ideology of the empire from 730. This caused the destruction of icons and paintings in churches. Persecution of icon worshipers. Many icon painters emigrated to the distant ends of the Empire and neighboring countries - to Cappadocia, Crimea, Italy, and partly to the Middle East, where they continued to create icons. Although in 787, at the Seventh Ecumenical Council, iconoclasm was condemned as a heresy and a theological justification for icon veneration was formulated, the final restoration of icon veneration came only in 843. During the period of iconoclasm, instead of icons in churches, only images of the cross were used, instead of old paintings, decorative images of plants and animals were made, and secular scenes were depicted, in particular, horse racing, beloved by Emperor Constantine V.

Macedonian period

After the final victory over the heresy of iconoclasm in 843, the creation of paintings and icons for the temples of Constantinople and other cities began again. From 867 to 1056, Byzantium was ruled by the Macedonian dynasty, which gave its name to the entire period, which is divided into two stages:

Macedonian "Renaissance".

Apostle Thaddeus presents King Abgar with the Image of Christ not made by hands. Folding sash. 10th century

King Abgar receives the Image of Christ Not Made by Hands. Folding sash. 10th century

The first half of the Macedonian period was characterized by increased interest in the classical ancient heritage. The works of this time are distinguished by their naturalness in the depiction of the human body, softness in the depiction of draperies, and liveliness in the faces. Vivid examples of classical art are: the mosaic of Sophia of Constantinople with the image of the Mother of God on the throne (mid-9th century), a folding icon from the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai with the image of the Apostle Thaddeus and King Abgar receiving a plate with the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands (mid-10th century).

In the second half of the 10th century, icon painting retained classical features, but icon painters were looking for ways to give the images greater spirituality.

Ascetic style.

In the first half of the 11th century, the style of Byzantine icon painting changed sharply in the direction opposite to the ancient classics. From this time, several large ensembles of monumental painting have been preserved: frescoes of the church of Panagia ton Chalkeon in Thessaloniki from 1028, mosaics of the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Phokis 30-40. XI century, mosaics and frescoes of Sophia of Kyiv of the same time, frescoes of Sophia of Ohrid from the middle - 3 quarters of the 11th century, mosaics of Nea Moni on the island of Chios 1042-56. and others .

Archdeacon Lavrenty. Mosaic of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. XI century.

All of the listed monuments are characterized by an extreme degree of asceticism of images. The images are completely devoid of anything temporary and changeable. The faces are devoid of any feelings or emotions; they are extremely frozen, conveying the inner composure of those depicted. For this reason, huge symmetrical eyes with a detached, motionless gaze are emphasized. The figures freeze in strictly defined poses and often acquire squat, heavy proportions. Hands and feet become heavy and rough. The modeling of clothing folds is stylized, becoming very graphic, only conditionally conveying natural forms. The light in the modeling acquires supernatural brightness, bearing the symbolic meaning of Divine Light.

This stylistic trend includes a double-sided icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria with a perfectly preserved image of the Great Martyr George on the reverse (XI century, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin), as well as many book miniatures. The ascetic trend in icon painting continued to exist later, appearing in the 12th century. An example is the two icons of Our Lady Hodegetria in the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos and in the Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul.

Komnenian period

Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Beginning of the 12th century. Constantinople.

The next period in the history of Byzantine icon painting falls on the reign of the dynasties of Douk, Comneni and Angels (1059-1204). In general it is called Komninian. In the second half of the 11th century, asceticism was again replaced by the classical form and harmony of the image. Works of this time (for example, the mosaics of Daphne around 1100) achieve a balance between classical form and spirituality of the image, they are elegant and poetic.

The creation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God (TG) dates back to the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century. This is one of the best images of the Comnenian era, undoubtedly from Constantinople. In 1131-32 The icon was brought to Rus', where it became especially revered. From the original painting, only the faces of the Mother of God and the Child have been preserved. Beautiful, filled with subtle sorrow for the suffering of the Son, the face of the Mother of God is a characteristic example of the more open and humanized art of the Comnenian era. At the same time, in his example one can see the characteristic physiognomic features of Komninian painting: an elongated face, narrow eyes, a thin nose with a triangular pit on the bridge of the nose.

