Paintings of the Refectory of the Annunciation Church in the Village of Knyazhevo in the Artistic Culture of the Bezhetsky Region

Abstract

In recent decades there has been a reassessment of 19th century church culture. Consideration of the outstanding monuments of mural painting allows us to draw a conclusion about the outstanding character of the art of the Russian province. The relevance of the study of murals is connected with the total destruction of rural churches. The painting of the refectory in 1893 in the Annunciation Church in the village of Knyazhevo organically fits into the artistic context and continues the tradition of church monumental painting of the Bezhetsky region. On the example of the main cycle of subjects based on “The Beatitudes” the engravings-samples from the Bible by Christoph Weigel (1695) and compositions from various churches of Bezhetsky district are considered. Although engravings played a significant role, they did not hinder the independent development of art. The article analyses various variants of reproduction of graphic prototypes in mural painting. An assumption is made that local masters had a hitherto unknown prototype based on Weigel’s engravings. Archaic prototypes were organically combined with more modern ones, both Russian and foreign. Eclecticism stylistics, professionalism of masters and a powerful local school allowed combining different directions into a single whole. Paintings were created in accordance with the forms of architecture. Ornamental design helped to organically arrange compositions on walls and vaults. The artistic culture of the Bezhetsky region proved to be so stable that it allowed to recycle recognisable prototypes and demonstrate a wide range of pictorial means for many decades until the end of the 19th century. For the first time, the author’s diagram of the mural arrangement of the refectory is published.