Newest Historiographic Studies of the Ukrainian Icon-Painting of The Last Judgment

Abstract

The analysis of features of iconography, stylistics, coloring and manner of execution of compositions of the Last Judgment is devoted to many scientific works. Despite this, the issue of the peculiarities of symbolism and source potential of the Stranger Judgment icons remains inexhaustible. The article is devoted to the analysis of the latest scientific research of the XXI century. Dedicated to the Ukrainian iconography of the Last Judgment. The main achievements and discoveries in the Work of Researchers are described for the development of the research of the Contemporary Issues in the historical and artistic key words. The potential of Ukrainian iconography research is also determined in the article. Studying the historiographical aspect of the research of Ukrainian icons, the specificity of approaches and areas of analysis of iconographic samples as historical sources by historians and art historians of the XXI century is traced. Historiography of the plot of the Last Judgment of the modern age is presented by the works of several authors: Ivan Himki, Lilya Berezhnoy, Marty Fedak, Lyudmila Milyaeva, etc. Analyzing this topic, we should mention that the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more focuses on aesthetic, especially on the artistic meaning of icons. Actually, the iconography of this period is formed -first as a branch of history and archeology, and from the end of the nineteenth century, as a branch of art studies. Studies of the twentieth century have some disadvantages caused by the influence of the Soviet period, in which there was no place for the icon just as a spiritual sanctuary, as sources of religious outlook of society. Particularly, this was due to the Marxist-Leninist “methodology”, that is, the approach to the icon as a painting, without taking into account its symbolic significance. With the restoration of Ukraine’s political independence at the end of the ХХ century the anti-religious propaganda was stopped and the community began to return to the spiritual origins, one of which is Christianity, including its components to which icons also belong to the Orthodox tradition. And precisely because of the great importance of the Ukrainian icon painting of the Last Judgment, there are scientific works of the 21st century that make it possible to look at the icon with completely different approach.