Have you ever wondered: why on some icons the faces of the saints are so severe and formidable that it’s scary to look at? Why was Saint Christopher depicted with a dog's head, which made him look more like the Egyptian god Anubis than a Christian saint? Is it permissible to depict God the Father as a gray-haired old man? Can images of saints, angels painted by Vrubel and Vasnetsov be considered icons?

Although icons are almost the same age as the Church itself and have been painted over the centuries according to strictly defined canons, there are errors, disagreements and disputes here too. How to treat them? We find out from the head of the department of icon painting of the faculty of church arts PSTGU Ekaterina Dmitrievna Sheko.

Anubis or Saint Christopher?

- Ekaterina Dmitrievna, there are controversial subjects in icon painting that confuse many. One of the most striking examples is the image of St. Christopher with the head of a dog. (According to his life, he was very handsome and suffered from excessive female attention, so he begged God to make him ugly in order to avoid temptations. The Lord fulfilled this request of the saint - auth.). How to treat it?

- The image of St. Christopher with a dog's head was forbidden by the order of the Synod of 1722. Although in the popular mind, in order to somehow distinguish him from the background of a host of saints, he continued to be portrayed this way, even after the ban. But, for example, among the Serbs or in Western Europe, Saint Christopher is depicted differently: carrying a boy across the river on his shoulder. It's already a tradition.

- And what is the difference between the tradition of the image and the canon?

– In the canons of liturgical services, certain rules and actions are clearly spelled out, but in icon painting it is difficult to do this, because, in general, here any canon is, first of all, a tradition. It is not fixed anywhere in writing: you need to write only this way and nothing else. But the tradition itself was formed by generations of believers, many of whom, through their ascetic and prayerful life, ascended to higher levels of God-knowledge than those we are at now. Therefore, by studying traditional iconographic techniques, the icon painter himself is gradually approaching the knowledge of the truth.

Blessed Matrona - sighted?

- As a result, it turns out that everyone writes some details at their discretion. For example, it is customary to see the blessed Matrona of Moscow on icons with her eyes closed, she is depicted blind on the most common icon - Sofrinskaya. But there are also images where she is sighted. After all, after the Resurrection there will be no injuries ... Where is the truth here?

- Opinions differ here. My confessor believes that it is wrong to depict her as blind on an icon, and I agree with him. glorified in the face of saints, and since there is nothing bodily, including infirmities, injuries, wounds in heaven, it means that she cannot be blind there.

- Please explain why then it is customary to depict wounds on the hands and feet of the Savior?

- From the text of the Gospel we know that Christ was resurrected and ascended in body, and on his hands and feet there were traces of nails, and on his ribs - a wound from a spear. And He showed and allowed them to be touched by the Apostle Thomas after His Resurrection.

- Is it somehow regulated by the canons to depict mutilations on the bodies of saints on icons?

- That's just the point, that it is not regulated. Blindness, in any case, was not depicted anywhere else, except for the image - this is an exceptional case, although of course there were holy blind men in the history of the Church. It is unfortunate that no conciliar decision has been made regarding the iconography of St. Matrona, binding on the entire Church...

But I believe that in the case of this icon, it’s not even the question of closed or open eyes that is important, but something else: the most replicated icon of the Blessed Matrona, in my opinion, is controversial not only from the point of view of iconography. It is very ugly written, this face has nothing to do even with the surviving lifetime photograph of Matronushka: in the photo the saint has a rather full face, a large nose, soft, rounded cheeks and a pleasant expression on her face. And here everything is so shrunken, a thin, very thin nose, a huge terrible mouth, a tense face, screwed up, restless eyes. Clumsy, ugly work. Yes, you can move away from portrait resemblance, but the icon must necessarily reflect the spiritual side of the personality, and not distort it.

Iconic face - from a tormented face

- Should the master, drawing the image, achieve its maximum external resemblance to the saint?

- Some people believe that portrait resemblance, as an element of carnal nature, is secondary. For example, it has a very large nose, and there are icon painters who believe that this should not be reflected, but its face should be painted in a more generalized form, close to traditional iconography. Such things are discussed behind the scenes, but there is no general decision of the clergy, no conciliar decision on this matter.

Do you think it should be?

- I think so. Everything that happens in the Church, especially what is connected with prayer, should be seriously discussed in a council. But an icon is something that is meant to help us pray: a person turns to God and His saints through an icon.

Those icons that were painted at the beginning of perestroika were very carefully discussed by both icon painters and the clergy. For example, the image of Patriarch Tikhon - the process of their creation was long, thoughtful. I remember how it all happened. It seems to me that at that time it was very correct: firstly, everyone prayed about it, and secondly, the artistic side was discussed. Later, when huge hosts of saints were canonized, it became impossible to analyze in detail the issues of iconography of each of them.

— Whose iconography is the most difficult?

New martyrs are not easy to write. Since these are almost our contemporaries, their faces are known, and this obliges us to strive for portrait resemblance. But it happens that only camp photographs taken by the NKVD have survived. I wrote from this photograph of a priest: he was shaved, exhausted by hunger, tortured, interrogated, brought to the last degree of physical exhaustion, sentenced to death - and all this is written on his face. And to make an enlightened icon-painting face out of this exhausted face is colossally difficult.

Pre-revolutionary photographs are wonderful: they are already iconographic in themselves. For example, Patriarch Tikhon or - they have worked so hard for the good of the Church that their faces are already transformed by themselves. Even in those days, the tradition of photography was preserved: the master caught the mood, the state of the soul. And the photographs of the NKVD - they are, of course, creepy ...

Or, for example, a very complex iconography of the lord. After many terrible episodes of his life, his face is a little asymmetrical, one eye does not see well, and therefore there is some slurring in his face. So you need to have certain talents in order not only to be able to copy a traditional icon, but to create a new holy image.

About "corporate" caution

Is there a lot of non-canonical icon painting in the Russian Church now?

- In recent years, it has become more and more, precisely because the hierarchs are silent: there is no decision, which definitely cannot be done. I believe that such a definition would be sufficient to keep artists from going to extremes.

We have an internal constraint, caution: people who are seriously engaged in icon painting look at each other, consult, discuss what one or the other is doing. In the West, for example, there are virtually no borders - they do whatever they want. We are more careful, but this is such an internal, “corporate” norm. There is no hard canon.

- And what is the advantage of observing the canons, what does it give?

— I believe that the knowledge of certain rules and traditions of writing makes it possible to express spiritual truth within these boundaries using the means of painting. There are common elements developed over the centuries and tested by many generations, which are convenient to show things from the spiritual realm - and it is foolish to neglect this. In addition, it is a connection of times - a connection with many generations of believers, Orthodox righteous and ascetics.

The decision of the Synod?! So what?…

– The connection of times is also felt in the opposite way: you enter the church built in the 18-19th century, raise your head, and under the dome there is an image of the “New Testament Trinity”. But the local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 17th century forbade depicting God the Father in the form of a gray-bearded elder. Why do such images remain in temples to this day?

— This image is the result of Western influence. In the 17-18 centuries, there was a terrible confusion in Russia, the Church was beheaded - under Peter the Great, the Synod appeared as a state body of church administration. The authority of the Orthodox Church was crushed by the authority of the state. The ban of the Council, although it appeared, was nevertheless completely ignored in the 19th century.

“Could it be that the decision of the Council had no binding force?

