Old Russian icon painters and their icons. Icons of the era of Kievan Rus

Iconography Ancient Rus' was sacred. The entire creative process was subject to strict canonical regulations. This, on the one hand, impoverished the iconography of Ancient Rus', since the master used an already given iconography. However, at the same time, this made it possible to focus on the “essence of the subject of spirituality”, focusing attention on deep penetration into the image and the process of recreating it with the help of exquisite

Old Russian icon painting obeyed laws not only in the image technique itself, but also in the choice of material for it. Traditionally established techniques were also used in the method of preparing the surface for the image, the composition of the soil, and the technology for preparing paints. The iconography of Ancient Rus' also presupposed a mandatory sequence of writing.

The images were painted using paints whose binding component was tempera (a water emulsion with egg yolk). As a rule, wooden boards were used as a base. Preparing the board for writing was quite long and laborious. We chose a log with a very strong inner layer. The production of boards for icons was carried out by woodworkers (wood-makers); icon painters themselves did this very rarely.

Icons are not big size were written on the same board. For large images, several boards connected to each other were used.

A middle recess (ark) was cut out on the front of the board. He created some kind of window. A frame (field) was formed along the edges.

By the nature of the fastening of the boards, the depth of the ark, and the width of the margins, one can often determine the place and time of production of the board. On ancient icons (11-12 centuries), the ark, as a rule, was made deep and the margins wide. Later, boards were made with narrow margins. Starting from, you can find icons without borders.

The ground was gesso. This is a mixture of alabaster or chalk with fish (sturgeon) glue. The board was coated with glue (liquid and hot) several times, then pavolok (fabric) was applied to it, rubbing it with the palm of the hand. The gesso was applied after the pavolok had dried. The soil was applied in several layers. Its surface was carefully leveled and sometimes polished. In some cases, relief was applied.

The image was applied to the prepared soil surface. The iconography of Ancient Rus' assumed step-by-step application drawing. First, the first image was drawn with light touches of soft coal from birch branches. The second drawing, more detailed, was done either in black).

Sometimes masters used “copybooks” obtained from icons that served as samples. In this way the image was reproduced.

Then the letter began. At the first stage, all the necessary details were “gilded”, then “preliminary” writing was carried out (buildings, clothes, landscapes were painted). The images of faces were performed on final stage. There was also strict consistency in working with paints.

The painting of icons was carried out according to manuals (“originals”). They contained information about the technology of writing one or another image.

It should be noted that, in its internal and external organization The icon is a very complex work of art. However, in the 19th century, icon painters were treated as second-class artists, considering the icon to be primitive. Ancient masters were accused of ignorance of techniques for creating direct perspective and human anatomy. At the same time, the icon is the result of virtuoso technique and high image culture. The use of tempera painting required special skills that were acquired over the course of for long years training.

The icon painters of Ancient Rus' perceived writing as an act of communication with another world. This required physical and spiritual cleansing.

Scarce information has survived to this day about the masters of antiquity. However, the pages of historical evidence, the margins and backs of icons, the walls of temples preserve the names of ancient icon painters. Among them should be named the monk Alimpiy, his contemporaries Stefan, Gaga, Sezhir, Radko. One of the most famous icons, “Trinity,” was painted by Andrei Rublev.

Introduction 3

History of Russian icon painting 4

How icons were painted in Ancient Rus' 9

History of the origin of icon painting technique 12

The color scheme of ancient Russian icons and its meaning 15

Andrey Rublev and his "Trinity" 17

Psychology icons. 21

Conclusion 23

Bibliography. 25

Introduction

I'm in the temple. I look at the icon, into the tender, mourning eyes of the Mother of God, and I understand that we are so far from Her mysterious world... Purity is what is associated with the words “temple”, “icon”. It is this feeling of purity that is sorely lacking in Everyday life. But beauty is nearby! But for some reason we pass by, not seeing, not noticing, not wanting to notice or inquire...

What do we know about icons? What are they needed for? Who were the people who wrote them, what did they think about, how did they live? If we start looking for answers to these questions, then our traditional ideas about icon painting will radically change, Furthermore, a whole new world will open up. I was convinced of this while preparing this essay. An icon is the fruit of the soul of enlightened people, and it carries their light, the light of heaven. This is more than dividing icon painting into schools, searching for any features and differences, but nevertheless, it is worth talking about this aspect of the genre in order to freely navigate the world of icons, understand them better, and become a little closer. This is the purpose of my review.

History of Russian icon painting

Now we are talking about icon painting as something native, primordially Russian, we consider this genre almost a folk art form. Has it always been like this? For many it will be surprising to learn that “our” icon was invented far from the Russian fields - in Byzantium.

The art of Byzantium, ascetic and stern, solemn and refined, does not always reach that spiritual height and purity that is characteristic of the general level of Russian icon painting. It grew and was formed in the struggle, and this struggle left its mark on it. Byzantium (although it also adopted the achievements of Roman culture) is mainly the fruit ancient culture, whose rich and varied heritage she was called to church. On this path, in connection with her inherent gift of deep, sophisticated thought and words, she churched everything that related to the verbal language of the Church. She gave great theologians; she played a large role in the dogmatic struggle of the Church, including a decisive role in the struggle for the icon. However, in the image itself, despite the height of artistic expression, there often remains a certain touch of the ancient heritage that has not been completely eradicated, which makes itself felt to a greater or lesser extent in different refractions, affecting the spiritual purity of the image. The development of church art on Byzantine soil in general “was associated with a number of protracted crises, renaissances of the ancient classics...” In essence, these renaissances of the ancient classics were nothing more than echoes in the field of church art of the general process of churching to which all aspects of the ancient world were subjected worldview. In this process of influence into Christianity, into the Church, many things came that were not subject to churching and therefore could not be churched, but imposed on church art your imprint. This is what the “renaissances” did, introducing into art the illusory and sensuality of ancient art, completely alien to Orthodoxy.

On the contrary, Russia, which was not connected by the entire complex of ancient heritage and whose culture did not have such deep roots, reached an absolutely exceptional height and purity of image, with which Russian icon painting stands out from all the branches of Orthodox icon painting. It was Russia that was given the opportunity to demonstrate the perfection of the artistic language of the icon, which greatest strength revealed the depth of the content of the liturgical image, its spirituality. We can say that if Byzantium gave the world primarily theology in word, then theology in image was given by Russia. In this sense, it is characteristic that until the time of Peter the Great there were few spiritual writers among the saints; but many saints were icon painters, from simple monks to metropolitans. The Russian icon is no less ascetic than the Byzantine icon. However, her asceticism is of a completely different order. The emphasis here is not on the severity of the feat, but on the joy of its fruit, on the goodness and lightness of the Lord’s burden, which He Himself speaks of in the Gospel read in the days of the holy ascetic monks: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The Russian icon is the highest expression in art of god-like humility. Therefore, despite the extraordinary depth of its content, it is childishly joyful and light, full of serene peace and warmth. Having come into contact through Byzantium with ancient traditions, mainly in their Hellenic basis (in their Roman adaptation), Russian icon painting did not succumb to the charm of this ancient heritage. She uses it only as a means, churchizes it to the end, transforms it, and the beauty of ancient art finds its true meaning in the transformed face of the Russian icon.

