Paintings Of Church Research Articles

Conservation Problems of Wall Paintings Within the Architectural Heritage

The Armenian legislation is currently protecting and preserving architectural monuments, archaeological sites, and minors’ artistic forms of art like xač‘k‘ars. Unfortunately, there are several cases of precious wall paintings preserved inside religious buildings (Tat‘ev, Lmbatavank‘, K‘obayr, Mastarà) being damaged during architectural monument restoration. In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in study, conservation, and restoration of wall paintings in Armenian churches; however, there is one terrible reality to report: the neglect and abandonment of the protection and safeguarding of visible wall paintings for many bureaucratic and logistical reasons, as well as reasons for complete indifference for the destiny of the frescoes. A significant illustration of this negative attitude is the chapel of the Armenian monastery of K‘obayr. After many years of abandonment, the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport made a move and began a campaign of studies and restorations in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Milan, to restore the buildings and wall paintings. Restoration work on the K‘obayr chapel has been put on hold since 2013 due to inadequate administrative administration. As a result, the chapel's single nave's double-pitched roof, which is incomplete has remained exposed for the past 10 years, and rainwater infiltration formed a lovely part of the wall paintings. Our four years of endless reports and reminders have yielded nothing. The purpose of this article is to show once again, that the wall paintings in Armenian churches are historical monuments that must be safeguarded and are an inseparable key component of each existing church's monumental architectural heritage; consequently, they must be protected.

Ritratto di Niceforo II Foca (963-969) nella Grande Piccionaia a Çavuşin.

This article intends to highlight the historical significance and unique aspects of the pictorial cycle in the Great Pigeon House church at Çavuşin, Cappadocia. The church's paintings, commissioned by local leaders, celebrate the Byzantine army's victories over the Arabs and glorify Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas (963-969). Central to the decoration is a large portrait of Nicephorus and his imperial entourageplaced in the prothesis apse, aiming to sanctify the emperor and emphasize his role as God's representative on earth. The ‘image network’ on the northeast wall features unprecedented iconography depicting the triumph of John I Tzimisce and General Melias on horseback, followed by the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. The relocation of the Baptism scene and parallels with figures like Constantine the Great present Nicephorus as a pious general and New Constantine, reflecting the duality of his personality. Overall, the pictorial cycle stands out as a distinctive artistic creation of 10th-century Byzantine art, set in a local context of military notables who emerge as creators of a sacred space, mediating between central power and provincial reality.

THE PINK ROCKS OF CARLO CRIVELLI (CIRCA 1489)

ABSTRACT Until the 1800s, art historians considered the Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli (circa 1435–1495) to be a secondary if not a minor painter. This lack of recognition stems essentially from the dissemination of his paintings in churches and convents throughout the provincial region of Marche (central-eastern Italy), where Crivelli spent the most productive period of his life from 1468 until his death in 1495. As a consequence of this limited accessibility, his paintings could not be seen by mainstream art dealers and historians such as the scrupulous Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574). More than anybody else, the British demonstrated a great interest in Crivelli’s art in the late 1800s by acquiring many of his dispersed paintings that eventually ended up in the National Gallery of London, where the richest collection of the artist’s paintings is preserved today. Among them, ‘The Vision of the Blessed Gabriele’ is the one that attracted our attention not so much for its pictorial qualities and symbolic significance typical of Renaissance paintings, but rather for the many details making up the background of the painting, which accurately depicted the geological and environmental characteristics of the Adriatic port city of Ancona and the nearby Monte Cònero mountain. In this research, besides a meticulous study of architectural, geomorphologic, faunal, and floral details, we focused on the representation of a large outcrop of strikingly pink, thinly stratified rocks, which we studied through a quantitative RGB (red, green, blue) chromatic analysis and then compared the results with those from an analogous analysis of rock samples and outcrop images of all the more-orless red formations of the Umbria-Marche lithostratigraphic succession. This led us to the conclusion that Crivelli’s pink rocks represent the lower Paleogene Scaglia Rossa limestone exposed at Monte Cònero. Thus, the background of Crivelli’s painting ‘The Vision of the Blessed Gabriele’ is no longer an idealized landscape put there as a symbolic or simple wing of a theater stage, but a realistic representation of the physical environment surrounding the main subject of the painting as only a few Renaissance maestros like Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna, and Leonardo da Vinci incorporated in their most famous and studied masterpieces.