Saint Gregory the Wonderworker. Icon. XII century. Hermitage Museum.

Christ Pantocrator the Merciful. Mosaic icon. XII century.

The mosaic icon “Christ Pantocrator the Merciful” from the State Museums Dahlem in Berlin dates back to the first half of the 12th century. It expresses the internal and external harmony of the image, concentration and contemplation, the Divine and human in the Savior.

Annunciation. Icon. End of the 12th century Sinai.

In the second half of the 12th century, the icon “Gregory the Wonderworker” was created from the State. Hermitage. The icon is distinguished by its magnificent Constantinople script. In the image of the saint, the individual principle is especially strongly emphasized; before us is, as it were, a portrait of a philosopher.

Comnenian mannerism

Crucifixion of Christ with images of saints in the margins. Icon of the second half of the 12th century.

In addition to the classical direction, other trends appeared in the icon painting of the 12th century, tending to disrupt balance and harmony in the direction of greater spiritualization of the image. In some cases, this was achieved by increased expression of painting (the earliest example is the frescoes of the Church of St. Panteleimon in Nerezi in 1164, the icons “Descent into Hell” and “Assumption” of the late 12th century from the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai).

In the latest works of the 12th century, the linear stylization of the image is extremely enhanced. And the draperies of clothes and even faces are covered with a network of bright whitewash lines, which play a decisive role in constructing the form. Here, as before, light has the most important symbolic meaning. The proportions of the figures are also stylized, becoming overly elongated and thin. Stylization reaches its maximum manifestation in the so-called late Comnenian mannerism. This term primarily refers to the frescoes of the Church of St. George in Kurbinovo, as well as a number of icons, for example, “The Annunciation” of the late 12th century from the collection in Sinai. In these paintings and icons, the figures are endowed with sharp and rapid movements, the folds of clothing curl intricately, and the faces have distorted, specifically expressive features.

In Russia there are also examples of this style, for example, the frescoes of the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga and the reverse of the icon “Savior Not Made by Hands,” which depicts the veneration of angels to the Cross (Tretyakov Gallery).

XIII century

The flourishing of icon painting and other arts was interrupted by the terrible tragedy of 1204. This year, the knights of the Fourth Crusade captured and terribly sacked Constantinople. For more than half a century, the Byzantine Empire existed only as three separate states with centers in Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus. The Latin Crusader Empire was formed around Constantinople. Despite this, icon painting continued to develop. The 13th century was marked by several important stylistic phenomena.

Saint Panteleimon in his life. Icon. XIII century. Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai.

Christ Pantocrator. Icon from the Hilandar monastery. 1260s

At the turn of the 12th-13th centuries, a significant change in style occurred in the art of the entire Byzantine world. Conventionally, this phenomenon is called “art around 1200.” Linear stylization and expression in icon painting are replaced by calm and monumentalism. The images become large, static, with a clear silhouette and a sculptural, plastic form. A very characteristic example of this style are the frescoes in the monastery of St. John the Evangelist on the island of Patmos. A number of icons from the monastery of St. date back to the beginning of the 13th century. Catherine on Sinai: “Christ Pantocrator”, mosaic “Our Lady Hodegetria”, “Archangel Michael” from the Deesis, “St. Theodore Stratelates and Demetrius of Thessalonica." All of them exhibit features of a new direction, making them different from the images of the Comnenian style.

At the same time, a new type of icons arose - hagiographic ones. If earlier scenes of the life of this or that saint could be depicted in illustrated Minologies, on epistyles (long horizontal icons for altar barriers), on the doors of folding triptychs, now scenes of life (“stamps”) began to be placed along the perimeter of the middle of the icon in which the image is depicted. the saint himself. The hagiographic icons of St. Catherine (full-length) and St. Nicholas (waist-length) have been preserved in the collection at Sinai.

