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In May of 1408 the Chronicle records that
Monks Daniil and Andrei Rublev started redecorating the interior of the big
stone Cathedral of the Assumption
in Vladimir; which had recently been ransacked by the Tatars' Khan Edigei
who passed through Vladimir on his way to besiege Moscow and exact tribute. We
know that the Cathedral was built in the 12th century by Prince Andrei and
rebuilt and enlarge by his brother Vsevolod after a fire destroyed it in 1183.
The two iconographers were chosen and commissioned by the Grand Duke Vassili,
who must had been satisfied with their work on his private chapel in the
Kremlin, and decided to send them to Vladimir. Fragments of Rublev's frescoes
on the western wall of the Cathedral were discovered in 1859. They were part of
a large fresco representing the Last Judgement that covered the entire wall.
Art historians and critics seldom mention Daniil, as if he had done nothing.
They tend to forget that his name was mentioned first in the Chronicles
probably because of his seniority, and the fact is that he must have painted a
sizeable portion of the frescoes and icons that are rather hurriedly ascribed
to Rublev. Discovered fragments remained more or less intact until 1880 when an
untalented iconographer, Safonov, instead of simply cleaning them and
protecting them from deterioration, for three years redrew over the originals
and covered a large part of the old frescoes with his own colors. Thus
beautiful frescoes painted with rich colors and delicate lines, were turned,
according to P. Muratov and practically all other critics, into "Dull
colors and dry contours." Soviet restorers partially succeeded in
remedying the damage done by Safonov. In their work they also discovered and
cleaned additional fragments of the old frescoes. What we see today in the
Cathedral is as close to the original Rublev's and Daniil's paintings as could
be expected under the circumstances.
While in Vladimir Rublev and Daniil also painted another, fourth, tier of
icons, the "Prophets," in the Cathedral of the Assumption. The entire
iconostasis was removed from the Cathedral in 1773 and replaced with a new
gilded one which was offered by Catherine II. According to Soviet sources,
Rublev's old iconostasis was found in the church of the nearby village of
Vasilevskoe. The icons were cleaned and restored; some of them are now in the
Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, and some in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg.
The question of their authorship should remain open in the absence of more
positive proof. Perhaps they were painted later by some of the many who
followed Rublev' style.
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