— Yes, apparently it didn't. Although there was no official permission for such images either, it does not exist to this day. But here, I suppose, the hierarchy is for some reason afraid of restricting the freedom of the artist. I do not know why. Art historians are left to the mercy of the entire sphere of discussion of iconography, and the clergy are often removed from this, considering themselves incompetent. Although there is also the opposite extreme: when the priests do as they see fit, regardless of anyone. The general opinion of the Church, unfortunately, is not formulated.

What about Rublev? You can do better!

— Does the Church recognize paintings by artists of the 19th and 20th centuries – V.M. Vasnetsov, M.A. Vrubel and others – as icons?

– Again, there is no consensus of the Church: some recognize these paintings as icons, others do not. Regarding the icons of Vasnetsov, Nesterov or Vrubel, no one from the hierarchs spoke out, no one said at the congress or the Cathedral what is good, what is bad, where is the limit of what is permitted.

- But a priori - can an academic drawing be considered an icon?

Yes, sometimes you can. But this does not mean that one should strive for academicism.

I remember such an example. I worked on a project to restore the murals in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and there, in particular, there was a dispute: many said that the original academic painting did not need to be restored, it was necessary to make something fundamentally new - a modern mosaic, for example. At this time, some artist comes and declares: “Well, of course, this is no good, you need to make a real fresco ...” He is asked: “What samples do you propose to take?” He replies: “Here, Rublev, for example ... But what about Rublev? Is it possible it is better do". And when he said this, everyone understood: it’s better not to! Because when a person says that he will do better than Rublev, this is already in doubt.

- But no one writes like Andrei Rublev. Icons of the 14th-15th centuries are one style, icons of the Renaissance are another, and modern icons are a third, and you can’t confuse them. Why is that?

— Iconography reflects the whole situation of life, all events, visual images and thoughts of people. At the time of Rublev, when there was neither television, nor the film industry, nor such a huge number of printed images as now, there was a rise in icon painting.

In the 17th century, beautiful examples still appeared - a certain level was preserved, but a certain confusion, an excessive passion for “patterning” became visible in icon painting. The depth of the content of the image was lost. And the 18th century is a fall, because what was done with the Church at that time could not but be reflected in icon painting: many hierarchs were killed, tortured, any Orthodox tradition, any continuity was considered retrograde and brutally eradicated, there was a fear of doing what something objectionable to the authorities. It affected everything, it was deposited “on the subcortex”.

– And how to explain the fact that, say, medieval asymmetries, disproportionately large heads, for example, have disappeared on the icons?

“They disappeared because artists know how to properly proportion human bodies. And disproportions and ugliness cannot be the end in itself of icon painting.

— But, for example, such disproportions were preserved on the Cypriot icons… Have they not learned anything?

- It depends on the school. The Greeks also try to preserve ancient traditions, they do not go through an academic drawing. Rublev and Dionysius did not change proportions because they did not know how to draw academically, but because they were very talented and free from blinders. And we believe that if an artist masters academic drawing well, then he will paint icons well. In fact, he will write in the same way as later icon painters of the 16th and 17th centuries wrote: correct proportioning, correct perspective, correct rendering of volume. These are two extremes: either a person does not know how to do anything and “scribbles”, as it turns out, or he seriously studies academic painting - at the Surikov Institute, for example, - then he tries to break himself and move on to icon painting technique. And it's very hard.

“Why pray in front of an icon if it is “silent”?”

— Has not modern icon painting become more realistic?

- Well no. It depends on how much the artist's habits, which have come from academic writing, influence, often unconsciously, his work as an icon painter.

- When the face on the icon turns out to be too severe, strict - is this a mistake? Or is it necessary to see something else through this severity?

“It's just incompetence.

Why use samples? The classics of icon painting in their works showed how beautiful a face can be. They gave a sample, and if we get close to it, it will be a lot. And if we are selfish, then, most likely, nothing good will come of it. Because we now have a very distorted way of life.

— What is happening in icon painting now?

- Now there are a lot of people who are completely unfamiliar with the classics and who do not know how to write at all. Icon painting has become a very profitable craft, so everyone who is not too lazy rushed to write images. Even those who painted 2-3 icons have already begun to call themselves icon painters. Selling an icon is much easier, faster and more profitable today than selling a landscape. So any icon is now torn off with hands. You look in the shops - there are such terrible images, but they are bought by someone. The market is like a sponge, it is not yet saturated. There are a huge number of mistakes.

- Where, in your opinion, is the criterion by which one can say: this icon is good, but this one is not?

— It seems to me that the main content of the image - even if the painting is academic - is the state of mind of the depicted. There are academic icons that are very spiritual: the icon of Dmitry of Rostov, Iosaph of Belgorod, the Valaam icon of the Mother of God. The state of “deification” is conveyed there – dispassion, firmness and at the same time benevolence, peace. Otherwise, why pray in front of an icon if it is “silent”. For example, like Vrubel - some kind of creepy, crazy looks. Form is form, but the main thing is that there should be content.

Details Category: A variety of styles and trends in art and their features Posted on 08/17/2015 10:57 Views: 4402

Iconography (writing icons) is a Christian, church fine art.

But first, let's talk about what an icon is.

What is an icon

From the ancient Greek language, the word "icon" is translated as "image", "image". But not every image is an icon, but only an image of persons or events of Sacred or Church history, which is the subject of veneration. Veneration among Orthodox and Catholics is fixed dogma(immutable truth, not subject to criticism or doubt) of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787. The Council was held in the city of Nicaea, therefore it is also called the Second Council of Nicaea.

About icon veneration

The Council was convened against iconoclasm, which arose 60 years before the Council under the Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian, who considered it necessary to abolish the veneration of icons. The cathedral consisted of 367 bishops, who, following the results of the work, approved the dogma of icon veneration. In this document, the veneration of icons was restored and it was allowed to use icons of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, Angels and Saints in churches and homes, honoring them with “reverent worship”: tradition of the Catholic Church and the Holy Spirit who lives in it, with all diligence and circumspection we determine: like the image of the honest and life-giving Cross, to put in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and clothes, on walls and on boards, in houses and on ways, honest and holy icons painted with paints and made from mosaics and from other materials suitable for this, the icons of the Lord and God and Our Savior Jesus Christ, the immaculate Lady of our Holy Mother of God, also honest angels and all saints and reverend men. For, the more often they are seen through the image on the icons, the more those who look at them are prompted to remember the prototypes themselves and to love them ... ".
So, an icon is an image of persons or events of Sacred history. But we often see these images in the paintings of non-church artists. So what: any such image is an icon? Of course not.

Icon and painting - what is the difference between them?

And now we will talk about the difference between an icon and a painting by an artist depicting Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and other persons of Sacred History.
Before us is a reproduction of Raphael's painting "The Sistine Madonna" - one of the masterpieces of world art.