Together with Christianity, Russia received from Byzantium at the end of the 10th century an already established church image, a doctrine formulated about it, and a mature technique developed over centuries. Her first teachers were visiting Greeks, masters of the classical era Byzantine art, who from the very beginning, in the paintings of the first churches, such as the Kyiv Sophia (1037-1161/67), used the help of Russian artists. The activities of the disciples of the Greeks, the first famous Russian holy icon painters, the monks of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, the Monk Alypius (Alympius) (about 1114) and his collaborator St. Gregory also date back to the 11th century. St. Alypius is considered the founder of Russian icon painting. From childhood, he began to study icon painting with visiting Greek masters, then became a hieromonk, he was distinguished by tireless hard work, humility, purity, patience, fasting and love of thinking about God. “You were never upset at those who insulted you; you repaid evil for evil,” they sing to him in a church hymn. (Troparion 8th tone. Canon to the saint.) This was one of the ascetic ascetics who glorified the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. In the person of St. Alypius and Gregory, Russian church art from the very beginning of its existence was directed by people enlightened by the direct knowledge of Revelation, of whom Russian icon painting subsequently had so many. The Kiev period of Russian church art can be judged mainly by frescoes and mosaics. The Mongol invasion, which swept through most of Russia around the middle of the 13th century, not only destroyed a lot, but also significantly undermined the painting of new icons. The open icons of this period that have survived to this day, of which there are very few, date back to the end of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, and almost all of them are attributed with greater or less certainty to Novgorod, the origins of whose art also go back to the 11th century.

Icons of the pre-Mongol period are characterized by exceptional monumentality, characteristic of wall painting, under the influence of which Russian icon painting dates back to the 14th century, and laconicism of artistic expression both in composition and in figures, gestures, folds of clothing, etc. Their coloring, in which prevail dark colors, reserved and gloomy. However, already in the 13th century, this gloomy coloring begins to give way to characteristically Russian flowery and bright colors. More internal and external dynamics, tendency towards greater flatness. Early icons, even if they have Russian features, are still more or less dependent on Greek models. It can be said that the 12th century is marked by the assimilation of the principles and forms of church art adopted from Byzantium, which in the 13th century already appear in the national Russian refraction, which found its final expression in the 14th century. The icons of this period are distinguished by their freshness and spontaneity of expression, bright colors, sense of rhythm and simplicity of composition. The work of the famous holy icon painters - Metropolitan Peter of Moscow (1326) and Archbishop of Rostov Theodore (1394) - dates back to this period. .

The 14th, 15th and first half of the 16th centuries represent the flowering of Russian icon painting, coinciding with the flowering of holiness, and specifically reverence, which sharply declines in the second half of the 16th century. This time produces the largest number of glorified saints, especially the 15th century: from 1420 to 1500, the number of glorified saints who died during this period reaches 50 people.

The boundary between the 14th and 15th centuries is associated with the name of the greatest icon painter, St. Andrew(Rublev), who worked with his friend Rev. Daniil (Cherny). The extraordinary depth of the spiritual insight of St. Andrew found its expression through a completely exceptional artistic gift. The second half of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries are associated with another brilliant master, whose name was placed next to the name of the Monk Andrew - Dionysius, who worked with his sons. His work, drawing on the traditions of Rublev, represents a brilliant completion of Russian icon painting of the 15th century. This period marks great perfection of technology, sophistication of lines, sophistication of shapes and colors. Dionysius himself, whose work is imbued with a special cheerfulness, is characterized by elongated, refined proportions of figures, emphasized grace of movements, flexible, strong and smooth drawing. Its pure color with delicate green, pink, blue and yellow tones is particularly musical.

The 16th century preserves the spiritual richness of the image; The colorfulness of the icon remains at the same height and even becomes richer in shades. This century, like the previous one, continues to produce wonderful icons. However, in the second half of the 16th century, the majestic simplicity and classical proportionality of the composition, which had held for centuries, began to waver. Wide plans, a sense of monumentality of the image, classical rhythm, antique purity and power of color are lost. There is a desire for complexity, virtuosity and overload with details. The tones darken, fade, and instead of the previous light and light colors, dense earthy shades appear, which, together with gold, create the impression of lush and somewhat gloomy solemnity. This is a turning point in Russian icon painting. The dogmatic meaning of the icon ceases to be recognized as the main one, and the narrative point often acquires a dominant meaning.

How icons were painted in Ancient Rus'

Icon painting in Ancient Rus' was a sacred matter. Strict adherence to canonical instructions, on the one hand, impoverished the creative process, since it limited the possibilities of self-expression of the icon painter, since the iconography of the image, as a rule, was already given, but, on the other hand, forced the artist to focus all his skill, all his attention on the essence " spiritual object", on achieving deep penetration into the image and recreating it with exquisite visual means.

Traditions and established techniques affected not only iconography, but also the choice of material on which icons were painted, the substance of the soil, the method of preparing the surface for painting, the technology of making paints and, finally, the sequence of writing.

When painting icons in Ancient Rus', paints were used in which the binding medium was an emulsion of water and egg yolk - tempera.

Icons were most often painted on wooden boards. Usually they took boards from linden, in the North - from larch and spruce, in Pskov - from pine.

The board, as a rule, was hewn out of a log, choosing the strongest inner layer of the tree trunk. This process was labor-intensive and lengthy.

Boards for icons were made by woodworkers or woodworkers, and rarely by icon painters themselves. A shallow recess was usually made on the front side of the board - an ark, bounded along the edges of the board by fields slightly rising above it. For small icons one board could be used. For large icons, several boards were connected. The nature of the fastening, the depth of the ark and the width of the fields often make it possible to determine the time and place of manufacture of the icon board. The fields of ancient icons of the 11th-12th centuries are, as a rule, wide, and the ark is deep. Later icons have narrow margins, and from the 14th century icons were sometimes painted on boards without borders.

The primer used was gesso, which was made from chalk or alabaster and fish (sturgeon) glue. The icon board was coated several times with liquid hot glue, then the pavolo was glued on, rubbing it in with the palm of the hand. After the pavolok had dried, gesso was applied. The gesso was applied in several stages, in layers. The surface of the gesso was carefully leveled and sometimes sanded. Sometimes relief was applied to the gesso. In ancient icons, starting from the 12th century, “chasing” was often done on gilded gesso. Sometimes such patterned embossing was done on halos. In later times (from the 16th century), to create an in-depth (or relief) pattern, gesso carving was carried out before writing began. Then the relief was gilded.

A drawing was made on the prepared soil surface. First, the first drawing of the images was performed, and then the second, more detailed one. The first drawing was done by lightly touching soft charcoal from birch branches, the second - with black or brown paint.

Some icons were reproduced from “originals” or from copybooks obtained from icons that served as samples.

After this, the actual writing began. At first, everything that was required was gilded: the fields of the icon, lights, crowns, folds of clothing. Then the pre-letter writing was done, that is, clothes, buildings, and landscapes were painted. At the final stage of creating the icon, the faces were painted. The finished image was covered with a special kind of oil varnish - “oiled”.

The paint work was carried out in a strictly defined sequence. Both the icon writing and its sequence were not the same in different icon painting schools and changed over time.

First, the areas limited by the contours of the design were covered with thin layers of appropriate paints in the following order: background (if it is not gold), mountains, buildings, clothes, exposed parts of the body, faces. After this, whitening was done, which highlighted the convex details of objects (except for faces and hands). Gradually adding white to the paint, smaller and smaller areas of highlighting were covered. Finishing touches were already applied with pure white.

To create greater volume of the image, a thin layer of dark paint was applied to the darkened and recessed areas. After dark paint, all facial features and hair were drawn in thin lines.

Then light highlights were applied to the convex parts of the face: forehead, cheekbones, nose, strands of hair using white or ocher with a large addition of white. Then the “blush” was applied. A thin layer of red paint was applied to the lips, cheeks, tip of the nose, in the corners of the eyes, and on the earlobes. After this, the pupils of the eyes, hair, eyebrows, mustache, and beard were drawn in with liquid brown paint.

The guidelines for painting icons were samples - “originals”. The originals contained instructions on how this or that image should be painted.

Tempera painting requires virtuoso technique and a high level of writing culture. This was achieved over many years of apprenticeship. Icon painting was a great creativity. The iconographer specially prepared to carry out the “work of icon-making.”

This was an act of communication with another world and required spiritual and physical cleansing, when everything carnal was suppressed as much as possible: “... when he painted the holy icon, he touched food only on Saturdays and Sundays, not giving himself rest day and night. He spent the night in vigil, prayer and prostrations. During the day, with all humility, non-covetousness, purity, patience, fasting, love, and meditation on God, he devoted himself to icon painting.”

