2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
In the numerous murals of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, the frescoes “Seven Sleeping Youths of Ephesus”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Forty Martyrs of Sevastia”, “Praise to the Mother of God”, as well as the figures of saints on the pre- altar wall of the cathedral attract attention with their originality. All these works are too characteristic to be generated by an icon painter who only blindly follows the Byzantine canon of art. The brush of the master is clearly visible here. Yes, the frescoes were created during the period when Raphael, Dürer, Botticelli and Leonardo lived and worked in Europe, because church fine art in Russia did not know the Renaissance. But Dionysius the icon painter - the creator of the amazing murals of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow - nevertheless escaped from the "Procrustean bed" of the canon. His figures are not dead static, they are graceful, with an elongated silhouette, they soar. Therefore, many foreign art historians call this isographer a “Russian mannerist.”
The artist and the era
To fully understand the work of Dionysius, you need to study at least a little the era in which he lived. common aspiration andat the same time, the horror of the Orthodox world of that time was the expectation of the Apocalypse. The end of the world was supposed to come, according to the assurances of the clergy, in 1492. Great changes also took place in the political life of Russia. In 1480, a victory was won on the Ugra, which marked the fall of the Mongol yoke. The Moscow prince seized the lands of Pskov, Novgorod and Tver. Ivan III decided to create a centralized state. Court scribes began to deduce the genealogy of the royal family through the Byzantine basileus Palaiologos from the Roman emperor Augustus. Therefore, the modest size and decoration of Moscow churches no longer suited Ivan III. He started a large-scale construction to turn Moscow into the "Third Rome". And in this situation, architects and painters were in great demand.
Dionysius the icon painter: biography
Unlike his great predecessors, Feofan the Greek and Andrei Rublev, this master has been well studied. The life of Dionysius is more or less known to researchers. Of course, the dates of birth and death of the master are rather vague. It is believed that he was born around 1440, and died no earlier than 1502 and no later than 1525. He was born into a layman's family, but rich enough to send his son to study the picographic craft. The first work of the master known to his contemporaries was a painting in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin of the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky Monastery. However, a young artist worked there in 1467-1477 under the supervision of his teacher, a certain master Mitrofan, about whom nothing more is known. Probably, when painting, an independent talent appearedstudent, so in 1481 he was invited to Moscow to work in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. After completing this order, the artist received the official title of "exquisite master". Dionysius also worked in a number of northern monasteries. He had three sons - Andrei, Vladimir and Theodosius, the last two followed in the footsteps of their father and became icon painters.
Career start
As already mentioned, Dionysius, as part of the creative cartel of Mitrofan, took part in the murals of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother of God in the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky Monastery near Kaluga. Art historians see in these works the continuation and development of the legacy of Andrei Rublev. The same floating figures, clean, harmonious composition, joyful mood and bright saturated colors. The Moscow Prince Ivan Vasilievich, having seen the frescoes of the "monks Dionysius and Mitrofan", invited the young painter to Moscow to work on the murals of the Assumption Cathedral. So, on the move, the talent was noticed and rewarded by the highest authorities.
Moscow period
After the annexation of foreign lands, Prince Ivan III begins building cathedrals to give his Kremlin the size of a capital. But the Church of the Assumption did not work out: it was erected by the Pskov architects Myshkin and Krivtsov, but, as is often the case with us, high-quality building materials were stolen, which is why the almost finished structure collapsed. The king decided to invite foreign architects, and ordered from Italy the famous Bolognese architect Aristotle Fiorovanti. He began work in 1475. The cartels of Dionysius, which included, in addition tomasters, some “Horse, Yarets and priest Timofey”, allocated 100 rubles in advance. When the frescoes were painted and the tsar and the boyars came to accept the work, then, as the chronicler, who is stingy with poetic comparisons, writes, they, “seeing the many-wonderful paintings, imagined themselves to be standing in heaven…”.