In the second half of the 13th century, classical ideals predominated in icon painting. The icons of Christ and the Mother of God from the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos (1260s) have a regular, classical form, complex, nuanced and harmonious painting. There is no tension in the images. On the contrary, the living and concrete gaze of Christ is calm and welcoming. In these icons, Byzantine art approached the highest possible degree of proximity of the Divine to the human. In 1280-90 art continued to follow the classical orientation, but at the same time, a special monumentality, power and emphasis of techniques appeared in it. The images showed heroic pathos. However, due to excessive intensity, the harmony decreased somewhat. A striking example of icon painting from the late 13th century is “Matthew the Evangelist” from the icon gallery in Ohrid.

Crusader workshops

A special phenomenon in icon painting are the workshops created in the east by the crusaders. They combined the features of European (Romanesque) and Byzantine art. Here, Western artists adopted the techniques of Byzantine writing, and the Byzantines executed icons close to the tastes of the crusaders who ordered them. The result was an interesting fusion of two different traditions, intertwined in various ways in each individual work. Crusader workshops existed in Jerusalem, Acre, Cyprus and Sinai.

Palaiologan period

The founder of the last dynasty of the Byzantine Empire - Michael VIII Palaiologos - returned Constantinople to the hands of the Greeks in 1261. His successor on the throne was Andronikos II (reigned 1282-1328). At the court of Andronikos II, exquisite art flourished magnificently, corresponding to the chamber court culture, which was characterized by excellent education and an increased interest in ancient literature and art.

Palaiologan Renaissance- this is what is commonly called a phenomenon in Byzantine art in the first quarter of the 14th century.

Icon of the Annunciation from the Church of St. Clement in Ohrid. XIV century.

While preserving the church content, icon painting takes on extremely aestheticized forms, experiencing the strong influence of the ancient past. It was then that miniature mosaic icons were created, intended either for small, chamber chapels, or for noble customers. For example, the icon “Saint Theodore Stratilates” in the collection of the State Archive. The images on such icons are unusually beautiful and amaze with the miniature nature of the work. The images are either calm, without psychological or spiritual depth, or, on the contrary, sharply characteristic, as if they were portraits. These are the images on the icon with the four saints, also located in the Hermitage.

Many icons painted in the usual tempera technique have also survived. They are all different, the images are never repeated, reflecting different qualities and states. Thus, the icon “Our Lady Psychosostria (Soul Savior)” from Ohrid expresses firmness and strength, while the icon “Our Lady Hodegetria” from the Byzantine Museum in Thessaloniki, on the contrary, conveys lyricism and tenderness. On the back of “Our Lady of Psychosostria” the “Annunciation” is depicted, and on the paired icon of the Savior on the back is written “The Crucifixion of Christ”, which poignantly conveys pain and sorrow overcome by the power of the spirit. Another masterpiece of the era is the icon “The Twelve Apostles” from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin. In it, the images of the apostles are endowed with such a bright individuality that it seems that we are looking at a portrait of scientists, philosophers, historians, poets, philologists, and humanists who lived in those years at the imperial court.

All of these icons are characterized by impeccable proportions, flexible movements, imposing poses of figures, stable poses and easy-to-read, precise compositions. There is a moment of entertainment, concreteness of the situation and the presence of characters in space, their communication.

Second half of the 14th century

Our Lady Perivelept. Icon of the second half of the 14th century. Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve.

Don Icon of the Mother of God. Theophanes the Greek (?). End of the 14th century. Tretyakov Gallery

Praise to the Mother of God with an akathist. Icon of the second half of the 14th century. Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

"Archangel Gabriel" from the Vysotsky rank.

John the Baptist. Icon from the Deesis tier of the late 14th century. Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

In the 50s In the 14th century, Byzantine icon painting was experiencing a new rise, based not only on the classical heritage, as it was in the decades of the “Palaeologian Renaissance,” but especially on the spiritual values of the victorious hesychasm. The tension and gloominess that appeared in the works of the 30-40s disappear from the icons. However, now the beauty and perfection of form are combined with the idea of transforming the world with Divine light. The theme of light in Byzantine painting always took place in one way or another. Light was understood symbolically as a manifestation of Divine power permeating the world. And in the second half of the 14th century, in connection with the teaching of hesychasm, such an understanding of light in the icon became all the more important.