Successfully painted images were considered to have been painted not by an icon painter, but by God. Very few names of ancient Russian artists have survived. After all, it was believed that God himself painted the icon with the hands of icon painters, and therefore it seemed inappropriate to name the name of the person whose hands God used.

On the other hand, icon painting was truly an intimate communication with another world, and there was no need to name oneself: after all, God himself knows the one who creates the image, or rather, prayerfully and humbly tries to reproduce the prototype.

Unfortunately, oil varnish - drying oil darkens over time, and approximately eighty years after application, the varnish film on the icon becomes black and almost completely covers the painting. The icons had to be “renewed”. A new painting was applied, which, according to the artist’s plan, was intended to restore what was hidden under the blackened drying oil. Ancient icons were painted layer by layer. Sometimes a new, different image was painted.

The history of the emergence of icon painting techniques

Installing the dowels and making the ark are the last stages in the manufacture of icon boards, however, the board is not yet ready for painting. The painting layer is applied to a primer consisting of chalk powder, or alabaster and wood glue. The application of such primer is preceded by gluing the board and gluing the pavolok. Gluing is the impregnation of the surface layer of a board with hot, liquid glue. The pavoloka, which is glued after gluing, is a rare fabric, like gauze. The features of these stages changed over time, but these changes did not have any pattern, therefore, when determining the time of painting the icon, one should not rely entirely on the features of the location of the pavolok. In addition, any conclusions about the condition of the pavolok can be made only in the absence of part of the soil when the pavolok is visible.

Almost all ancient icons have pavolok, and the entire front surface of the board is covered with it.

Before moving on to a detailed description of the stages of gluing and gluing pavolok, we will dwell on the history of the emergence of this method of preparing boards for painting. From the above descriptions of the stages of manufacturing and processing an icon board, it is clear that this work is quite complex and must be performed by a qualified craftsman. The same can be said about gluing boards, gluing pavolok and priming. In addition, in addition to their complexity, these stages require a strict sequence of execution and precise adherence to the proportions of the materials used (adhesive concentration, ratio of soil components).

Why did the ancient icon painters choose this particular technique, which required sufficient knowledge and skills?

As you know, the first icons appeared in the East. In Palestine, Egypt, Syria. In these places, at the time of the appearance of the first icons, tempera painting using glued wood with pavolok and chalk soils as a basis could already be considered traditional. For example, in Egypt, 3000 years before the birth of Christ, many sarcophagi were made of wood, covered with fabric, primed and painted with tempera paints.

It is worth mentioning that the composition of the soil used 5000 years ago was almost no different from the composition of the current soil used in icon painting. In the first centuries of Christianity, these sarcophagi were already considered ancient history, and the first icon painters could personally verify the reliability and durability of the works created using such a painting technique. The holiness of the iconographic image requires the use of a reliable base, which is why a board glued with glue, with pavolok and chalk soil was chosen as the base. Paintings made on this basis can last for hundreds of years. The first icon painters were convinced of this by the example of ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, we can be convinced of this by the example of ancient icons.

Even much later, when the oil paint technique was invented, icons continued to be painted on boards. However, tempera painting was gradually replaced by oil painting. At first, the composition of the soil changed. The changes consisted of adding drying oil, or vegetable oil, to the soil if the painting was done with oil paints. At an even later time, tempera was finally replaced by a technique using oil paints and icons began to be painted, like secular paintings, on canvas.

The color scheme of ancient Russian icons and its meaning

The Byzantines believed that the meaning of any art was beauty. They painted icons, shining with gilding and bright colors. Each color had its own place, its own meaning. The colors were never mixed, they were light or dark, but always pure. In Byzantium, color was considered as important as a word, because each of them had its own meaning. One or more colors created a speaking image. Studying from the Byzantines, Russian master icon painters accepted and preserved the symbolism of color. But in Rus' the icon was not as magnificent and austere as in imperial Byzantium. The colors on Russian icons have become more vibrant, bright and sonorous. The icon painters of Ancient Rus' learned to create works that were close to local conditions, tastes and ideals.

Golden color

The golden shine of mosaics and icons made it possible to feel the radiance of God and splendor Kingdom of Heaven where there is never night. The golden color signified God himself. This color shines in various shades on the icon of Vladimir Mother of God.

Purple color

Purple, or crimson, was a very important color in Byzantine culture. This is the color of the king, the ruler - God in heaven, emperor on earth. Only the emperor could sign decrees in purple ink and sit on a purple throne, only he wore purple clothes and boots (this was strictly forbidden to everyone). Leather or wooden bindings of the Gospels in churches were covered with purple cloth. This color was present in the icons on the clothes of the Mother of God - the Queen of Heaven.

Red color

Red is one of the most prominent colors in the icon. This is the color of warmth, love, life, life-giving energy. That is why red has become a symbol of the Resurrection - the victory of life over death. But at the same time, it is the color of blood and torment, the color of Christ’s sacrifice. Martyrs were depicted in red robes on icons. The wings of the seraphim archangels close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. Sometimes they painted red backgrounds - as a sign of the triumph of eternal life.

White color

White color is a symbol of Divine light. It is the color of purity, holiness and simplicity. On icons and frescoes, saints and righteous people were usually depicted in white as the Righteous - people who are kind and honest, living “in truth.” The same white color shone with the shrouds of babies, the souls of dead people and angels. But only righteous souls were depicted in white.

Blue and cyan colors

Blue and cyan colors meant the infinity of the sky, a symbol of another, eternal world. Blue color was considered the color of the Mother of God, who united both the earthly and the heavenly. The paintings in many churches dedicated to the Mother of God are filled with heavenly blue.

Green color

Green color is natural, living. This is the color of grass and leaves, youth, blossoming, hope, eternal renewal. The earth was painted with green; it was present where life began - in the scenes of the Nativity.

Brown color

Brown is the color of bare earth, dust, everything temporary and perishable. Mixed with the royal purple in the robes of the Mother of God, this color was reminiscent of human nature, subject to death.

Black color

Black is the color of evil and death. In icon painting, caves - symbols of the grave - and the yawning abyss of hell were painted black. In some stories it could be the color of mystery. For example, on a black background, signifying the incomprehensible depth of the Universe, the Cosmos was depicted - an old man in a crown in the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The black robes of monks who have retired from ordinary life are a symbol of the renunciation of former pleasures and habits, a kind of death during life.

A color that has never been used in icon painting is grey. Having mixed black and white, evil and good, it became the color of obscurity, emptiness, and nothingness. This color had no place in the radiant world of the icon.

Andrei Rublev and his "Trinity"

The work of Andrei Rublev is the most striking manifestation of the churched ancient heritage in Russian icon painting. All the beauty of ancient art comes to life here, enlightened by a new and genuine meaning. His painting is distinguished by youthful freshness, a sense of proportion, maximum color consistency, enchanting rhythm and music of lines. The influence of St. Andrew in Russian church art was enormous. Reviews of him were preserved in icon painting originals, and the Council, convened to resolve issues related to icon painting, in 1551 in Moscow by Metropolitan Macarius, who was himself an icon painter, adopted the following resolution: “The painter should paint icons from ancient models, as Greek painters wrote and as Andrei Rublev and other notorious painters wrote." The destruction of his icons was recorded in the chronicles as events of great importance and social significance. The work of St. Andrew leaves its mark on Russian church art of the 15th century, during which it reaches the pinnacle of its artistic expression. This - classical era Russian icon painting. The masters of the 15th century achieved extraordinary perfection of mastery of line, the ability to fit figures into a certain space, and find the perfect relationship between the silhouette and the free background. This century largely repeats the previous one, but differs from it in greater balance and mood. Exceptional, all-permeating rhythm, extraordinary purity and depth of tone, strength and joy of color give a full expression of the joy and tranquility of mature artistic creativity, combined with an exceptional depth of spiritual insight.