About Alexey Khomyakov’s Views on Church Painting

The article is devoted to the views on church painting of one of the Slavophile leaders A.S. Khomyakov. In 1845, Alexander Ivanov, an artist working in Rome, influenced by the “Slavophile” atmosphere of meetings with F.V. Chizhov, N.M. Yazykov and N.V. Gogol, attempted to use an icon as a model for the image of the Resurrection of Christ for the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (for the first time in the history of the Russian academic school). It is doubtful that Khomyakov could have unreservedly welcomed this endeavor by Ivanov. Although he believed that for Russia’s return to nationality it would be sufficient only to revive the old in consciousness and life, he did not at all understand this return as a revival of the authentic forms of Old Russian art or as a stylization of these forms. Khomyakov’s negative attitude to stylizations is evidenced by his sharp criticism of the eclecticism of Bavarian art. In Russia, he believed, the link with tradition had long been severed and therefore Old Russian art could not serve as a basis for a modern art school. Not in Ivanov’s traditional icon-oriented sketch of the Resurrection of Christ, but in his painting The Appearance of the Messiah, Khomyakov recognized, even before he saw it with his own eyes, evidence of the beginning of the revival of truly Russian life and Russian thought. In his opinion, the artist sought in the painting to eliminate personal artistic manner, to become a kind of transparent medium through which the holy image would be imprinted on the canvas. The German Nazarene artists tried to capture the Christian phenomenon in the artistic contemplation of the spirit, but they could only teach it, they themselves were incapable of it. Ivanov, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, who had perfectly mastered the craft of an artist, was at the same time, according to Khomyakov, a pupil of icon painters, who created a great work of church wall painting. The history of the Russian art school of the second half of the 19th — early 20th century fully confirmed the validity of this assessment of the painting The Apparition of the Messiah. It laid the foundation for the God-seeking direction of Russian painting, on which Russian art blossomed in the work of I.N. Kramskoi, V.M. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov, N.N. Ge, as well as atheists — V.D. Polenov and V.V. Vereshchagin. Although not all the works of this trend were honored to be accepted into the bosom of the Orthodox Church, most of them allow us to be deservedly proud of the Russian art school.

Возрождение (середина XIII – середина XVI столетия). Грани гуманизма. Часть I

The essay is dedicated to exploring the art and culture of the Renaissance period, heralding Modern times, spanning from the mid-13th to the mid-16th century. This part of the work highlights the artistic achievements of the Middle East during the specified period, particularly in architecture, poetry (including the rise of humanism). Turning to European culture, the author specifically addresses the art of the Orthodox world (primarily focusing on church painting and, to a lesser extent, on the Ancient Russian Znamenny chant), noting its influence on the currents of the Renaissance. The author delves into the Gothic style, somewhat contrasting traditional notions of the Renaissance period (a kind of “counterculture”), across its various manifestations in visual arts, music and literature. Special attention is given to the central part of Renaissance art, tracing its evolution from the Early Renaissance (masterpieces of sculpture in Gothic cathedrals) to the Proto-Renaissance (paintings and frescoes by Italian masters, the emergence of psychologism in painting, the literary movement of Dolce stile nuovо marking the transition from the Middle Ages to Modern times, Ars Nova in musical art). The exploration of this theme will continue in the next part of the essay.

Иконописная школа «Ставрос» в деле возрождения церковной живописи

The aim of the work is to reveal the role of the Stavros icon painting school of the Udmurt Republic in revitalizing church painting. The paper examines the history of the Stavros icon painting school, the features of the education system in this icon painting school. The study is novel in that it is the first to shed light on the history of the exhibition activities of students and graduates of the icon painting school and to highlight their experience in the field of church painting. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the head of the Stavros icon painting school V. N. Morozov managed to create, in fact, his own school-workshop, whose graduates successfully work for the temples of the Udmurt Republic and across Russia.