The iconostasis of the Assumption Monastery in the Kremlin
Cooperation of the art cartel led by Dionysius with the Moscow authorities did not end there. In 1481, at the invitation of Metropolitan Vassian, the artists began work on the iconostasis in the same cathedral. Like the frescoes of Dionysius, his works on a wooden board in oil surprise the viewer with color harmony. But if in painting on wet plaster the palette of colors looks amazingly delicate, translucent, reminiscent of watercolor, then in icons the artist resorts to the innovative technique of “color enhancement”, which is his own “know-how”. He puts a stroke of one tone on top of another, which is why the image acquires volume, bulge. In the altar gates, Dionysius the icon painter performed the most important part - the Deesis rite. Two works - the lives of Metropolitans Peter and Alexy - are vivid examples of his work. In 1482, the artist also "restored" the Byzantine icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria" damaged during a fire for the Ascension Monastery in Moscow.
The surviving works of Dionysius in the capital
If the icons of the master are mainly transferred from the Assumption Cathedral to museum expositions, then the frescoes can now be seen on the walls of thisKremlin temple. More than twenty wall images of the master have been preserved. Among the above-mentioned "Adoration of the Magi", "Praise to the Mother of God" and other works, one should pay attention to the fresco "Alexey, a man of God." Researchers believe that this image is a self-portrait of the artist. It is impossible to pass by the icon of Dionysius depicting the Last Judgment. Written in the atmosphere of eschatological expectations of 1492, this picture is full of inner tension. But the multi-tiered composition, despite the complexity and congestion with inscriptions, looks light and elegant. Horror gives way to jubilation: translucent images of angels trample on the black figures of demons.
Work in northern monasteries
After his success in Moscow, Dionysius the icon painter was nicknamed "the exquisite master". And in the Patericon of the Volokolamsk Monastery, he is mentioned under the title "Wise". Yes, and other written sources are full of laudatory references to his talent and mind. Apparently, the prominent public figure of that time, the writer Iosif Volotsky, dedicates his treatise to him. After 1486, the master, perhaps with the same comrades in the artel, painted the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the Joseph-Volokolamsky Monastery near Moscow. But the creativity of Dionysius manifested itself most clearly after 1500, when he worked in the northern and trans-Volga monasteries. Towards the end of his life, the master worked together with his two sons and, possibly, with his other students. Unfortunately, only chronicles tell us about many of the works of Dionysius. He painted Pavlo-Obnorsky, Spaso-Prilutsky, Kirillo-Belozerskymonasteries. It is also known that the master painted the iconostasis of the Spaso-Stone Monastery near Vologda.
Ferapontov Monastery
This modest monastery, located in the Vologda region (Kirillovsky district), should be specially mentioned. Here, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius the icon painter worked together with his sons in 1502. The master created an ensemble of icons and frescoes, unique in beauty and technique. This is a real hymn to the Mother of God in colors - solemn, but at the same time joyful and bright. Dominated by white, golden and greenish colors, delicate undertones. In general, the images give rise to a festive mood, bring hope for God's forgiveness and the coming Kingdom of Heaven. Why are the murals of the Ferapontov Monastery so remarkable? The monastery subsequently never had enough funds to repaint the frescoes to suit the new fashion. Therefore, only here we can see the work of the master in its original, un altered form.
Meaning of Dionysius for Russian iconography
UNESCO dedicated the year 2002 to Dionysius the icon painter. The value of the work of this master is difficult to overestimate. He developed the ideas of his famous predecessor, Andrei Rublev, and at the same time brought in many features that were characteristic only of him. For example, color enhancement and the abundant use of white after Dionysius began to be used by other masters. Also noteworthy is his manner of depicting figures with deliberately elongated limbs, which among art historians brought him the fame of a mannerist. The frescoes and icons of Dionysius surprise with a confident pattern, translucent color,plasticity and perfection of compositions.
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