The plot of "Trinity" is based on the biblical story of the appearance of deity to Abraham in the form of three beautiful young angels. Abraham and his wife Sarah treated the strangers under the shade of the Mamre oak, and Abraham was given to understand that the deity in three persons was embodied in the angels. Since ancient times, there have been several options for depicting the Trinity, sometimes with details of the feast and episodes of the slaughter of the calf and the baking of bread (in the gallery’s collection these are 14th-century Trinity icons from Rostov the Great and 15th-century icons from Pskov).

In the Rublev icon, attention is focused on the three angels and their condition. They are depicted seated around a throne, in the center of which is a Eucharistic cup with the head of a sacrificial calf, symbolizing the New Testament lamb, that is, Christ. The meaning of this image is sacrificial love.

The left angel, signifying God the Father, blesses the cup with his right hand. The middle angel (Son), depicted in the gospel clothes of Jesus Christ, with his right hand lowered onto the throne with a symbolic sign, expresses submission to the will of God the Father and readiness to sacrifice himself in the name of love for people. The gesture of the right angel (the Holy Spirit) completes the symbolic conversation between the Father and the Son, affirming the high meaning of sacrificial love, and comforts the doomed to sacrifice. Thus, the image of the Old Testament Trinity (that is, with details of the plot from Old Testament) turns into the image of the Eucharist (Good Sacrifice), symbolically reproducing the meaning of the Gospel Last Supper and the sacrament established at it (communion with bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ). Researchers emphasize the symbolic cosmological significance of the compositional circle, into which the image fits laconically and naturally. In the circle they see a reflection of the idea of ​​the Universe, peace, unity, which embraces multiplicity and cosmos. When comprehending the content of the Trinity, it is important to understand its versatility. The symbolism and polysemy of the images of the “Trinity” go back to ancient times. For most peoples, such concepts (and images) as a tree, a bowl, a meal, a house (temple), a mountain, a circle, had a symbolic meaning. The depth of Andrei Rublev's awareness in the field of ancient symbolic images and their interpretations, the ability to combine their meaning with the content of Christian dogma, suggest a high level of education, characteristic of the enlightened society of that time and, in particular, of the artist’s likely environment.

The symbolism of the “Trinity” is correlated with its pictorial and stylistic properties. Among them vital importance has color. Since the contemplated deity was a picture of the heavenly heavenly world, the artist, with the help of paints, sought to convey the sublime “heavenly” beauty that was revealed to the earthly gaze. The painting of Andrei Rublev, especially the Zvenigorod rank, is distinguished by a special purity of color, nobility of tonal transitions, and the ability to impart a luminous radiance to the color. Light is emitted not only by golden backgrounds, ornamental cuts and assists, but also by the delicate melting of bright faces, pure shades of ocher, and the peacefully clear blue, pink and green tones of the angels’ clothes. The symbolism of color in the icon is especially noticeable in the leading sound of blue-blue, called Rublevsky cabbage roll.

Comprehending the beauty and depth of content, correlating the meaning of the “Trinity” with the ideas of Sergius of Radonezh about contemplation, moral improvement, peace, harmony, we seem to come into contact with the inner world of Andrei Rublev, his thoughts translated into this work.

The icon was in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity Monastery, which later became a monastery, until the twenties of our century. During this time, the icon underwent a number of renovations and copy-pasting. In 1904-1905, on the initiative of I.S. Ostroukhov, a member of the Moscow Archaeological Society, a famous collector of icons and trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery, the first thorough clearing of the Trinity from later records was undertaken. The work was supervised by the famous icon painter and restorer V.P. Guryanov. The main notes were removed, but the writings were left on the inserts of the new gesso, and in accordance with the restoration methods of that time, additions were made in places of loss that did not distort the author’s painting.

Psychology icons.

The faces of saints on icons are faces, that is, the faces of those who are outside of time, who are in eternity. And that is why individual facial features, understood as random attributes of temporary earthly life, are left only as signs necessary for recognition. The face is a face that has been freed from the seal of worldly passions and idle worries and has acquired the status of a visible symbol of the accomplished spiritual transformation.

One or another saint can be recognized or distinguished only by a canonized set of signs (book, clothes, beard, mustache, etc.). This set is a kind of iconographic constant, a code that is reproduced and repeated without changes when a given saint is depicted on different icons in different eras.

But icons do not glorify the flesh, as the art of pagan antiquity did. They recreate only those visible features that express the invisible properties of the Prototype, such as humility, kindness, tolerance, non-covetousness, meekness.
As one of the church fathers, Gregory of Nyssa, said: “Divine beauty is not manifested in any external form and not in the charm of an external image, determined by any elegance of colors, but is seen in indescribable bliss in accordance with virtue.”

Icon painters and illustrators of ancient handwritten Christian books were convinced of the imperfection of human vision, which cannot be trusted because of its carnal nature, and therefore considered it obligatory for themselves to try to depict the world not as they see it, but as it really is . The question of what the world really is like could only be resolved speculatively, when not the experience of earthly bodily life, but the dogmas of faith, are accepted as an axiom.

Those who look for external beauty in an icon are mistaken. Church creativity has a slightly different understanding of beauty. Spiritual beauty is higher than physical beauty, and the goal Christian life lies in ascent to the Primary Source of beauty - God. Nature is one of the means of knowing God; through the contemplation of its beauties, man is called to glorify God the Creator and create the beauty of his inner image, growing and being renewed in Christ into a new creation, transformed, redeemed for a new, Eternal Life in Christ. But it is very difficult for a person to think spiritually in earthly conditions, and the Church has established some kind of mediation, like a bridge from the material to the spiritual world, creating a symbol - a visual image of the truths of faith, and at the same time developing special forms, unique to it. That's what it is ancient icon. Therefore, before the icon, “we do not worship the written face in prayer, but ascend to the Prototype.”

The language of an icon is the same as a letter. The child is first taught to write individual letters, then is given the opportunity to copy from a book, then to write an exposition and, finally, an essay. Likewise, icon painting has its own literacy, its own school, its own sequence of work, through which the student is given special knowledge, special training and special education. The program and gradual training are also traditional and proven by the experience of many generations.

“As a kind of revelation of God, as the fruit of spiritual experience, as the tradition and creation of the Fathers of the Church, as their testimony to eternity, the ancient icon bears all the features of heaven: undistracted prayerful composure, the depth of the mysteries of faith, harmony of the spirit, the beauty of purity and dispassion, the greatness of humility and simplicity , fear of God and reverence. Before it, the passions and vanity of the world subside; it rises above everything in a different plane of existence. The icon is a great shrine both in content and in form. Some icons were painted with the finger of God, some were carried by Angels. them from place to place ( Tikhvin icon Mother of God, etc.); many remained unharmed in the fires; some, being pierced with spears and arrows, shed blood and tears, not to mention countless other signs, such as healings and so on. The Gospel preaches the Kingdom of God in word, the icon communicates the same thing in an image."

Conclusion

The icon - an expression of the light of heaven - is now emerging from oblivion. Should this be seen as a manifestation of cultural revival? Maybe. You just need to remember that the main “revival of culture” occurs in each of us, inside, and not outside. For centuries, icons have been a real help for the Russian people. In difficult moments of history (and they are always difficult!) It was the icons that did not allow people to lose heart, since they were the embodiment of what is truly Russian, they reminded us of our unity, that our cause is just, and that we have great power behind us. But isn’t the most important thing to remember about this? Isn't success dependent on this? So let the icon as a phenomenon be reborn to again show its great power. Miraculous power!

Bibliography.

