ПРИЖИЗНЕННЫЙ ПОРТРЕТ ИВАНА ГРОЗНОГО: ВИЗУАЛИЗАЦИЯ УГАСШЕГО ПАМЯТНИКА ЕСТЕСТВЕННОНАУЧНЫМИ МЕТОДАМИ

Abstract

The collections of the State Historical Museum keep a single offering copy of the first-printed Apostle 1564 by Ivan Fedorov with the image of the tsar Ivan the Terrible. This portrait was made in the embossing technique on the cover of the binding and is now almost completely extinct. This extinguished image was investigated using multispectral macro photography and subsequent computer processing. It has allowed visualizing the tsar portrait. This image is the only lifetime portrait of the most famous ruler of Russia, which survived to our time. Embossing specifics on the cover of the binding suggests the use of engraving on metal for the manufacture of this image. This is one of the first example of this technique in Russia. The features of the portrait and the embossing of both covers of the binding corresponded to the Western European standards for the design of an elite book, which came to Russia along with typography. The portrait of the king on the chest of a heraldic eagle accompanied by his titles served as a representation of the royal status of Ivan IV, that had been recognized by the Oriental patriarchs for three years before. A review of the existing portraits of Ivan the Terrible led to the conclusion that the resulting image was the only lifetime portrait of the king, which has close correspondences with the reconstruction of his face on the skull, made by M. M. Gerasimov. The history of the existence of a royal copy of Apostol of 1564 from the moment of its creation to the present day is reconstructed in the article.