THE PROBLEM OF ICONOGRAPHIC CANON IN ORTHODOX CHURCH PAINTING

The article is devoted to the formulation of the problem of the iconographic canon and to the study of the specifics of canonical works in Orthodox church painting. For this purpose, we study the relationship between the artistic-aesthetic canon in general and the iconographic canon in particular. To clarify the semantic content of the concepts “iconographic canon” and “iconography”, a distinction is proposed between the terms “iconographic model” and “iconographic type”. The specifics of the Eastern Christian iconographic canon are studied in the context of the special gnosiological role of visual arts in the system of Orthodox culture, which determined the features of iconographic symbolism. General and specific principles of the canonical system are formulated, revealing the religious-philosophical and artistic-aesthetic integrity of iconographic images intended for the non-rational expression of divine revelation and acting as a connection between the “earthly” and “celcetial”, immanent and transcendental levels of being.

MASTER OF CHURCH PAINTING FRANC PEІER: NEW FINDINGS AND HYPOTHESES

MASTER OF CHURCH PAINTING FRANC PEІER: NEW FINDINGS AND HYPOTHESES

On the Issue of the Semantics of the Monumental Paintings of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643–1644

The purpose of the article is to analyse the literature and sources covering the issues of studying the ideological and artistic content of the monumental painting of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643–1644. The author's main focus is on revealing the semantics of the mural's subjects and interpreting the iconology of the monumental ensemble, which will allow us to determine the place of the monument in the context of the national spiritual and artistic culture of the first half of the seventeenth century. It is planned to characterise the ideological programme of the monumental painting of the Petro Mohyla era and to identify the main accents in the system of paintings. The research methodology is based on the application of a systematic approach, an analytical method, art history, historical-comparative, historical-genetic, historical-systemic, and descriptive methods for a comprehensive consideration of the given problem and formulate well-founded conclusions. The scientific novelty is characterised by the fact that for the first time, based on a critical analysis of literature and sources, the need for a reliable semantic analysis of the monumental painting of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643-1644 was identified. Based on a thorough study of the features of the church's painting system, the leading artistic and visual themes are identified and a variant of the interpretation of the iconology of the monumental ensemble of the time of Petro Mohyla is proposed. Conclusions. Summarising, we should note, that in the process of analysing the system of paintings of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove, its integrity and the conditionality of all elements were noted. The nature of the images made it possible to identify the key areas that carry the greatest semantic and dogmatic load. The author identifies the leading theological themes in the system of paintings – the Incarnation and the Eucharistic Sacrifice – and outlines a number of subjects that represent these themes. It is noted that the theme of the Incarnation in Byzantine art acquired special significance after the victory of icon worship. The monumental ensemble of the Church of the Saviour of 1643-1644 was presented as a reminiscence of Macedonian Renaissance art. It was noted that the programmatic archaism of the system of paintings and a specific set of subjects were related to the actual tasks of the spiritual life of the time of Petro Mohyla. Keywords: Church of the Saviour at Berestove, monumental painting, Macedonian Renaissance, post-Byzantine art, system of paintings, semantics, iconology, theological programme, ideological and artistic content, spiritual culture, archaism, Era of Petro Mohyla.

Theological Programme, Analogies, Innovations in Mural Painting of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894