Ed. Markova A.I. Culturology. History of world culture // - M.: Culture and Sport, 1998. – pp. 225 – 227

Malyuga Yu.Ya. Culturology. - M.: Infra-M, 1998. – pp. 128-129

Bystrova A.N. World of culture (Fundamentals of cultural studies). Tutorial. 2nd edition, corrected and expanded// – M.: Publishing House of Fyodor Konyukhov; Novosibirsk: LLC Publishing House UKEA, 2002. – pp. 342-344

ed. T. V. Moiseeva. History of Icon Painting: Origins. Traditions. Modernity // M.: ART-BMB, 2002.- p.290-297

Grekov B.L. From the cultural history of Ancient Rus' // - M.-L., 1944. – p.150-153

Zamyatina N. A. Terminology of Russian icon painting. 2nd ed.// - M.: Languages Russian culture, 2000. – p.272-276

Kondakov N. P. Visual media Orthodox icon and their symbolism//Internet resource: www.liturgy.ru

Icons of Andrei Rublev // Internet resource: www.voskres.orthodoxy.ru/rublev

Having adopted Christianity in 988, the ancient Russian state found itself involved in the powerful flow of Byzantine culture. The process of comprehension and creative processing of the heritage of the Eastern Roman Empire, combined with its own cultural traditions, subsequently gave birth to original and distinctive ancient Russian art. It is closely connected with the historical conditions in which it was formed and reflected the pressing problems and aspirations of medieval man. The form, themes, and content of ancient Russian art were closely related to religion and were under the strict control of the church.

In particular, in painting there were rules and techniques that every artist had to follow - canons. Types of images, compositional schemes, symbolism were approved and illuminated by the church.

The worldview and worldview of medieval people differed from modern ones and had certain features, without knowledge of which it is impossible to fully perceive works of ancient Russian art.

The oblivion of the language of icons occurred partly under the influence of Western art and is directly related to the secularization of society. Iconography is ascetic, harsh and completely illusory. Unlike secular painting, it has always gravitated towards fundamental otherness, the depiction of a different, transformed unreal world.

A sign, a symbol, a parable is a way of expressing truth that is well known to us from the Bible. The language of religious symbolism is capable of conveying complex and deep concepts of spiritual reality. Christ, the apostles and prophets resorted to the language of parables in their sermons. A vine, a lost drachma, a withered fig tree, etc. - images that have become meaningful symbols in Christian culture.

The first Christians did not know icons in our understanding of the word, but the developed imagery of the Old and New Testaments already contained the rudiments of iconology.

When determining artistic features icons, it is necessary to remember that for a person of the Middle Ages, an icon was not a picture, but an object of worship. Its purpose is to remind you of the image of God, to help you enter the psychological state necessary for prayer.

For a believer, there has never been a question whether he likes the icon or not, how or how artistically it is made. Its content was important to him. At that time, many did not know how to read, but the language of symbols was instilled in any believer from childhood. The symbolism of color, gestures, and depicted objects is the language of the icon.

One of the church fathers, Neil of Sinai, wrote that icons are in churches “for the purpose of instructing in the faith those who do not know and cannot read the Holy Scriptures.”

The basis for the emergence of Russian painting were examples of Byzantine art. It was from there that the canons came to Rus'.

The canon did not at all fetter the thoughts of the medieval painter, but it disciplined him and forced him to pay careful attention to details.

Considering the educational role of icon painting, it was very important one system signs that help viewers navigate the plot and internal meaning of the work.

The philosophical meaning of the canon is that the “spiritual world” is immaterial and invisible, and therefore inaccessible to ordinary perception. It can only be depicted using symbols. The icon painter did not strive for external formal realism; on the contrary, he in every possible way emphasizes the difference between the depicted heavenly world with the saints who have joined it and the earthly world in which the viewer lives. To achieve this, proportions are deliberately distorted and perspective is disrupted.

The use of reverse perspective or a uniform, impenetrable background seemed to bring the viewer closer to the depicted image; the space of the icon seemed to move forward along with the saints placed on it.

The face (face) in an icon is the most important thing. In the practice of icon painting, first the background, landscape, architecture, clothes were painted; they could also be painted by a second-hand master - an assistant, and only then chief master started painting the face. Compliance with this order of work was important, because the icon, like the entire universe, is hierarchical. The proportions of the face were deliberately distorted. It was believed that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, which is why the eyes on the icons are so large and soulful. Let us recall the expressive eyes of pre-Mongol icons (for example, “The Savior Not Made by Hands” Novgorod, 12th century). The mouth, on the contrary, symbolized sensuality, so the lips were drawn disproportionately small. Since Rublev's time at the beginning of the 15th century. the eyes no longer painted so exaggeratedly large, nevertheless, great attention is always paid to them. On Rublev’s icon “The Savior of Zvenigorod,” what is first striking is the deep and soulful gaze of the Savior. Theophan the Greek depicted some saints with eyes closed or even with empty eye sockets - in this way the artist tried to convey the idea that their gaze was not directed at external world, but inward, to contemplation of divine truth and inner prayer.

The figures of the depicted biblical characters were painted less densely, in few layers, deliberately elongated, which created the visual effect of their lightness, overcoming the physicality and volume of their bodies. They seem to float in space above the ground, which is an expression of their spirituality, their transformed state.

The actual image of a person occupies the main space of the icon. Everything else - chambers, mountains, trees - play a secondary role, their iconic nature is brought to the maximum conventionality. However, they also carry a certain semantic load (the mountain symbolizes man’s path to God, the oak tree is a symbol of eternal life, the bowl and grapevine are symbols atoning sacrifice Christ, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, etc.). The older the icon, the fewer secondary elements it contains.

For the perception of icon painting by a modern viewer, it is important to remember that an icon is a very complex work in its internal organization and artistic language, no less complex than, for example, a Renaissance painting. However, the icon painter thought in completely different categories and followed a different aesthetic.

Since the spread of Christianity in the West and the East took place in different historical conditions, church art also developed in different ways. IN Western Europe Christianity was preached among the barbarians who captured the Western Roman Empire. For them, the icon had to show and tell as truthfully as possible gospel story, hence the realism, the gradual transformation of the icon into a painting with a religious plot. The Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium, on the contrary, preserved the traditions of ancient culture and developed them; here the icon remained as a symbolic text and served not to excite the imagination, but for internal comprehension and contemplation. The sign and symbol are the alphabet of the medieval spectator.

It is curious that in the 19th century. icons were considered to be primitive art due to the fact that realism had a strong influence on the aesthetic perception of painting. Old Russian icon painters were accused of ignorance of anatomy and techniques for constructing direct perspective. Subsequently, at the beginning of the 20th century, many avant-garde artists, K. Petrov-Vodkin, V. Kadinsky and others, carefully studied and themselves tried to adopt means of expression ancient masters. Henri Matisse recognized the significant influence of the Russian icon on his work.

Through modernism and the avant-garde, not only Russia, but also the West are returning to the symbolic nature of art, using local colors, silhouettes and schematics as means of expression.

The iconographic canon is a separate topic that requires special study. Here are some basic rules:

• Proportions. The width of ancient icons correlates with the height 3:4 or 4:5, regardless of the size of the icon board.
• Dimensions of figures. The height of the face is equal to 0.1 of the height of his body (according to Byzantine rules, a person’s height is equal to 9 head measures). The distance between the pupils was equal to the size of the nose.
• Lines. There should be no torn lines on the icon; they are either closed, or emanate from one point, or connect to another line. The lines of the face are thin at the beginning and end, and thicker in the middle. The lines of architecture are of equal thickness everywhere.
• The use of reverse perspective - consisting only of close and medium plans, the long shot was limited to an opaque background - gold, red, green or blue. As they move away from the viewer, objects do not decrease, but increase.

Special rules stipulated the application of paints, the use of certain colors, etc.

All painters resorted to the symbolism of colors, each color carrying its own meaning.

• Gold is a color that symbolizes the radiance of Divine glory in which the saints abide. The golden background of the icon, the halos of the saints, the golden radiance around the figure of Christ, the golden clothes of the Savior and the Mother of God - all this serves as an expression of holiness and eternal values ​​belonging to the world.
• Yellow, or ocher, is the color closest in the spectrum to gold, often simply a substitute for it, and is also the color of the highest power of angels.
  