A wonderful work of the era is the icon “Christ Pantocrator” from the Hermitage collection. The image was created in Constantinople for the monastery of Pantocrator on Mount Athos; the exact year of its execution is known - 1363. The image surprises both with the external beauty of the painting, perfection in conveying the shape of the face and hands, and with a very individual image of Christ, close and open to man. The colors of the icon seem to be permeated with an inner glow. In addition, the light is depicted in the form of bright whitening strokes falling on the face and hand. This is how the pictorial device clearly conveys the doctrine of uncreated Divine energies that permeate the whole world. This technique is becoming especially widespread.

After 1368, the icon of St. Gregory Palamas himself (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), glorified among the saints, was painted. His image is also distinguished by its clarity, individuality (literally portraiture) and contains a similar technique of whitening “moves” or “lights”.

Close to the image of Christ from GE is the icon of the Archangel Michael from the Byzantine Museum in Athens, the icon of the Mother of God Periveleptus, kept in Sergiev Posad, and many others. The painting of some is rich in rich shades of colors, while others are somewhat more austere.

The best qualities of Byzantine art at the beginning of the 15th century were embodied in the work of the great Russian icon painter, the Venerable Andrei Rublev.

Ancient Rus'

Russian icon painting began after the Baptism of Rus. Initially, the most ancient Russian stone churches of Kyiv and other cities, as well as their paintings and icons, were created by Byzantine masters. However, already in the 11th century there was its own icon painting school in the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, which produced the first famous icon painters - the monks Alypius and Gregory.

The history of ancient Russian art is usually divided into “pre-Mongol” and subsequent, since the historical circumstances of the 13th century significantly influenced the development of the culture of Rus'.

Although in the 14th century the influence of Byzantium and other Orthodox countries on Russian icon painting was great, Russian icons showed their own original features even earlier. Many Russian icons are the best examples of Byzantine art. Others - created in Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov and other cities - are very original and original. The work of Andrei Rublev is both a wonderful legacy of the traditions of Byzantium and embraces the most important Russian features.

Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia

In Bulgarian medieval art, icon painting appeared simultaneously with the adoption of Christianity in 864. The prototype was Byzantine icon painting, but it soon mixed with existing local traditions. Ceramic icons are quite unique. A pattern was applied to the base (ceramic tiles) using bright colors. These icons differed from the Byzantine school of icon painting in their greater roundness and liveliness of face. Due to the fragility of the material, very few works in this style have survived to this day, and only fragments of most of them remain. During the era of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, there were two main trends in icon painting: folk and palace. The first is associated with folk traditions, and the second originates from the Tarnovo art school of painting, which was greatly influenced by Renaissance art. The most frequently encountered character in Bulgarian icon painting is St. John of Rila. During the times when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire, icon painting, Slavic writing and Christianity helped preserve the Bulgarian national identity. The Bulgarian National Revival brought some renewal to iconography. The new style, close to folk traditions, did not contradict the basic canons of the genre. Bright, cheerful colors, characters in modern-era costumes, and frequent depictions of Bulgarian kings and saints (forgotten during the Ottoman yoke) are the hallmarks of Bulgarian Renaissance iconography.

The icon, the heir to the ancient portrait, has existed for almost two millennia. The icon owes its longevity largely to the conservatism of painting technique. The heyday of icon painting occurred in the Middle Ages, which so valued tradition, an era that preserved for humanity many of the secrets of the craft that it inherited from antiquity and have not lost their attractiveness to this day.

History of icon painting of the VI-XX centuries - Origins - Traditions - Modernity

LILIYA EVSEEVA

NATALIA KOMASHKO

MIKHAIL KRASILIN

IGUMEN LUKA (GOLOVKOV)

ELENA OSTASHENKO

OLGA POPOVA

ENGELINA SMIRNOVA

IRINA YAZYKOVA

ANNA YAKOVLEVA

IP Verkhov S.I., 2014

ISBN 978-5-905904-27-1

Yazykova - History of icon painting of the 6th-20th centuries - Origins - Traditions - Modernity - Contents