Raphael "Sistine Madonna" (1512-1513). Canvas, oil. 256 x 196 cm. Old Masters Gallery (Dresden)
This canvas was created by Raphael for the altar of the church of the monastery of St. Sixtus in Piacenza, commissioned by Pope Julius II.
The painting depicts the Madonna and Child surrounded by Pope Sixtus II (Bishop of Rome from August 30, 257 to August 6, 258. He was martyred during the persecution of Christians during the time of Emperor Valerian) and Saint Barbara (Christian Great Martyr) on the sides and with two angels. Madonna is depicted descending from heaven, lightly stepping on the clouds. She goes towards the viewer, to the people, and looks into our eyes.
In the image of Mary, a religious event and universal feelings are combined: deep maternal tenderness and a glimpse of anxiety for the fate of the baby. Her clothes are simple, she walks through the clouds with her bare feet, surrounded by light...
Any painting, including those painted on a religious subject, is an artistic image created by the artist's creative imagination - this is the transfer of his own worldview.
An icon is a revelation of God expressed in the language of lines and colors. The icon painter does not express his creative imagination, the worldview of the icon painter is the worldview of the Church. The icon is out of time, it is a reflection of otherness in our world.
The picture is characterized by a pronounced individuality of the author: in his peculiar pictorial manner, specific methods of composition, in color scheme. That is, in the picture we see the author, his attitude, attitude to the problem depicted, etc.
The authorship of the icon painter is deliberately hidden. Iconography is not self-expression, but service. On the finished picture, the artist puts his signature, and the name of the person whose face is depicted is inscribed on the icon.
Here we have a painting by the itinerant artist I. Kramskoy.

I. Kramskoy "Christ in the Desert" (1872). Canvas, oil. 180 x 210 cm State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)
The plot of the picture is taken from the New Testament: after being baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, Christ retired to the desert for a 40-day fast, where the devil tempted Him (Gospel of Matthew, 4:1-11).
In the painting, Christ is depicted sitting on a gray stone in a rocky desert. The main meaning in the picture is given to the face and hands of Christ, which create the psychological persuasiveness and humanity of his image. The tightly clenched hands and the face of Christ are the semantic and emotional center of the picture, they attract the attention of the viewer.
The work of Christ's thought and the strength of his spirit do not allow us to call this picture static, although no physical action is depicted on it.
According to the artist, he wanted to capture the dramatic situation of moral choice, inevitable in the life of every person. Each of us has probably had a situation when life puts you in front of a tough choice, or you yourself comprehend some of your actions, looking for the right path.
I. Kramskoy considers the religious plot from a moral and philosophical point of view and offers it to the audience. “Here is the painful effort of Christ to realize in himself the unity of the Divine and the Human” (G. Wagner).
The picture should be emotional, since art is a form of knowledge and reflection of the world through feelings. The picture belongs to the spiritual world.

Icon of the Almighty Savior (Pantocrator)
The icon painter, unlike the artist, is impassive: personal emotions should not have a place. The icon is intentionally devoid of external emotions; empathy and perception of iconographic symbols occur on a spiritual level. The icon is a means of communication with God and His saints.

The main differences between icons and paintings

The pictorial language of the icon evolved and formed gradually, over the centuries, and received its final expression in the rules and regulations of the icon-painting canon. An icon is not an illustration of Holy Scripture and church history, not a portrait of a saint. The icon for an Orthodox Christian serves as an intermediary between the sensory world and the world inaccessible to ordinary perception, the world that is known only by faith. And the canon does not allow the icon to descend to the level of secular painting.

1. The icon is characterized by the conventionality of the image. It is not so much the object itself that is depicted, but the idea of ​​the object. Hence the “deformed”, as a rule, elongated proportions of the figures - the idea of ​​the transformed flesh that lives in the heavenly world. The icon does not have that triumph of corporality that can be seen on the canvases of many artists, for example, Rubens.

2. The picture is built according to the laws of direct perspective. This is easy to understand if you imagine a drawing or photograph of a railway track: the rails converge at one point located on the horizon line. The icon is characterized by a reverse perspective, where the vanishing point is located not in the depths of the picture plane, but in the person standing in front of the icon. And the parallel lines on the icon do not converge, but, on the contrary, expand in the space of the icon. Foreground and background are not pictorial, but semantic. On the icons, distant objects are not hidden, as in realistic paintings, but are included in the overall composition.

3. There is no external light source on the icon. Light comes from faces and figures as a symbol of holiness. (The picture depicts a face, and the icon shows a face).

face and face
The halos on the icon are a symbol of holiness, this is the most important feature of Christian sacred images. On Orthodox icons, the halo is an environment that is integral with the figure of the saint. In Catholic sacred images and paintings, a halo in the form of a circle hangs over the saint's head. The Catholic version of the halo is an award given to the saint from the outside, while the Orthodox version is the crown of holiness, born from within.

4. The color on the icon has a symbolic function. For example, the red color on the icons of martyrs can symbolize self-sacrifice for the sake of Christ, while on other icons it is the color of royal dignity. Gold is a symbol of Divine light, and in order to convey the radiance of this uncreated light on the icons, not paints were required, but a special material - gold. But not as a symbol of wealth, but as a sign of participation in the Divine by grace. White is the color of sacrificial animals. A deaf black color, through which gesso does not shine through, is used on icons only in cases where it is necessary to show the forces of evil or the underworld.

5. Icons are characterized by the simultaneity of the image: all events occur at once. The icon “Assumption of the Mother of God” simultaneously depicts the apostles being carried by angels to the death bed of the Mother of God, and the same apostles already standing around the bed. This suggests that the events of Sacred history that took place in our real time and space have a different image in spiritual space.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Kiev-Pechersk icon)
The canonical icon does not have random details or decorations devoid of semantic meaning. Even the salary - the decoration of the front surface of the icon board - has its own rationale. This is a kind of veil that protects the shrine, hiding it from unworthy glances.
The main task of the icon is to show the reality of the spiritual world. In contrast to the picture, which conveys the sensual, material side of the world. The picture is a milestone on the path of the aesthetic development of a person; the icon is a milestone on the spiritual path.
An icon is always a sacred thing, in whatever pictorial manner it may be executed. And there are quite a few pictorial manners (schools). It should also be understood that the icon-painting canon is not a stencil or a standard. You always feel the "hand" of the author, his special manner of writing, some of his spiritual priorities. But icons and paintings have a different purpose: the icon is intended for spiritual contemplation and prayer, while the picture educates our state of mind. Although the picture can cause deep spiritual experiences.

Russian icon painting

The art of icon painting came to Russia from Byzantium after being baptized in 988 under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Prince Vladimir brought a number of icons and shrines from Chersonese to Kiev, but none of the "Korsun" icons survived. The most ancient icons in Russia have been preserved in Veliky Novgorod.

Apostles Peter and Paul. Icon of the middle of the XI century. (Novgorod Museum)
Vladimir-Suzdal school of icon painting. Its heyday is associated with Andrei Bogolyubsky.
In 1155, Andrei Bogolyubsky left Vyshgorod, taking with him the revered icon of the Mother of God, and settled in Vladimir on the Klyazma. The icon he brought, which received the name of Vladimir, later became known throughout Russia and served as a kind of measure of artistic quality for the icon painters who worked here.

Vladimir (Vyshgorod) Icon of the Mother of God
In the XIII century. large icon-painting workshops were, in addition to Vladimir, also in Yaroslavl.

Our Lady of Oranta from Yaroslavl (circa 1224). State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)
known Pskov, Novgorod, Moscow, Tver and other schools of icon painting - it is impossible to talk about this in one review article. The most famous and revered master of the Moscow school of icon painting, book and monumental painting of the 15th century. - Andrei Rublev. At the end of the XIV-beginning of the XV centuries. Rublev created his masterpiece - the icon "Holy Trinity" (Tretyakov Gallery). She is one of the most famous Russian icons.