• White is a color symbolizing purity and innocence, involvement in the divine world. The clothes of Christ are painted white, for example in the composition “Transfiguration”, as well as the clothes of the righteous on icons depicting the Last Judgment.
• Black is a color that in some cases symbolizes hell, the maximum distance from God, in others it is a sign of sadness and humility.
• Blue, the color of the Mother of God, also meant purity and righteousness.
• Blue is the color of greatness, symbolizing the divine, heavenly, the incomprehensibility of mystery and the depth of revelation.
• Red is the royal color, a symbol of power and might (the cloak of Michael the Archangel - the leader of the heavenly army and St. George - the conqueror of the serpent); in other cases it could be a symbol of atoning blood, martyrdom.
• Green - symbolized eternal life, eternal bloom, is also the color of the Holy Spirit.

The medieval painter did not know the palette, did not mix colors during work, the colors were drawn up in advance and were mandatory. The paint recipes of different schools did not coincide, but, as a rule, they were ground on egg yolk and were very durable and bright.

Gestures also had a symbolic meaning. A gesture in an icon conveys a certain spiritual impulse and carries certain spiritual information:

• hand pressed to the chest - heartfelt empathy;
• a hand raised up is a call to repentance;
• a hand extended forward with an open palm is a sign of obedience and submission;
• two hands raised up - a prayer for peace;
• hands raised forward - a prayer for help, a gesture of request;
• hands pressed to the cheeks - a sign of sadness, grief.

The objects in the hands of the depicted saint were also of great importance, as signs of his service. Thus, the Apostle Paul was usually depicted with a book in his hands - this is the Gospel, less often with a sword, symbolizing the Word of God. Peter usually has keys in his hands - these are the keys to the kingdom of God. Martyrs are depicted with a cross in their hands or a palm branch - symbols of belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven; prophets usually hold scrolls of their prophecies in their hands.

And this is far from exhaustive material on the symbolism of color and gestures. It is no coincidence that icons were called “theology in colors.”

“In the lines and colors of the icon we have beauty that is primarily semantic,” wrote the philosopher E. Trubetskoy in 1916. In its now famous work“Speculation in Colors”, he deeply developed this idea, arguing that ancient Russian masters reflected on the meaning of life, brought answers to the eternal questions of existence “not in words, but in colors and images.”

The discovery of ancient Russian painting at the beginning of the 20th century, its recognition artistic value revived the understanding of her true spiritual meaning. Thus, the philosopher and priest Sergei Bulgakov, a contemporary of Trubetskoy, in his autobiography compares European and Russian painting. When Bulgakov first saw Raphael's Sistine Madonna, the painting made a strong impression on him. However, later, when he became familiar with ancient Russian art, he suddenly saw the main thing that the “Sistine Madonna” lacks: although she depicts the Mother of God, one cannot pray in front of her. If a secular artist, when painting a picture, strived for maximum artistic expression, he is, first of all, an author, then the monk-icon painter did not think about aesthetics - he thought about the prototype, he believed that God was guiding his hand.

The main guide for creating icons for painters was ancient originals brought from Byzantium. For many centuries, canonical painting fit into strictly defined frameworks, allowing only the repetition of iconographic originals.

The images were strictly regulated in space, poses, and a certain plot outline was observed. To help painters, there were special vaults with drawings of images of Orthodox saints and their verbal descriptions. At the end of the 17th century. Even a consolidated edition of the originals appeared, collecting most of the stories accumulated over the centuries, as well as reference materials, lists of terms and objects.

The main characters of the icons are the Mother of God, Christ, John the Baptist, apostles, forefathers, prophets, holy companions and great martyrs. The images could be:

• main ones (face only),
• shoulder-length (up to the shoulders),
• waist-length (to the waist),
• in full height.

Saints were often painted surrounded by separate small compositions on the themes of their lives - the so-called hagiographical marks. Such icons told about Christian feat character.

A separate group consisted of icons dedicated to evangelical events, which formed the basis of the main church holidays, as well as icons painted on the basis of Old Testament stories.

Let's look at the basic iconography of the Mother of God and Christ - the most important and revered images in Christianity.

Images of the Mother of God.

Hodegetria (Guide Book) This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with the Child Christ in her arms. The right hand of Christ is in a blessing gesture, in his left he has a scroll - a sign of the Holy Teaching. The Mother of God holds her son with one hand and points to him with the other.

Eleusa (Tenderness) This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms, bowed to each other. The Mother of God hugs her son, he presses his cheek to hers.

Oranta (Praying) This is a full-length image of the Mother of God with her hands raised to the sky. When a round medallion with the infant Christ is depicted on Oranta’s chest, this type in iconography is called the Great Panagia (All-Holy).

Sign or Incarnation This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with her hands raised in prayer. As in the Great Panagia, on the chest of the Mother of God there is a disk with the image of Christ, symbolizing the incarnation of the God-man.

In total, there were about 200 iconographic types of images of the Mother of God, the names of which are usually associated with the name of the area where they were especially revered or where they first appeared: Vladimir, Kazan, Smolensk, Iverskaya, etc. The love and veneration of the Mother of God among the people inextricably merged with her icons, some of them are recognized as miraculous and there are holidays in honor of them.

The most famous icon of the Mother of God is the Vladimir icon (belongs to the “Tenderness” type); scientists date it to the 12th century; according to chronicle evidence, it was brought from Constantinople. Subsequently, the Mother of God of Vladimir was rewritten several times; there were many copies of her from the 14th-15th centuries. For example, the famous repetition of “Our Lady of Vladimir” was created at the beginning of the 15th century. for the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir, to replace the ancient original transported to Moscow.

The famous Mother of God of the Don, supposedly painted by Theophanes the Greek himself and which became the main shrine of the church founded in the 16th century, also belongs to the “Tenderness” type. Moscow Donskoy Monastery.

One of best icons type “Hodegetria” is considered to be “Our Lady of Smolensk”, created in 1482 by the great artist Dionysius. It is called Smolenskaya because, according to chronicle legend, the oldest of the Hodegetria copies brought to Rus' was kept in Smolensk, and it was from it that all subsequent icons were made.

The main and central image of ancient Russian painting is the image of Jesus Christ, the Savior, as he was called in Rus'.

Image of Christ.

Pantocrator (Almighty) This is a half-length or full-length image of Christ. His right hand is raised in a blessing gesture; in his left he holds the Gospel - a sign of the teaching he brought into the world.

Savior on the throne this is an image of Christ in the robes of a Byzantine emperor seated on a throne (throne). Right hand raised in front of his chest he blesses, and with his left he touches the opened Gospel.

In addition to the usual composition of “The Savior on the Throne,” there were also images in ancient Russian art where the figure of Christ seated on the throne was surrounded by various symbolic signs indicating the fullness of his power and the judgment he carried out on the world. These images formed a separate set and were called Savior is in power.

Spas Bishop the Great an image of Christ in a bishop's robe, revealing him in the image of a New Testament high priest.

Savior Not Made by Hands this is one of the oldest images of Christ, where only the face of the Savior is depicted, imprinted on fabric.

Savior Not Made by Hands in a Crown of Thorns one of the varieties of this image, although it is rare; this type of image appears in Russian icon painting only in the 17th century.

Relatively rare is the image of Christ in infancy, calledEmmanuel ("God is with us").Even less common is the image of the infant Christ with a star-shaped halo, personifying Christ before the incarnation (i.e., before birth), or Christ in the form of an archangel with wings. Such icons are calledAngel of the Great Council .

The most numerous were the icons that reproduced the Image Not Made by Hands. The oldest surviving one is the Novgorod “Savior Not Made by Hands,” created in the 12th century. and owned today by the State Tretyakov Gallery. No less famous is the “Savior Not Made by Hands” from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, dating back to the 15th century.

There were also numerous images of the “Savior Almighty”. The famous “Zvenigorod Spas” by Andrei Rublev from this series is one of the greatest works of ancient Russian painting, one of the best creations of the author.

In Rus', icon painting was considered an important, state matter. Chronicles along with events of national importance celebrated the construction of new churches and the creation of icons.