The purpose of the article is to investigate the theological programme, continuity and originality of the mural paintings of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894. The research methodology is based on historical and cultural analysis, as well as art historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the study. The theological programme of the mural painting of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894 has been studied: its genesis, ideological basis, main theme, thematic plot lines, and thematic hierarchy have been determined. The continuity principle is defined as the basis of the connection between the original (the 18th century) and renewed (1894; Daniil Davydov) decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. The pictorial compositions analogies to the paintings of the compartments of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) according to the programme of the 1720s are observed. Secondary analogies with some compositions in the Lavra Trinity Gate Church are also indicated. Along with analogies, the differences in the thematic, compositional, and stylistic interpretation of the paintings have been investigated. The academicism features in the mural painting of 1894 have been analysed. The originality of themes and plots addition in the mural paintings with icons in the iconostasis and the altar has been revealed. Conclusions. The mural painting programme’s primary source of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra has been the programme of painting the interior of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) in the 1720s. The renewed mural paintings of 1894 inherited the original decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. Analogies with the paintings of the Great Church can be traced to the theme and general compositional schemes. A partial analogy to the mural painting of the Trinity Church narthex has been used as a component for another theme. Innovations in the paintings of the Cross Exaltation Church have been manifested in the formation of a peculiar thematic hierarchy, a change in compositional elements, and a transition from the baroque style to the traditions of academic sacred painting. The originality is manifested in the presentation of emotionally saturated subjects in the altar icons and paintings, due to which a calm and sublime rhythm of the wall compositions are created. Some icons are a plot addition to the murals. Several thematic lines are revealed in the mural painting, namely the sacrifice of the Saviour on the cross, the sacrifice of a man to God, the meeting of a man with God, the Divine Liturgy and Church of Christ. The main theme of the church painting decoration is the glorification of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord as the instrument of His victory and our salvation. The ideological basis of the mural paintings theological programme is a line from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews [Hebrews 19:39–40, 20:1–2]. Keywords: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, academic painting, baroque painting, mural painting, sacral painting, Ukrainian painting, Great Church, Dormition Cathedral, Cross Exaltation Church, Holy Trinity Gate Church, Daniil Davydov.

Variations in the Byzantine Artistic Tradition in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Churches’ Painting in 1890s – 1910s

The purpose of the article is to study the embodiment of the Byzantine artistic tradition in the monumantal painting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1890s – 1910s. The research methodology is based on historical, cultural, and art historical analysis. Scientific novelty. The article reveals a weakening in the use of the Byzantine artistic heritage in the monumental painting of the churches in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The transformation from the systematic use of Byzantine ornaments and the symbolism of gold in the Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) in the late 19th century to fragments of Byzantine compositions in Art Nouveau ornaments have been traced. The decorative golden background in the Church of Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk with the Refectory Chamber (the Refectory Church) in the early 20th century has been explored. The use of the term "Neo-Byzantine style" for the painting of the Great Church is proved to be incorrect. The author made the following conclusions on the basis of archival information introduced into scientific circulation. Firstly, the algorithm of creating ornaments and a golden background as the basis of the Byzantine artistic tradition has been observed. Secondly, the authorship and dating of paintings of the Great Church have been clarified. Thirdly, it is determined that the rejection of the Byzantine tradition in favour of the Art Nouveau style in the Refectory Church took place in 1902, along with the change of artists. The significance of preparatory sketches and paintings of the Great Church for the creation of the compositions of the Refectory Church has been emphasised. Conclusions. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra did not have the opportunity to return to the Byzantine tradition in the technique of monumantal painting, namely to the technique of mosaics and frescoes. In the paintings of the Great Church (the Dormition Cathedral) and the Church of Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk with the Refectory Chamber (the Refectory Church) the Byzantine tradition was realised mainly in decorative elements, namely in ornaments and the golden background of compositions. In both churches, the artists implemented thematic and narrative lines in the tradition of late academicism. Along with V. Vereshchagin, V. Fartusov was the author of the paintings in the Great Church. The paintings date from 1897 to 1901. The transition to the Art Nouveau style in the decor of the Refectory Church began in 1902. The ornaments of the Refectory contain elements of national (Ukrainian) motifs and fragments of Byzantine ornaments. The preparatory sketches and paintings of the Great Church served as the pictorial basis for the compositions of the Refectory Church and the Chamber. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, sacral monumental painting, Ukrainian painting, Byzantine art, academicism, Art Nouveau style, Kyiv‑Pechersk Lavra, Great Church, Dormition Cathedral, Church of Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk with the Refectory Chamber, Refectory Church.