The clothes of the middle angel (red chiton, blue himation, sewn stripe (clave)) contain a hint of the iconography of Jesus Christ. In the guise of the left angel, paternal authority is felt, his gaze is turned to other angels, and the movements and turns of the other two angels are turned to him. The light purple color of the clothes testifies to royal dignity. These are references to the first person of the Holy Trinity. The angel on the right side is depicted in smoky green clothes. This is the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit. There are several more symbols on the icon: a tree and a house, a mountain. Tree (Mamvrian oak) - a symbol of life, an indication of the life-giving power of the Trinity; the home is the Dispensation of the Father; the mountain is the Holy Spirit.
Rublev's work is one of the pinnacles of Russian and world culture. Already during the life of Rublev, his icons were valued and revered as miraculous.
One of the main types of the image of the Mother of God in Russian icon painting is Eleusa(from Greek - merciful, merciful, sympathetic), or tenderness. The Mother of God is depicted with the Christ Child sitting on Her arm and pressing her cheek against Her cheek. On the icons of the Theotokos Eleusa, there is no distance between Mary (the symbol and ideal of the human race) and God the Son, their love is boundless. The icon represents the cross sacrifice of Christ the Savior as the highest expression of God's love for people.
The type of Eleus includes Vladimirskaya, Donskaya, Feodorovskaya, Yaroslavskaya, Pochaevskaya, Zhirovitskaya, Grebnevskaya, Akhrenskaya, Seeking for the dead, Degtyarevskaya icon, etc.

Eleusa. Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (XII century)

semantics, icon-painting image, basic elements of an icon-painting image, non-verbal means of an icon-painting image, inscriptions on icons.

Annotation:

The semantics and symbolism of the icon-painting image is considered. A detailed consideration of the non-verbal aspects of the icon-painting image is traced: the plot, color, light, gesture, space, time, inscription, multi-scale image. It is concluded that the icon, being a universal means of knowing the gospel truths, reveals to its "readers" the possibility of connecting with the highest spiritual principle.

Article text:

The icon is one of the most meaningful, the brightest, but also the most difficult to understand phenomena of art. Its formation and development also has its own characteristics. In Western Europe, religious fine art departed from icon painting and turned into religious painting, from which secular painting subsequently separated and grew. In the Orthodox countries, icon painting has become established and flourished, making communication between man and God possible and accessible, regardless of country and nationality.

The principles and artistic means of creating icons were formed over many centuries, gradually becoming fixed, before a special canon for creating an iconographic image appeared. This is explained by the fact that being an intermediary between man and the heavenly (heavenly) world, the icon focuses in itself the entire experience of sacred history, i.e. composes its image or retelling, but not in words, but in color and line.

Icons - images that go back to the prototype, established in the form of iconic images, built from symbols, from which a special alphabet was formed, which can be used to write down (depict) a sacred text. You can read and understand this text only if you know the “letters of the alphabet”.

Thus, it is possible to consider an icon as an organized whole, non-verbal text, expressed in semiotic language, designed to help comprehend the truth. We understand the text as “a meaningful sequence of any signs” [Nikolaeva T.M. text theory // Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1990]. This is a broad interpretation of the text, where it is possible to recognize under it not only a sequence of written or spoken words, but also works of painting, music, as well as an icon. Objects that are non-linguistic in nature are studied in this way as a result of the need to know the semantics inherent in them, which has a special language for its expression.

So the icon, being a complex organism, expresses the theological idea by certain non-verbal means.

These include:

1. Plot. Being primarily a doctrinal text designed to help comprehend the Truth, the icon is designed to reveal the gospel stories for those who cannot read. Thus, through certain artistic means, the icon conveys Gospel events, the lives of saints, as well as prophecies and divine revelations to people.

The main iconographic subjects include:

1) Iconography of Jesus Christ.

Savior Not Made by Hands. The Image of Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands, the Savior on the Ubrus, Mandylion is one of the main types of the image of Christ, representing His face on the Ubrus (plate) or shard (tile). Christ is depicted at the age of the Last Supper. Tradition relates the historical Edessa prototype of icons of this type to the legendary board, on which the face of Christ miraculously appeared when He wiped their face. The image is usually the main one. One of the options - Chrepie or Ceramide - is an image of similar iconography, but against the background of brickwork. In Western iconography, the type of “Plats of Veronica” is known, where Christ is depicted on a board, but in a crown of thorns. In Russia, a special kind of Image Not Made by Hands has developed - “Savior of the Wet Brad” - an image in which the beard of Christ converges into one thin tip.

Spas the Almighty (Pantocrator). The Almighty or Pantocrator (Greek παντοκρατωρ - all-powerful) is the central image in the iconography of Christ, representing Him as the Heavenly King and Judge. The Savior can be depicted full-length, sitting on a throne, waist-deep, or chest-length. In the left hand is a scroll or the Gospel, the right is usually in a blessing gesture. The image of Christ the Almighty is used in single icons, as part of deesis compositions, in iconostases, wall paintings, etc. Thus, this image traditionally occupies the space of the central dome of an Orthodox church.

One of the varieties of the image of Christ the Almighty - Savior in power the central icon in the traditional Russian iconostasis. Christ sits on a throne surrounded by an angelic host - "Powers of Heaven".

Spas Emmanuel. Savior Emmanuel, Emmanuel - an iconographic type representing Christ in adolescence. The name of the image is associated with the prophecy of Isaiah, fulfilled in the Nativity of Christ (Matthew 1, 21-23). The name Emmanuel is assigned to any images of Christ the lad - both independent and as part of compositions of icons of the Virgin and Child, the Fatherland, the Cathedral of the Archangels, etc.

king by king. King of kings, King of kings - a special epithet of Christ, borrowed from the Apocalypse (Rev. 19:11-17), as well as an iconographic type depicting Jesus Christ as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Tim 6:15). Independent icons of the Tsar by the king are rare, more often such images are part of a special deesis composition. Usually Christ is depicted surrounded by a mandorla, in royal attire, with many diadems on his head, forming a tiara, with a scepter ending in a cross, in his left hand, a sword is directed from the left shoulder to the side (“out of the mouth”). Sometimes the symbolic attributes of the King of Kings are also depicted on the image of the mixed iconography "Bishop the Great - King of Kings".

Grand Bishop. The Great Bishop is one of the symbolic names of Christ, revealing him in the image of the New Testament high priest, sacrificing himself. It is formulated on the basis of the Old Testament prophecy (Ps CIX, 4), comments to which belong to the Apostle Paul (Heb V, 6). Served as a source for a special type of image of Christ in a bishop's attire, which occurs both independently and in combination with another symbolic image representing Christ as the Heavenly King.

Don't cry to Me, Mother. Do not cry for Mena, Mati ... (Pieta) - an iconographic composition representing Christ in the tomb: the naked body of the Savior is half immersed in the coffin, the head is lowered, the eyes are closed, the hands are folded crosswise. Behind Christ is a cross, often with instruments of passion.

Christ Old Denmi. Image of Christ in the guise of a gray-haired old man.

Angel of the Great Council. One of the symbolic names of Christ, borrowed from the Old Testament (Is IX, 6). Served as a source for a special type of image of Christ in the form of an archangel with wings, which is found both independently and as part of various symbolic and dogmatic compositions (“Creation of the World” - “And God rested on the seventh day ...”, etc.)

Good Silence. Image of Christ before coming to people (incarnation) in the form of a winged youth with an eight-pointed halo.