Irina Yazykova, Hegumen Luka (Golovkov) THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ICONS AND ICONOGRAPHY
Anna Yakovleva ICON TECHNIQUE
Olga Popova BYZANTINE ICONS OF THE VI-XV CENTURIES
Liliya Evseeva GREEK ICON AFTER THE FALL OF BYZANTIUM
Engelina Smirnova ICON OF ANCIENT Rus'. XI-XVII CENTURIES
Lilia Evseeva GEORGIAN ICON OF THE 10th-15th CENTURIES
Elena Ostashenko ICONS OF SERBIA, BULGARIA AND MACEDONIA OF THE XV - XVII CENTURIES
Natalya Komashko UKRAINIAN ICON PAINTING BELARUSIAN ICON ICON PAINTING OF ROMANIA (MOLDOVA AND WALLACHIAN)
Mikhail Krasilin RUSSIAN ICON OF THE 18TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURIES
Irina Yazykova, Hegumen Luka (Golovkov) ICON OF THE XX CENTURY

Chronological table

Bibliography

List of illustrations

Glossary of terms

Yazykova - History of icon painting of the 6th-20th centuries - Origins - Traditions - Modernity - excerpt from the book

In the simplest way, the icon painting technique can be represented as the overlay of multi-colored layers of paint on top of each other, the basis for which is the plane of a white board primed with chalk or plaster (ill. 1). Layering is its main property. Wanting to convey the originality of medieval painting techniques and compare it with the Renaissance, Talbot Rice and Richard Byron wrote: “The Byzantines layered, and the Italians modeled”1. Because of this, the technique of medieval painting could easily “collapse” and turn into a cursive system (into cursive writing) by reducing layers, or “unfold” and become detailed by adding them.

Tradition connects the appearance of the first icon with Jesus Christ himself, who sent the Edessa king Abgar an image of his Face on a piece of cloth. The early experience of icon painting is evidenced by the life of the Evangelist Luke, who created the icon of the Mother of God. From the “Libri Carolini”, apparently written by Alcuin, we know about the icons of Peter and Paul, presented by Pope Sylvester to Constantine the Great.

The history of art does not know such early examples of ancient icons, although one can get an idea of the painting experiments of the Jews who lived in the Hellenistic era from the paintings of the Old Testament cycle in the Dura Europos synagogue, executed a little earlier than the middle of the 3rd century. Also well known are images of the events of Sacred history, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, in murals, book miniatures and in works of applied art of the early Christian era - even before the adoption of Christianity as a state religion.

The most ancient icons, kept in the churches of Rome and in Sinai in the Pinacoteca of the Monastery of St. Catherine, where they happily escaped destruction during the reign of the iconoclast emperors, date back to the 6th century. As a rule, they are written on a board with wax paints - in a technique common to the entire Hellenistic world. Encaustic painting and its variety “wax tempera” are the most advanced painting technique of antiquity, but it was not the only one. Ancient artists knew mosaic, fresco, and tempera. These techniques were inherited by the era of early Christianity, but not all of them survived into the Middle Ages. It is well known what damage the era of iconoclasm caused to the icon. During two centuries of persecution, not only the most ancient icons perished, but also several generations of icon painters.

The acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council testify that, by order of the iconoclasts, wax and mosaics were scraped off the boards, icons were thrown into the fire or smashed on the heads of icon venerators. The documents paint a picture of terrible vandalism: along with the icons, both their admirers and the icon painters died from terrible torture and abuse. After iconoclasm, the wax painting technique was not revived. Since the 9th century. The technique of painting an icon, that is, done with a brush and paints, is exclusively tempera.

Tempera, in the strict sense of the word, is a method of mixing paint with a binder. Paint is a dry powder - a pigment. It could be obtained by grinding stones (minerals and earths), metals (gold, silver, lead oxide), organic residues (roots and twigs of plants, insects), dried and crushed, or boiled from dyed fabrics (purple, indigo). The binder is most often a yolk emulsion. But medieval craftsmen could use egg white emulsion as a binder, as the anonymous Bernese writes, and gum, that is, tree resin, and animal and plant glues. They also knew about oil, but tried not to use it, since they did not know the recipe for quick-drying oils.