MYKHAILO KOZYK – ARTIST AND EXECUTIVE: RETURN FROM OBLIVION

The article is dedicated to the half forgotten Ukrainian artist Mykhailo Kozyk (1879–1947) – a master of impressive still lifes, portraits, landscape paintings, genre paintings and monumental church paintings, as well as an artist of original illustrations. Kozyk belongs to the generation of artists who entered the arena of Ukrainian cultural and artistic life at the beginning of the 20th century. The heyday of his talent came in the 1930s – the first half of the 1940s. During the years of his work, M. Kozyk created more than 500 paintings and monumental paintings, as well as several hundred graphic compositions (most of which are considered lost). For more than 25 years, he was involved in the formation of higher art education in Ukraine. Kozyk taught and was the head of Kyiv Art School (1915), held the position of professor at the Kyiv Institute of Architecture (1918), and Kyiv Art Institute (1925); was a teacher (1932), and then a professor at Kharkiv State Art Institute (1939), acting director of the National Institute of Art during the German occupation of Kharkiv (November 1941 – November 1942), taught painting at the Lviv Academy of Arts (1944). Among his students, the most famous are: Ye. Volobuyev, V. Golovaty, N. Umansky, F. Nyrod, O. Vandalovsky, M. Ashikhman, M. Slipchenko, L. Chernov, V. Yatsenko, G. Tomenko, O. Yakovenko, S. Gruzberg. A purposeful study of the artist’s work began after 1979, when thanks to the insistence of children, friends, and grateful students, the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth was celebrated. During the time of independence, the period of the early 1910s, and middle 1920s of the master’s work was well studied. However, the period of maturity of the master associated with Kharkiv (1932–1942), as well as the years of his forced stay in Western Ukraine (1943–1946), are not sufficiently reflected in the existing publications. A large part of the present publication is devoted to the last fourteen years of the artist’s life and work. A significant part of the illustrations is published for the first time.

Identification of pigments and binders of a 17th century mural painting (Bolivia). New report on pigments associated with Andean minerals

Research on the materiality of Andean Colonial artistic heritage contributes to the knowledge on the cultural and social history of the region. In this work we present the results of an interdisciplinary and multi-analytical investigation on a mural painting of the church of Curahuara de Carangas in Bolivia. This painting has been hidden for years behind the main 18th century wooden altarpiece. Its stylistic and pictorial characteristics place it in the early 17th century (1608), while other mural paintings of the temple correspond to a second stage, by 1777. Pigments were identified by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Raman micro-spectroscopy. The application of imaging methods not only allowed the identification and characterization of the materials but also gave information on the manufacturing technique of this mural painting. An outstanding finding in our work was the identification of a mixture of two copper minerals, atacamite [Cu2Cl(OH)3] and antlerite [Cu3SO4(OH)4], as the green pigment. Atacamite and antlerite have been separately identified in a polychrome sculpture and a mural painting, respectively, but this is the first report on their use as a mixture. Other pigments identified in the mural painting were haematite, azurite, red lead, cinnabar, gypsum, cerussite, orpiment, and carmine lake. These results, together with the identification of traces of minerals of the region, indicate the use of local materials by Andean painters from the early Colonial period. This suggests continuity in the cultural practices from pre-Hispanic times and an appropriation and reformulation of traditional European painting practices adapted to new resources. Analysis of lipid and protein materials by gas-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS) indicated the use of a secco painting technique involving the use of egg as pigment binder. Identification of animal glue suggested its use as the plaster primer. The knowledge of the materials and the painting technique of this artwork will allow the identification of similarities and differences with other mural paintings in churches of the Andean region and give useful information for conservation and preservation of this artwork.

В поисках утраченной традиции: к истории церковной живописи 1840-х - первой половины 1850-х гг.

The last decade of the reign of Nicholas I (1845 - 1855) was the time when the projects of renewal of church paintings in Russia appeared. Public discussion of the problems of the tradition of the Russian art started with the publication in 1845 of a brochure "On Icon-paintings" by the Ostrog bishop Anatoly, who wasn't, however, a zealous adherent to the traditional icon-paintings, his "theory" of icon-paintings tending towards neoclassicism. In difference from the Right Reverend Anatoly's approach in his brochure, the Rev'd Grigoriy Debolsky argued for the inseparable connection between the national spirit (narodnost') of the church paintings and the tradition of icon-painting in an article published in the same year. Russian Academic school did not respond to the new attitudes in society: propelled by the Emperor, this school acknowledged the tradition in symbolic terms only - in the Byzantinine golden impressions in the paintings in St Isaac's Cathedral. On the whole, the ensemble of these paintings promised to become a brilliant legacy of Bologna academism. 1848, the year of a wave of revolutions in Europe that were perceived as a direct threat to the Empire, opened a period of Nicholas's reign marked, on the other hand, by the intensification of censorship, and, on the other hand, by the two projects of renewal of national church art: those by Duke G.G. Gagarin and by I.P. Sakharov, an archaeologist. The first project, which had at its base the idea, taken from French artists, of christianising ancient art, was an attempt to adapt the Byzantine tradition to the framework of the academic artistic paradigm. Sakharov's project, on the contrary, presupposed complete rejection of this academic paradigm and going back to the icon-paintings that were not yet "spoiled" by Western influences. On the eve of the Crimean war the government made an attempt to expand the national tradition by including in it the ancient paintings from the Mount Athos, in particular, the wall-paintings by Panselinos, which, as A.N. Mouravyov claimed, "are on a par with the works by Rafael and Michelangelo in colouration and modest comportment of the figures". In the new era, marked by the Great Reform of Alexander II, the attempts at a renewal of church paintings that flourished in Nicholas's times, become, for the most part, a thing of the past.