Good Shepherd. The Savior is depicted as a shepherd surrounded by sheep, or with a lost sheep behind his shoulders.

The vine is true. Christ is surrounded by a vine, in the branches of which the apostles and other characters are depicted. In another version, Christ squeezes a bunch from a vine growing out of Him into a chalice.

Unsleeping Eye. The Savior is depicted as a youth reclining on a bed with open eyes.

2) Iconography of the Theotokos cycle.

Images of the Mother of God occupy an exceptional place in Christian iconography, testifying to Her significance in the life of the Church. The veneration of the Mother of God is based on the dogma of the Incarnation: “The indescribable word of the Father, from you the Mother of God will be described incarnate ...”, therefore for the first time Her image appears in such subjects as “The Nativity of Christ” and “The Adoration of the Magi”. From here, other iconographic themes subsequently develop, reflecting the dogmatic, liturgical and historical aspects of the veneration of the Virgin. The dogmatic meaning of the image of the Virgin is evidenced by Her image in the altar apses, since She symbolizes the Church. The history of the Church from the prophet Moses to the Nativity of Christ appears as the action of the Providence about the birth of the One through Whom the salvation of the world will be realized, therefore the image of the Mother of God occupies a central place in the prophetic row of the iconostasis. The development of the historical theme is the creation of the hagiographic cycles of the Virgin. The icons of the Mother of God and their liturgical veneration contributed to the formation of advanced liturgical rites, gave impetus to hymnographic creativity, created a whole layer of literature - legends about icons, which in turn was the source of further development of iconography.

The iconographic tradition includes more than 800 images of the Virgin. Let's stop only on some of them.

Virgin on the throne

The image of the Virgin on the throne, placed from the 5th century. in the conchs of the altar apses, replaced the images of Jesus Christ that were located there in an earlier era.

Oranta

Another common type of depiction of the Blessed Virgin is Oranta, where the Mother of God is represented without the Child, with her hands upraised in prayer.

Hodegetria

One of the most common is the image of the Virgin Hodegetria, named after the church in Constantinople, in which this revered icon was located. On icons of this type, the Mother of God holds the Child on her left hand, the right hand is extended to Him in prayer.

Our Lady Nicopeia. Exodus with a frontally located Baby, whom Mary supports in the center at the chest, as if exposing him in front of her. (It is a symbol of the Byzantine imperial house, as well as on the icons of the XIII century from the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai).

The miraculous image of the Virgin

During the period of iconoclastic persecution, the miraculous image of the Mother of God became widely known, according to legend, it appeared during the life of the Blessed Virgin on a pillar of the church built by the apostles in the city of Lydda. The list from the miraculous image, brought from Palestine by Patriarch Herman, is revered as the miraculous Lydda (Roman) Icon of the Mother of God (the image of Hodegetria with the Child on her right hand).

Iconographic type of Eleus (Tenderness)

Its distinguishing feature is the lyrical interpretation of the pose: the Mother of God presses the Christ child to her cheek. Variants of the Mother of God sitting or standing in height are known, as well as half-length images. Moreover, the baby can sit both on the right hand and on the left.

Image of the Mother of God with the Child playing(variant of Eleusa - Tenderness). Usually sitting on the right or left hand, the Baby dangles freely with his legs, his whole figure is full of movement, and with his hand he touches the cheek of the Virgin.

Image of the Mother of God - Intercessor, standing in a prayer pose and facing the heavenly segment. Her right hand is turned to God, in her left she holds a scroll with the text of the prayer.

Mother of God Life-Giving Spring. The iconographic scheme is an image of the Mother of God with the Child on her chest, often half-length or knee-length, inside a wide bowl.

The original iconographic types gave rise to further versions of the images of the Mother of God, which have become widespread and have various interpretations. The Russian Orthodox calendar has about one hundred and twenty names of icons, the days of which are celebrated by the church.

1) Icon-painting plots telling about the events of the Gospel.

Considering the icon-painting plots that tell about the Gospel events, it is necessary to note a certain sequence that corresponds to their historical order.

In this regard, it will not be superfluous to consider Protoevangelical story cycle, which is, as it were, a link between the New and Old Testaments in the iconographic version. This cycle tells about the life of the parents of the Virgin and is based on apocryphal sources. Images on these themes appear already in early Christian art. These images include such excerpts as: “The meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate”, “Nativity of the Mother of God”, “Entry into the Temple”, “Annunciation”, etc.

Nativity of the Mother of God Entry into the Temple of the Virgin

Annunciation

Observing the gospel sequence, further it should be noted already actual gospel events, where there is a mention of the life of Jesus Christ from his very birth to the period of his torment. Here it is possible to consider such passages as: “The Nativity of Christ”, “Meeting”, “Baptism”, “Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem”, etc.

Christmas Meeting of Christ

The last in this connection will be a cycle of icons dedicated to passionate events and events that took place after the crucifixion. This includes such icons as "Prayer for the Cup", "Kiss of Judas", "Christ before Pilate", "Crucifixion", "Descent from the Cross", "Myrrh-Bearing Wives and Angel", "Ascension", "Descent into Hell" and etc.

Prayer for the Chalice Crucifixion

Myrrh-bearing women at the tomb Descent into hell

2)Icon-painting plots dedicated to the holy martyrs and their deeds. This includes the renditions of all the holy martyrs who suffered for the faith of Christ, as well as icons with hallmarks (images of their lives).

Alexander Nevsky in the schema Alexy Anastasia the Patterner

Seraphim of Sarov (icon with stamps) Matrona of Moscow (icon with stamps)

1. Color in an icon, unlike a painting, is not limited to decorative tasks; here it is primarily symbolic.

Learning from the Byzantines, Russian icon painters adopted and preserved the symbolism of color. But in Russia the icon was not as pompous and austere as in imperial Byzantium. The colors on Russian icons have become more lively, bright and resonant. The icon painters of Ancient Russia learned to create works close to local conditions, tastes and ideals. Each color shade on the icon has in its place a special semantic justification and meaning.

Joy is proclaimed in the golden color and light in the icon. Gold (assist) on the icon symbolizes Divine energy and grace, the beauty of the other world, God himself. Solar gold, as it were, absorbs the evil of the world and defeats it. The golden sheen of mosaics and icons made it possible to feel the radiance of God and the splendor of the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is never night. The golden color signified God himself.

Yellow, or ocher, is the color closest in spectrum to gold, often just a substitute for it, and is also the color of the highest power of angels.

Purple, or crimson, was a very significant symbol in Byzantine culture. This is the color of the king, the lord - God in heaven, the 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 temples 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 is one of the most visible colors in the icon. It is the color of warmth, love, life, life-giving energy. That is why the red color 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 the icons. The wings of the archangels-seraphs close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. Sometimes red backgrounds were painted as a sign of the triumph of eternal life.

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. The righteous are people who are kind and honest, living "in truth." The shrouds of babies, the souls of dead people and angels shone with the same white color. But only righteous souls were depicted in white.

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

Green color is natural, lively. This is the color of grass and leaves, youth, flowering, hope, eternal renewal. They wrote the earth in green, he was present where life began - in the scenes of Christmas.

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

Gray is a color that has never been used in icon painting. Having mixed black and white, evil and good, it became the color of obscurity, emptiness, non-existence. There was no place for such a color in the radiant world of the icon.

