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The earliest icons and frescoes in Russia
were painted by Byzantine artists who, together with builders and craftsmen,
had been invited to build and decorate their first churches. When exactly
Russian painters, trained by Byzantine and Kievan masters, took over in
Novgorod or elsewhere is hard to ascertain. Painters from Constantinople
continued to travel to Russia until the very end of the 14th century, and those
from Mount Athos and Serbia, until the 16th. Then in the 15th century there
appeared Italians, followed by French, Germans and others. In the middle ages
many artists and craftsmen, monks or laymen, particularly those who had
acquired certain fame, became itinerant artists, both on a local and an
international scale, going from one place to other to decorate churches and
palaces. Full appreciation of their talents was to come centuries later, but
during their life-time painting of icons and frescoes was considered in the
Orthodox world as just another sort of manual labor. It was partly for this
reason that history very seldom recorded their names. But they left their
colors, lines and their technique, and we see that in some cases the art work
is very similar if not identical in churches that otherwise have very little in
common. Obviously, the same itinerant painter was in both places either by
himself or represented by his pupils. Here is an icon to one of Russia's
patrons, St George.
The assimilation of Byzantine forms by the Russians was a long process,
often encouraged by the Church authorities for dogmatic reasons. For a long
time the Russian Orthodox Church was headed by Greek metropolitans sent from
Constantinople, and all forms of Russian cultural life could not but remain
under Byzantine influence. However, concurrently with this and throughout the
history of Russian religious painting, there has been a tendency among
iconographers to draw inspiration from their own people, and use their native,
softer colors to enhance popular appeal. The influence that foreigners exerted
in Russian iconography was seldom one-sided, and there are indications that
some Byzantine masters, who worked in Russia, had softened their palette and
modified their prototypes to give their works a Russian flavor. Many of those
who remained there experienced a strange phenomenon; they habituated themselves
more than normally would be expected. As the result there were scores of
foreign artists, craftsmen, and intellectuals of all sorts who quickly embraced
Russian culture, customs, religion etc. , and in some cases became more Russian
than the Russians themselves. Whatever foreigners brought to Russia, it was not
simply transplanted, but usually blended with domestic resources before
becoming part of the national wealth. Here is a Novgorod school icon
"Deisus".
Please go to Novgorod icons to view several more
illustrations.
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