There was ancient tradition- only monks are allowed to paint icons, and those who have not stained themselves with sinful deeds. The Stoglavy Council of 1551, among other issues, paid attention to icon painting. The Council decided that the icon painter must be a person of righteous, pure life, and his craft is service to God and the church. Thus, the greatest icon painters of ancient Rus', Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny, according to the collection “Tales of the Holy Elders,” were righteous and “exceeded everyone in virtues,” for which they were awarded their unusual talents.

For many centuries, icons in Rus' were surrounded by an aura of enormous moral authority. Work on the icon began with fervent prayer, not only of the performing monk, but of the entire monastery. It was considered a great sin to throw away or burn icons. If the image darkened or faded (this happened often: in the old days it was customary to cover the image on top with drying oil, which caused them to darken over time), it was “recorded” with a new painting. There was also a custom of floating damaged and unusable icons down the river face down after a preliminary prayer service. Some ancient icons were especially revered and were considered miraculous, i.e. capable of performing miracles. The history of such miraculous icons included many legends about miraculous salvations and healings brought to believers.

Thus, the main shrine of Novgorod - the icon of Our Lady of the Sign from the Church of Hagia Sophia supposedly saved the city from a siege. The chronicles tell how in 1169 the Novgorod Saint John, having learned that the Suzdal people were going to war against Novgorod, began to pray fervently, and suddenly heard a voice: he was ordered, when the siege began, to go out to the Suzdal people with the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign. They did so, after which the Suzdal people were defeated.

The famous icon of Our Lady of Vladimir is credited with saving Moscow from Tamerlane in 1395, when he unexpectedly interrupted his campaign against the city and returned to the steppe. Muscovites explained this event by the intercession of the Mother of God, who allegedly appeared to Tamerlane in a dream and ordered him not to touch the city. The icon of “Our Lady of the Don”, according to legend, was with Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field in 1380 and helped to win the victory over the Tatars.

According to legend, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God helped Minin and Pozharsky liberate Moscow from the Poles in 1612.

Belief in the miraculous power of icons is still strong today; the tradition of their veneration is preserved by modern church. The icon as a spiritual phenomenon is increasingly attracting attention, not only in the Orthodox, but also in the Catholic world. Recently, an increasing number of Christians evaluate the icon as a common Christian spiritual heritage. Today, it is the ancient icon that is perceived as the revelation necessary for modern man.

Icon painting is of no less interest to historians and art critics. Today you no longer have to prove it to anyone aesthetic value icons, however, in order to understand its true spiritual value, to comprehend artistic language author, to unravel its deep meaning it is necessary to continue the study of this most interesting layer of ancient Russian art.

Ph.D. ist. Sciences, Art. teacher
departments social sciences And
regional studies of Russia
State Institute
Russian language named after. A.S. Pushkin
Kuprina I.V.

Original message about_art

Very interesting, informative and beautiful post. Thank you.

Icon painting in Ancient Rus' was a sacred matter. Strict adherence to canonical instructions, on the one hand, impoverished the creative process, since it limited the possibilities of self-expression of the icon painter, since the iconography of the image, as a rule, was already given, but, on the other hand, forced the artist to focus all his skill, all his attention on the essence " spiritual subject", on achieving deep penetration into the image and recreating it with exquisite visual means.

Traditions and established techniques affected not only iconography, but also the choice of material on which icons were painted, the substance of the soil, the method of preparing the surface for painting, the technology of making paints and, finally, the sequence of writing.
When painting icons in Ancient Rus', paints were used in which the binding medium was an emulsion of water and egg yolk - tempera.

Icons were most often painted on wooden boards. Usually they took boards from linden, in the North - from larch and spruce, in Pskov - from pine.
The board, as a rule, was hewn out of a log, choosing the strongest inner layer of the tree trunk. This process was labor-intensive and lengthy.

Boards for icons were made by woodworkers or woodworkers, and rarely by icon painters themselves. A shallow recess was usually made on the front side of the board - an ark, bounded along the edges of the board by fields slightly rising above it. For small icons one board could be used. For large icons, several boards were connected. The nature of the fastening, the depth of the ark and the width of the fields often make it possible to determine the time and place of manufacture of the icon board. The fields of ancient icons of the 11th-12th centuries are, as a rule, wide, and the ark is deep. Later icons have narrow margins, and from the 14th century icons were sometimes painted on boards without borders.

The primer used was gesso, which was made from chalk or alabaster and fish (sturgeon) glue. The icon board was coated several times with liquid hot glue, then the pavolo was glued on, rubbing it in with the palm of the hand. After the pavolok had dried, gesso was applied. The gesso was applied in several stages, in layers. The surface of the gesso was carefully leveled and sometimes sanded. Sometimes relief was applied to the gesso. In ancient icons, starting from the 12th century, “chasing” was often done on gilded gesso. Sometimes such patterned embossing was done on halos. In later times (from the 16th century), to create an in-depth (or relief) pattern, gesso carving was carried out before writing began. Then the relief was gilded.

A drawing was made on the prepared soil surface. First, the first drawing of the images was performed, and then the second, more detailed one. The first drawing was done by lightly touching soft charcoal from birch branches, the second - with black or brown paint.

Some icons were reproduced from “originals” or from copybooks obtained from icons that served as samples.
After this, the actual writing began. At first, everything that was required was gilded: the fields of the icon, lights, crowns, folds of clothing. Then the pre-letter writing was done, that is, clothes, buildings, and landscapes were painted. At the final stage of creating the icon, the faces were painted. The finished image was covered with a special kind of oil varnish - “oiled”.

The paint work was carried out in a strictly defined sequence. Both the icon writing and its sequence were not the same in different icon painting schools and changed over time.
First, the areas limited by the contours of the design were covered with thin layers of appropriate paints in the following order: background (if it is not gold), mountains, buildings, clothes, exposed parts of the body, faces. After this, whitening was done, which highlighted the convex details of objects (except for faces and hands). Gradually adding white to the paint, smaller and smaller areas of highlighting were covered. The final touches were applied with pure white.
To create greater volume of the image, a thin layer of dark paint was applied to the darkened and recessed areas. After dark paint, all facial features and hair were drawn in thin lines.

Then light highlights were applied to the convex parts of the face: forehead, cheekbones, nose, strands of hair using white or ocher with a large addition of white. Then the “blush” was applied. Red paint thin layer applied to the lips, cheeks, tip of the nose, corners of the eyes, and earlobes. After this, the pupils of the eyes, hair, eyebrows, mustache, and beard were drawn in with liquid brown paint.

The guidelines for painting icons were samples - “originals”. The originals contained instructions on how this or that image should be painted.
Tempera painting requires virtuoso technique and a high level of writing culture. This was achieved over many years of apprenticeship. Icon painting was a great creativity. The iconographer specially prepared to carry out the “work of icon-making.”
This was an act of communication with another world and required spiritual and physical cleansing, when everything carnal was suppressed as much as possible: “... when he painted the holy icon, he touched food only on Saturdays and Sundays, not giving himself rest day and night. He spent the night in vigil, prayer and prostrations. During the day, with all humility, non-covetousness, purity, patience, fasting, love, and meditation on God, he devoted himself to icon painting.”

Successfully painted images were considered to have been painted not by an icon painter, but by God. Very few names of ancient Russian artists have survived. After all, it was believed that God himself painted the icon with the hands of icon painters, and therefore it seemed inappropriate to name the name of the person whose hands God used.
On the other hand, icon painting was truly an intimate communication with another world, and there was no need to name oneself: after all, God himself knows the one who creates the image, or rather, prayerfully and humbly tries to reproduce the prototype.

The Byzantines believed that the meaning of any art was beauty. They painted icons, shining with gilding and bright colors. Each color had its own place, its own meaning. The colors were never mixed, they were light or dark, but always pure. In Byzantium, color was considered as important as a word, because each of them had its own meaning. One or more colors created a speaking image. Studying from the Byzantines, Russian master icon painters accepted and preserved the symbolism of color. But in Rus' the icon was not as magnificent and austere as in imperial Byzantium. The colors on Russian icons have become more vibrant, bright and sonorous. The icon painters of Ancient Rus' learned to create works that were close to local conditions, tastes and ideals.