Black is the color of evil and death. In iconography, the caves - the symbols of the grave - and the gaping hellish abyss were painted over with black. In some plots, it could be the color of mystery. The black robes of monks who have left ordinary life are a symbol of the rejection of former pleasures and habits, a kind of death in life.

The basis of the color symbolism of the Orthodox icon, as well as all church art, is the image of the Savior and the Mother of God. The image of the Most Holy Theotokos is characterized by a dark cherry omophorion and a blue or dark blue tunic. The image of the Savior is characterized by a dark brown-red chiton and a dark blue himation. And here, of course, there is a certain symbolism: blue is the color of Heaven (the symbol of Heaven). The dark red color of the clothes of the Virgin is a symbol of the Mother of God. The Savior has a blue himation - a symbol of His Divinity, and a dark red tunic - a symbol of His human nature. Saints on all icons are depicted in white or somewhat bluish robes. The color symbolism is also strictly fixed here. To understand why the white gamut of colors is assigned to the saints, we need to remember the history of the white color in worship. Old Testament priests also wore white robes. The priest celebrating the liturgy puts on a white undershirt in memory of those white robes that, according to legend, the Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, wore.

But this is not a table of colors at all, as symbolic signs, it is rather a certain trend in the use of colors. In the icon, it is not the colors that speak, but the ratios of the colors. From the same sounds, melodies that are not similar to each other are created: in this way, in changing compositions, colors can have different symbolic meanings and emotional impact. So, Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin) identifies the following plans for the icon-painting image:

The ontological (basic) plan of the icon is the spiritual essence expressed in the image.

The soteriological plan is the grace that passes through the icon, like light through a window;

The symbolic plane is an icon, as a symbol interacting with the symbolized and revealing it;

The moral plan is the victory of the spirit over sin and gross materiality;

The anagogical (elevating) plan - the icon - is a living book, written not in letters, but in paints;

Psychological plan - a sense of closeness and inclusion through similarity and associative experiences;

The liturgical plan is an icon, as evidence of the presence of the Heavenly Church in the sacred space of the temple.

3. The light in the icon is a sign of belonging to the Divine world and can be transmitted using:

Spaces and animations;

The background of the icon (usually gold);

Gilding is of particular importance in icon painting. The background of icons for an icon painter is "Light", a sign of Divine grace that illuminates the world; and the golden monokop (inakop, assist - a graphic expression of light reflections in thin lines, leaves of gold leaf) on clothes and objects conveys a bright reflection of fertile energy. The sequence of gilding is of extreme importance. Before drawing figures and faces, the golden background is the light that brings the space of the icon out of the world of darkness and transforms it into the divine world.

The presence of an assist (thin golden lines). The assist technique is used in the second stage, when the image is already written. By the way, Father Florensky wrote: “All icon-painting images are born in the sea of ​​grace and they are cleansed by the streams of divine light. Icons begin with the gold of creative beauty, and icons end with the gold of consecrated beauty. The writing of the icon repeats the main events of Divine creativity: from absolute non-existence to New Jerusalem, sacred creation.

- halo shapes of saints. Around the head of the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints of God, the icons depict a radiance in the form of a circle, which is called a halo. A halo is an image of the radiance of light and Divine glory, which also transforms a person who has united with God.

4. Gesture. The saints depicted on the icons do not gesticulate - they stand before God, perform sacred duties, and each movement has a sacramental character. The gesture can be blessing, anticipatory, reverent, etc. For several centuries, a certain canon has developed - how to write the hands and gestures of saints. However, one should not think that strict frames impoverish the icon. On the contrary, it is precisely such seemingly imperceptible touches that make the icon a theology in colors.

1) Blessing right hand. The fingers of the right hand (right hand) are folded in the form of the letters I and X (Jesus Christ) - this is a blessing in the name of the Lord; the triple-fingered addition is also common - a blessing in the name of the Holy Trinity. With such a gesture, saints (that is, holy bishops, metropolitans and patriarchs) are depicted, as well as the reverend and righteous who had a holy order. For example, Saint John Chrysostom, who was the Archbishop of Constantinople; St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia; Rev. Seraphim of Sarov ... During their lifetime, they blessed many people with this gesture every day, and now from Heaven they bless everyone who turns to them with prayer.

2) Palm of the righteous. Righteous people are depicted with a characteristic gesture: an open palm facing the worshipers. A righteous man - a man of truth - is open to people, there is no guile in him, no secret evil thought or feeling. Such were, for example, the holy princes Boris and Gleb. As you know, they were offered to kill their traitor brother Svyatopolk, but they preferred to die themselves at the hands of a fratricide than to commit such a dishonorable deed.

Righteous Theodore Ushakov is also depicted with an open palm. This illustrious naval commander was distinguished by exceptional honesty and openness of soul. He zealously fulfilled his military duty and at the same time was merciful to all people: he took care of his subordinates like the apple of his eye (during his entire military service he did not give a single sailor prisoner!), He generously did good to many in need. And even enemies, it happened, saved from death.

3) Two palms open on the chest. Some researchers interpret this as a gesture of accepting grace, others as a prayerful appeal to God. With such a gesture, for example, the righteous forefather Abraham, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, the righteous Anna, the martyr Anastasia the Roman, are depicted.

4) Hand on heart- a gesture meaning that the saint has greatly succeeded in heartfelt prayer. So sometimes they write the Monk Seraphim of Sarov. The Monk Basilisk of Siberia is also depicted, a recently glorified saint who lived in the 19th century, but in his success in heartfelt prayer was equal to the ancient hermits.

5) Arms crossed on the chest. With such a gesture they write, for example, St. Mary of Egypt. Most likely, this is an image of the cross in the likeness of how we fold our hands when we approach Communion, affirming with this gesture our belonging to Christ, the assimilation of His Cross Sacrifice. The whole desert life of the Monk Mary was a feat of repentance, and not long before her blessed death, she took communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, saying: “Now you forgive Thy servant, Master, according to Thy word in peace, as if my eyes have seen Thy salvation…”.

A special role is played by the object in the hands of the saint - from it you can find out for what feat the saint was glorified or what service he carried on earth.

Cross in the hands symbolically indicates the martyrdom of the saint. This is a reminder of the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross, whom all martyrs imitate.

The Apostle Peter holds in his hands keys from the Kingdom of Heaven - those about whom the Lord Jesus Christ said to him: “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

Style(pointed stick for writing) - belonging to the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the prophet David, who wrote the Psalter

Very often saints on icons holding a book or scroll in their hands. This is how the Old Testament prophets, and the apostles, and saints, and the reverends, and the righteous, and the new martyrs are depicted ... The book is the word of God, whose preachers they were during their lifetime. On the scrolls are written the sayings of the saints themselves or from the Holy Scriptures - to instruct or comfort those who pray. For example, on the scroll of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye there is an instruction: “I beg you, brethren, listen to yourself, have the fear of God and purity of soul.”

The holy righteous Theodore Ushakov holds in his hand a scroll with a comforting inscription - in his own words: “Do not despair! These terrible storms will turn to the glory of Russia.

From the object that the saint holds in his hands, you can often find out what he did during his earthly life. Those classes are depicted with which the saint especially pleased God, with which he glorified His name. For example, the great martyr healer Panteleimon holds in his hands a casket with medicines and a spoon (a long narrow spoon) - he was a skilled doctor, and when he believed in Christ, he began to heal even hopelessly ill people in His name, and many of them, thanks to miraculous healing, came to faith.

