Author’s Elements in Stable Compositions of Book Miniatures of the Passion Cycle in the Manuscripts of the Ural Old Believers

Abstract

This article studies the peculiarities of the iconography of The Passion of Christ cycle in Old Believers’ books of the late eighteenth – nineteenth centuries. The research methodology developed by F. Buslaev and N. Kondakov is based on the study of different approaches to creating book miniatures. They involve revealing the main iconographic features of images, identifying elements of early Christian art, Old Russian heritage, as well as elements of the later influence of Western European art. The analysis of the compositional structure of the miniatures, as well as individual elements of the images makes it possible to carry out a classifying selection of miniatures according to iconographic versions. Each image of the Passion cycle was based either on the pictorial canon that had developed over the centuries or on elements of Western European art, which actively spread to Russia in the seventeenth century in connection with the popularisation of engravings of the Piscator Bible. In addition, through a thorough examination of the miniatures of Old Believers’ manuscripts, it is easy to see quite interesting authorial interpretations of well-known plots. Miniaturists often included original images of the modern era, as if taken out of current life in traditional depictions of scenes from the Passion cycle. Reflecting biblical events, the miniatures bore the mark of the time when the manuscript was created, which is especially well traced in the sketches of everyday life and elements of clothing. It is often possible to see how a miniaturist seeks to convey their own attitude to the events, “explaining” the meaning of the event by selecting a colour scheme, depicting specific facial expressions, emotions, characters’ gestures, interior details, etc. Referring to particular manuscripts which existed in the Urals, the author identifies such elements of novelty and originality of images. They show not only the abundance of creative potential of Old Believer artists, but also a remarkable mind and ability to think and analyse ancient events from the point of view of modern humans, deepening the semantic component of the text and introducing a moral aspect.