THE CANONICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN ORTHODOX ICONOGRAPHY

The iconography of the Holy Trinity represents an extremely important issue, considering that the icon must fully express the truth of the Churchʼs faith, and current at the same time, since in church painting we can easily observe deviations from the canon of orthodoxy. That is precisely why, appealing to both the Orthodox and the Catholic bibliography, the present study aims to bring to the attention of theologians, clergy, iconographers and, why not, the laity alike, in a succinct presentation, the question of iconography and, implicitly, of the iconology of the Holy Trinity, to understand which representations are canonical and which are not, to correctly choose the icon of the Holy Trinity that can be painted and honored, in churches or in the home of every Christian

В поисках утраченной традиции: к истории церковной живописи 1830 — 1-й пол. 1840-х годов

Fast moving Europeanisation of Russia, started by Peter the Great and continued by his successors, showed itself, among other things, in founding the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and in the birth of Russian academic school, whose brilliant achievements were not in the least the legacy of Russian art tradition, especially that of icon-painting, for the latter was only allowed to exist as the arts of the commoners. This state of things was regarded as something to overcome during the reign of Nicholas I, when gradual re-establishment of the ties with tradition begins, seen in particular in the "Byzantine style" in Church architecture, invented by K.A. Ton in late 1820s - early 1830s at the behest of the emperor. Conservative ideology, expressed as it was in the so called theory of the official nationhood (narodnost'), starting from the times when S.S. Uvarov, the author of this theory, was appointed Minister of Public Instruction, was not reflected, however, in the academic Church painting and in the paintings which belonged to historic genre as a whole. This article is focused on the views on the academic Church paintings and traditional icon-paintings that were typical of the educated class of the 1830s and early 1840s. It is shown that the contemporaries of Russian "historical" painters, including those in the Church, saw their calling in commitment to the people (narodnost'), for "there is a need to assume... one's own character, which, while retaining its originality, would tend toward the general harmony with the European Art"; at least a part of the society has come to the opinion that at the time of the decline of famous schools of the West, it is in Russia that paintings show "life and development". (I.V. Kookolnik). In Church paintings of the 1830s the "Russian" style, oriented at the monuments of the past, originated not in the academic school itself, but in the adminicular activity, that is, as a by-product of the artistic and archaeological studies of F.G. Solntsev. A.N. Olenin, the President of the Academy of Arts, on whose intiative these studies were performed, envisaged their outcome as "the complete painting course of archaeology and ethnography for the artists". This course was born in the 1830s during two works of the artist: the making of Church calendar and the painting of Terem Palace and the churches in the Moscow Kremlin.

The Renaissance as a Process: the Transformation in Orthodox Church Painting in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Ruthenian Orthodox art in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the sixteenth century opened itself to the influences of Western European culture. The article is devoted to а description and analysis of this phenomenon. Although for most of the seventeenth century no work emerged that was pure enough in terms of its style that it could be termed а fully Renaissance work, this fact does not mean that there wasn’t any Renaissance at all. Here the Renaissance was not а style, an epoch, or а period, but а process that unfolded over two centuries, without а strictly defined beginning and end.