Saint Mary Magdalene, one of the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb of Christ to anoint His body with myrrh, is depicted holding a vessel in which she carried myrrh. And in the hand of St. Anastasia the Destroyer of Patterns is a vessel with oil, with which she came to the prisoners in dungeons.

The holy icon painters Andrei Rublev, Alipiy Pechersky and others are depicted with icons painted by them.

Righteous Saint John of Kronstadt has a Chalice in his hand, the Eucharistic Chalice - a symbol of liturgical service. It is known that Father John was an ardent minister of the Divine Liturgy. At the divine services that he performed, people wept, experienced strong repentance, and felt strengthened in their faith.

Saints Seraphim of Sarov, Nil of Sorsk, Zosima Verkhovsky hold a rosary in their hands. According to the rosary, which is called the "spiritual sword", the monks perform unceasing prayer, and therefore this item is a symbol of the prayer feat.

Founders or ktitors (benefactors) of monastic cloisters often hold churches in their hands. For example, the venerable martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna is depicted with one of the churches of the Martha and Mary Convent. Grand Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga also holds a temple in her hands - as a sign that she built the first church in Russia.

An unusual item in the hands of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye is a fishing rod. It would seem that such an occupation as fishing can be especially pleasing to God? However, it was during the time of fishing, in deep solitude, that Saint Simeon fervently prayed to the Lord - “you had (that is, always, constantly) thought to God… let him not be caught by the bait of sin from the all-sly enemy of our salvation,” as they say in the service to him.

Here is just one detail of the icon - the gesture - but how much it says about the saint! According to it, we can learn about his ministry and main feat, receive a blessing or instruction from the saint. Just as in life, by certain gestures, we can guess the feelings and thoughts of a person, so the canonical icon, if we can understand its symbols, vividly conveys to us the thoughts and feelings of the saints.

5. Image of space. The space in the icon is depicted using the principle of reverse perspective. This is one of the most famous icon-painting laws; it was theoretically substantiated by such prominent scientists as Fr. Pavel Florensky, B.V. Rauschenbakh and others. The essence of this law lies in the fact that the vanishing point, available on the horizon line of a linear perspective, is taken out, as it were, on the viewer himself and, accordingly, all diagonal cuts in depth diverge on the icon plane. It turns out the back (to the background) is closer than the front. And this is logical. The composition of the icon, as it were, draws us into the divine space from all possible sides. The figures on the icons are, as it were, deployed - facing the viewer. Thus, the icon is, as it were, a searchlight of the upper world, shining in the earthly, created world. The use of a reverse perspective or a uniform impenetrable background, as it were, brought the viewer closer to the depicted image, the space of the icon seemed to move towards it along with the saints placed on it.

Reverse perspective depicts the object as a whole, in the aggregate of all its external characteristics; represents all its facets, bypassing the "natural" laws of visual perception. The object appears not as it is seen, but as it is thought.

The most important spatial characteristic of an image in reverse perspective is a sphere. It symbolizes the place of eternal residence, paradise.

On icons, paradise is often depicted as a circle (oval).

Spheres 1 and 2 (Fig. 1) are the highest hierarchical zones of the icon painting, related to the theme of the Kingdom of Heaven. The characters of the parable, penetrating into these spheres or even approaching them, become taller, as if they fall under a magnifying glass. The lower hierarchical zone "4" (hell) represents the figures as small, insignificant.

6. Time. From the point of view of the Orthodox tradition, history is divided into two parts - the era of the Old and New Testaments. The event that divided history was the birth of Jesus Christ - the incarnation (of God the Son) in human form to show the way to salvation for the lost. There was no time before the creation of the world. Time, as a carrier of changes created by God, is not acceptable to God himself. Time "began" when God created the world. It began and will end when the second coming of Jesus Christ comes, "when time is no more." Thus, time itself turns out to be something “temporary”, transient. It is like a patch, a "piece" against the background of eternity, on which God realizes his providence. And every event in people's lives is an expression of the omnipotence of God, but by no means the result of people's self-activity. The earthly life of man is the interval between the creation of the world and man and the second coming, this is only a fleeting test before eternity, when there will be no more time. Those who pass this test will have eternal life. The saints depicted on the icons have already been honored with eternal life, in which there is no movement and change in the usual sense. They no longer have weight, their view is a view from the beyond. Thus, images on icons do not imply temporal localization in the traditional sense.

Time in icon painting is also the movement of figures. Movement in an icon is conveyed through iconographic formulas.

The iconographic formulas underlying the composition of the icon may include the formula of dialogue (transfer of grace) and the formula of the appearance (presence). This list can be supplemented by the formulas of the "meal of communion with God" and the procession. These compositional schemes can be present in the image in a collapsed and expanded form, interact with each other, merge, transform one into another. “The iconographic scheme in an icon, in its meaning, can be equated to a ritual formula, which can be modified - expand or contract, making up a more detailed, solemn, or more abbreviated everyday version.”

The central figure is the object of prayer, worship (of the audience and those depicted on the icon) - a prayer image and an image of prayer. It expresses the theological idea of ​​revelation.

The scheme of the phenomenon underlies most other iconographic schemes: "Trinity", "Transfiguration", "Ascension". In a hidden form, it is present in the images of "Baptism", "Descent from the Cross", "Descent into Hell", in the hallmarks of hagiographic icons. These icons show the Image, the likeness of which we are called to become.

dialogue formula. The figures face each other when they come into contact without the mediation of a central link. This scheme also underlies many icons: “The Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos”, “The Annunciation of the Righteous Anna”, “The Presentation”. This formula can be seen in the images of resurrection, healing. Such a scheme conveys the doctrine of the transmission of the Good News - the Gospel. It reveals the theme of "holy discourse" and shows how the divine blessing and Revelation should be taken.

These two compositional principles underlie most iconic compositions.

At the same time, the principle of dialogue is preserved in the icons of the "phenomenon" - from what is depicted on the icon to the viewer and from the viewer to what is depicted. Similarly, in the icons of the "dialogue" one can see the phenomenon. Therefore, we should talk about a single principle of compositional construction of icons. Only in one case do we have an object as a model, and in the other case we have an action as a model of action.

7. Different scale of the image. At first glance, the difference in size of the depicted characters on the same iconic plane seems to be an archaic relic, but in fact this is an expression of the concept of hierarchy. In order to focus attention on a particular plot, to indicate the spiritual dominant, the icon painter enlarges the character, often giving it monumental features. Or vice versa, reducing any details, bringing them to intimacy. In general, the icon, as a rule, looks monumental due to its silhouette, brevity and the absence of a horizon line on the icon-painting plane.

8. Inscriptions. Most often, the inscription is given an explanatory role. This is explained by the fact that it is not always possible to express with colors what is available to the word, the image always needs an explanation. In this regard, depending on the content of the icon and the history of its creation, the inscriptions can be:

The names of Christ and the Mother of God, abbreviated (theonymograms);

The names of saints, or hagionim;

Names of events;

Texts on scrolls or Gospels that have a literary source;

Texts in the hallmarks of the icon, following basically hagiographic and other literary sources;

Texts of prayers placed on the margins of the icon or included in the composition of the image;

Spatial texts for depicted events included in the composition;

Inscriptions on the back of the board relating to the description of the icon;

Texts addressed to the saint or Mother of God of the owner or author of the icon.

Often the inscription is considered as an element of painting, the meaning of which is to decorate the main image or to fill the background decoratively.

