IMAGINARY ICONOGRAPHY OF MYKHAILO DOROSHENKO (1991‒2021)

Abstract

The article is an attempt to systematize and analyse most of the existing images of Hetman Mykhailo Doroshenko created during 1991-2021. A life portrait of the Cossack leader was not found. The probability of the existence of such a portrait is very low due to a number of specific historical reasons of objective and subjective nature, as described in the article. The formation of modern iconography of Mykhailo Doroshenko was due to the growing interest in the biography of this leader of the Zaporozhian Cossacks in the context of the revival of interest in national history during the first years of Ukraine's independence. Further interest in the formation of the iconography of Mykhailo Doroshenko was fostered by the needs of national-patriotic education, museum activities and educational process. Doroshenko's modern iconography is imaginary, it does not reflect the real appearance of the hetman. The vast majority of images of this leader of the Zaporozhian Cossacks are works of the portrait genre, two paintings are made in the battle genre. Doroshenko's fabulous image was also used on philatelic articles and commemorative coins. There have not yet been erected monuments or memorials dedicated to Mykhailo Doroshenko in which the existing imaginary iconographic types of this figure would be used