„Обрядова війна” 1860-х років на західноукраїнських землях і церковне малярство

The article investigates into the influence of the „ritual war” of the 1860s on the formation of an authentic center of church painting in the western Ukrainian lands of the second half of the nineteenth century by the example of the creative life of prominent artists. Much attention is paid to one of the consequences of the 1855 concordat between Austria and the Vatican, which was the „ritual war” of the Greek Catholic Church in the 1860 s. The long-term activity of the clergy to purify the Greek rite in the Greek Catholic Church is detailed. The role of artists in the development of church painting and the individual approach of Oleksandr Rachynskyi, Kornyl Ustiianovych and Kornyl Romanovskyi to rethinking the traditions of Ukrainian icon painting of past centuries is revealed. It is proved that by studying the history of Ukrainian and Western European art they contributed to a new approach to pictorial-compositional and figurative-semantic solutions of church painting, they rethought ancient traditions with due regards to the requirements of their time.

Features of Solving Plots in Temple Painting by the Founders of the Religious-national Trend and Artists of the Circle of M. M. Vasiliev

The subject of the study is to identify the peculiarities in solving the plots of church painting of individual representatives of the religious-national trend of the turn of the XIX - XX centuries. The purpose is to show the development of national trends of Russian monumental church art by the founders of the religious-national trend on the examples of the work of V. M.Vasnetsov, M. V. Nesterov, M.A. Vrubel and artists M. M. Vasiliev, A. P. Blaznov, L. A. Pyanovsky, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, F. R. Raylian, to identify similarities and differences in the manner and in the transmission of images and compositions, as well as to substantiate the significance of these differences for art history. The basis of art criticism research is the formal stylistic method of G. Velflin, the iconographic method of N. P. Kondakov, the iconological method of E. Panofsky; the method of phenomenological analysis of the aesthetic perception of the artistic work of V. V. Bychkov and G. K. Wagner. Comparative analysis of murals by artists M. M. Vasiliev, A. P. Blaznov, L. A. Pyanovsky, F. R. Raylian, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin in comparison with the work of representatives of the "Vasnetsov school" allowed us to see the development of the national style in art, from an abstract-figurative understanding to a conscious spiritual-symbolic interpretation of church painting of the Middle Ages and pre-Petrine Russia as an integral artistic phenomenon of the religious-national trend. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the example of the artists of the "Vasiliev circle" revealed a kind of overcoming of one of the main problems of the iconographic image, which consists in maintaining a delicate balance of life-likeness and ideality. In their works, in the context of interpretation, the measure of realism of the image is traced, in which the spiritual content can be embodied in a material form without losing its sacred content, which is a valuable example for modern artists who set themselves the task of creating images without copying, but remaining in the canon.

Cultural View on the Scheme of the Dome and Altar Painting of the Orthodox Church

The purpose of the work is to show the difference and interdependence between the schemes of paintings of the dome and the altar of the Orthodox Church and their purpose as the most sacred spaces. The research methodology consists in the application of a number of approaches. The analytical method is used to comprehend the literature on the topic of the article; the interdisciplinary method helps to comprehensively study the factual material and obtain new knowledge; and the systemic approach with a whole range of methods (semiotic, culturological, iconographic, field (namely, collection of visual material), hermeneutic, descriptive, comparative, and theoretical generalisation). The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time the dome and the altar of the Orthodox Church are considered as identically sacred parts of it and at the same time as the most sacred temple spaces, which is reflected in the schemes of their paintings. Conclusions. In the inner space of the Orthodox Church, religious ideas about the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ world, about the sacred and profane space are concretised with the help of architecture and sacred images recorded in the monumental church painting. In the temple, which is sacred in its purpose, however, there are differences in the expression of holiness. These differences from the point of view of the cultural approach can be marked by the binary opposition "sanctus – sacer". Thus, both the domed and the altar space of the Orthodox Church reflect the main church dogmas and doctrinal truths, which emphasises their sacredness in the sense of sanctus. At the same time, the painting of the sacred space of the dome reflects the Orthodox teachings open to every Christian, while the painting of the altar emphasises that this place of service of the "initiates" is available only to priests, performers of church rites, mainly the Eucharist.
 Key words: sacred space, temple painting, dome, altar, temple painting scheme, sacred, iconographic theme.