Golden color
The golden shine of mosaics and icons made it possible to feel the radiance of God and the splendor of the Heavenly Kingdom, where there is never night. The golden color signified God himself. This color shines in various shades on the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God.

Purple color
Purple, or crimson, was a very important color in Byzantine culture. This is the color of the king, the ruler - God in heaven, emperor on earth. Only the emperor could sign decrees in purple ink and sit on a purple throne, only he wore purple clothes and boots (this was strictly forbidden to everyone). Leather or wooden bindings of the Gospels in churches were covered with purple cloth. This color was present in the icons on the clothes of the Mother of God - the Queen of Heaven.

Red color
Red is one of the most prominent colors in the icon. This is the color of warmth, love, life, life-giving energy. That is why red has become a symbol of the Resurrection - the victory of life over death. But at the same time, it is the color of blood and torment, the color of Christ’s sacrifice. Martyrs were depicted in red robes on icons. The wings of the seraphim archangels close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. Sometimes they painted red backgrounds - as a sign of the triumph of eternal life.

White color
White color is a symbol of Divine light. It is the color of purity, holiness and simplicity. On icons and frescoes, saints and righteous people were usually depicted in white as the Righteous - people who are kind and honest, living “in truth.” The same white color shone with the shrouds of babies, the souls of dead people and angels. But only righteous souls were depicted in white.

Blue and cyan colors
Blue and cyan colors meant the infinity of the sky, a symbol of another, eternal world. Blue color was considered the color of the Mother of God, who united both earthly and heavenly. The paintings in many churches dedicated to the Mother of God are filled with heavenly blue.

Green color
Green color is natural, living. This is the color of grass and leaves, youth, blossoming, hope, eternal renewal. Green painted the earth, he was present where life began - in the scenes of the Nativity.

Brown color
Brown is the color of bare earth, dust, everything temporary and perishable. Mixed with the royal purple in the robes of the Mother of God, this color recalled human nature, subject to death.

Black color
Black is the color of evil and death. In icon painting, caves - symbols of the grave - and the yawning abyss of hell were painted black. In some stories it could be the color of mystery. For example, on a black background, signifying the incomprehensible depth of the Universe, the Cosmos was depicted - an old man in a crown in the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Black robes of monks who left ordinary life, is a symbol of abandonment of previous pleasures and habits, a kind of death during life.

A color that has never been used in icon painting is grey. Having mixed black and white, evil and good, it became the color of obscurity, emptiness, and nothingness. This color had no place in the radiant world of the icon.

The faces of saints on icons are faces, that is, the faces of those who are outside of time, who are in eternity. And that is why individual facial features, understood as random attributes of temporary earthly life, are left only as signs necessary for recognition.
The face is a face that has been freed from the seal of worldly passions and idle worries and has acquired the status of a visible symbol of the accomplished spiritual transformation.

One or another saint can be recognized or distinguished only by a canonized set of signs (book, clothes, beard, mustache, etc.). This set is a kind of iconographic constant, a code that is reproduced and repeated without changes when a given saint is depicted on different icons in different eras.

But icons do not glorify the flesh, as the art of pagan antiquity did. They recreate only those visible features that express the invisible properties of the Prototype, such as humility, kindness, tolerance, non-covetousness, meekness.
As one of the church fathers, Gregory of Nyssa, said: “Divine beauty is not manifested in any external form and not in the charm of an external image, determined by any elegance of colors, but is seen in indescribable bliss in accordance with virtue.”

Icon painters and illustrators of ancient handwritten Christian books were convinced of the imperfection of human vision, which cannot be trusted because of its carnal nature, and therefore considered it obligatory for themselves to try to depict the world not as they see it, but as it really is . The question of what the world really is like could only be resolved speculatively, when not the experience of earthly bodily life, but the dogmas of faith, are accepted as an axiom.

Those who look for external beauty in an icon are mistaken. Church creativity has a slightly different understanding of beauty. Spiritual beauty is higher than physical, and the goal of Christian life is to ascend to the Primary Source of beauty - God. Nature is one of the means of knowing God; through the contemplation of its beauties, man is called to glorify God the Creator and create the beauty of his inner image, growing and being renewed in Christ into a new creation, transformed, redeemed for a new, Eternal Life in Christ. But it is very difficult for a person to think spiritually in earthly conditions, and the Church has established some kind of mediation, like a bridge from the material to the spiritual world, creating a symbol - a visual image of the truths of faith, and at the same time developing special forms, unique to it. This is an ancient icon. Therefore, before the icon, “we do not worship the written face in prayer, but ascend to the Prototype.”

The language of an icon is the same as a letter. The child is first taught to write individual letters, then is given the opportunity to copy from a book, then to write an exposition and, finally, an essay. Likewise, icon painting has its own literacy, its own school, its own sequence of work, through which the student is given special knowledge, special training and special education. The program and gradual training are also traditional and proven by the experience of many generations.

“As a kind of revelation of God, as the fruit of spiritual experience, as the tradition and creation of the Fathers of the Church, as their testimony to eternity, the ancient icon bears all the features of heaven: undistracted prayerful composure, the depth of the mysteries of faith, harmony of the spirit, the beauty of purity and dispassion, the greatness of humility and simplicity , fear of God and reverence. Before it, the passions and vanity of the world subside; it rises above everything in a different plane of existence. The icon is a great shrine both in content and in form. Some icons were painted with the finger of God, some were carried by Angels. them from place to place (Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, etc.); many remained unharmed during the fires; some, being pierced by spears and arrows, shed blood and tears, not to mention countless other signs, such as healings and so on.
The Gospel preaches the Kingdom of God in word, the icon communicates the same thing in an image."

Features of Russian icon painting. Old Russian icons have an individual feature in the depiction of images and figures. Unlike the religious subjects of Italian and European artists, where the figures are depicted three-dimensionally, on Russian icons the figures are flat, ethereal, incorporeal, they seem to glide along the plane of the icons.

Icon painters used various symbols and techniques in their subjects, with the help of which they conveyed in icons the idea, dreams and aspirations of both their own and the Russian people. These symbols were understandable to the people, which is why the icons were so close and dear to them. What are these symbols? A star, for example, means deification. A winged young man blowing into the pipes is the wind. Women holding amphorae from which water flows - rivers, streams of water. Circle - eternity, eternal life. The maiden on the throne in a crown and robe - spring. People with crosses in their hands are martyrs. The wavy hair of angels, tied with ribbons, are rumors denoting higher vision, knowledge.

Color is also a kind of identifying mark of images: we recognize the Mother of God by the dark cherry cloak, by the light crimson cloak we recognize the Apostle Peter, and by the bright red background we recognize the Prophet Elijah. Colors are like the alphabet: red is the color of martyrs, but also the fire of faith; green - expression of youth, life; white is associated with the highest rank, it is the color of God. Gold color is also the color of God.

The ancient Russian masters lavished paints with such simple-minded childish generosity, which no adult artist would ever dare to do; apparently, this was supposed to correspond to the evangelical words: “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom Heavenly."

The background of the icon was traditionally covered with gold. Gold not only symbolized Divine light, but also created a flickering, mystical light that illuminated the icon with the flickering flame of a lamp and the image on it either appeared or moved beyond the line where mortals have no access.

Our ancestors treated holy images with great reverence: they were not sold, and old, “faded” icons could not simply be thrown away or burned - they were buried in the ground or floated on water. Icons were the first to be taken out of the house during a fire and were bought out of captivity for a lot of money. Icons were required as in peasant hut, and in the royal palace or noble estate. “Without God - no way to the threshold” - this is how this saying reflected the real life of people of that time. Sometimes icons were declared miraculous, miraculous; military victories, the cessation of epidemics, and droughts were attributed to them. The icons are still treated with care; they exude joy, enjoyment of life, strength and purity.