So, we noted that the icon is built according to the principle of the text - each element of it is read as a sign. We know the main signs of this language: plot, color, light, gesture, image of space, time, different scales of the image, inscriptions. But the process of reading an icon does not consist only of these signs, as of cubes. The context is important, within which the same element (sign, symbol) can have a fairly wide range of interpretation. The process of reading an icon cannot consist in finding a universal, the only true key, it requires long-term contemplation, the participation of not only the mind, but also the heart. This is especially close to our Slavic peoples, who, according to John Ekonomtsev, are characterized by “a figurative and symbolic perception of the world, ... the desire to achieve the absolute, and immediately, immediately, with one effort of will.” [Hegumen John Economtsev "Orthodoxy, Byzantium, Russia". M., 1992]. An icon is a book that does not require turning pages.

With the help of the listed symbols-signs, the icon reveals its content in a universal, understandable language for everyone, being a true guide on the path of Christian life, in prayer: it shows us how we should behave, how to reasonably manage our feelings, through which human temptations enter the soul . It is through such an understandable, regardless of linguistic and national identity, form that the church strives to help us recreate our true nature, undistorted by sin. Thus, the purpose of the icon is to direct all our feelings, as well as the mind and all our human nature, to its true goal - the path of transformation and purification.

The principle of gilding (or silvering) is as follows: on a polyment smeared with glue (this is a dried and processed dark brown paint made up of burnt sienna, ocher and mummy), leaves of gold with a perimeter of several centimeters and a thickness of a thread are placed one after another: walk past , but what is there, you can’t breathe - they will scatter! It's good that they are packed in a special way - in a booklet, where each golden leaf lies on its own piece of paper.

Glue is a separate issue. It is made with vodka.

“We have run out of vodka,” the future icon painters report half-jokingly, “the third bottle is already, so they switched to alcohol.”

So with the help of glue - plate by plate - the surface of the board is covered with gold. Here, for example, in the work of graduate student Elena Finogenova, there is a completely golden background and golden halos. The background is matte, and the halos shine - they are specially polished for this. The boundaries between the plates are now visible, but when the icon is covered with a protective layer, the background will become uniform.

Gilding can be placed on a surface pre-carved with ornaments; we were able to observe this beauty on the already familiar icon of St. George the Victorious. Only the records are not gold, but platinum. The ornament is made from the same gesso: the mixture is heated, poured into a jar and applied in liquid form to the board, much like whipped cream on a cake.

“We were even offered to use confectionery tools,” recalls Nadia. “But in the end, I settled on a tube for painting on fabric (batik).”

There is still a lot of work, it is monotonous and tedious - for the second week the student stubbornly sticks naughty platinum records on the relief surface of the future icon.

“But junior courses will come to my aid,” she assures. - When there is some kind of diploma, they are eager to help!

The ornament can also be applied on top of the gilding, with the help of special "crushers". They are homemade - these are small pieces of wood with screws inserted into them with the point outward. What are you doing yourself?

“No, these crushers are just being made for us as a gift” , - explains the teacher.

Where does volume go?

The contour is applied, the background is made, the colors are prepared - it's time to start drawing the image.

I approach the table on which the icon is already at the next stage of production: bright color spots on the board highlight the still flat figure of the saint. Bright colors seem to be laid out on the surface, the outline is neatly and precisely laid. The so-called "roof" was made, from the word "open" the color. Already very beautiful ... what will happen next then? For an expressionist, this, perhaps, would be quite enough, but the icon painter still has to work and work.

Next comes the elaboration of clothes or individual objects in the background - slides, buildings, etc., but the hands, feet, faces of saints are painted last.

All the details are outlined with thin brushes, internal lines are drawn, then the form is revealed due to enlightenment: three-dimensional elements - the knee, thigh, elbow - are revealed by light, layers of spots of increasingly lighter shades are gradually applied to each other. This greatly enlivens the image - such light features are called, respectively: “animations”.

The assist lines also serve to give volume - golden or silver rays on the folds of clothes, on the wings of angels, on benches, thrones, tables, etc. They are anatomically justified, i.e. are drawn not where necessary, but where the form requires it. These lines are not only functional, but also symbolic: gold symbolizes the presence of divine, uncreated light. The assist is traditionally used to decorate the clothes of Christ when He is depicted in glory, but from the second half of the 16th century, in Russian icon painting, painting with gold began to be allowed on the clothes of saints.

Why is an icon not a portrait?

Be that as it may, but with the naked eye it is clear that the icon-painting image, in comparison with the academic drawing, lacks volume. It turns out that this is done on purpose.

The fact is that in an academic drawing, the volume is created by an external light source: a light bulb is turned on, it creates shadows and thus the form is revealed. There are no shadows, light and dark corners, a light source on the icon - the entire image should be luminous. It is not the light that reveals the shape, but the outline, but it does not give the depth that is present in the academic drawing. There is still some volume - the same one that is created with the help of tone and strokes, but still, compared to the portrait we are used to, the image turns out to be more conditional.

I'm probably not the first person to ask the question: why can't icons be made more realistic?

“I encountered this problem when we began to paint the faces of the New Martyrs (the university is just developing the iconography of the New Martyrs,” says Ekaterina Dmitrievna. - There is nothing to copy them from - there are only photographs taken in custody, before being shot. On them - tortured people in the face of death. If we copy a photo portrait, we will not be able to reflect the state of peace and love that is inherent in the saint. But this is, first of all, what is necessary - to reflect as accurately as possible not external, human features, but deified features, a state of mind. And the icon is just that pictorial way through which we can get away from some momentary external moments, build this image into eternity.

Yes, it turns out that realism - carnal, momentary, relating to our world - this setting leads away. What is depicted on the icon is related to the other world (note that the saints are depicted only after their death), and this is what the icon painter tries to reflect: the laws of the flesh are one, the laws of the spirit are different.

Even contemporary saints are drawn conditionally, although there are photographs of them that can be used to make a fairly accurate and realistic portrait. But here is a double-edged sword: one must simultaneously observe the portrait resemblance and reflect the "otherworldliness" of the saint.

Willy-nilly, all students face this dilemma: in the 5th, penultimate course, images of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia are obligatorily written at the departments of icon painting. It's really hard. The story of one of the teachers about the painting of the image of the clergyman Luka Voyno-Yasenetsky immediately pops up in my memory: it was difficult to depict the eyes of the saint, because at the end of his life he almost did not see ...

In general, writing a face must be the most crucial moment. I heard about one young artist by education and a very gifted person who himself beautifully painted the icon of St. George the Victorious, but did not even touch his face, considering himself unprepared. Surely this is not an isolated case...

Writing a face must be a huge responsibility. Here, in this workshop, there is a bright, wordless confirmation of this assumption: the graduate student Lena, bending over her work, works on the face of the Apostle John with a thin brush, again and again making corrections invisible to the eye of a person who is completely ignorant of painting. “Yes, everything is ready!” - another nonsense almost breaks out of my mouth: in the opinion of an amateur, the work is really ready. The face is surprisingly lively, but it does not repeat the model - this is also immediately visible: it turns out to be very soft, similar to the face of a deeply and unjustly offended child, while the sample strikes with the hopeless, burning sorrow of the apostle.

Elenina's icon is based on the Sinai "Crucifixion" (the image dates back to the 11th century). According to her, the whole image needs to be “pulled” in parallel: the master draws his characters not one by one, but together, first working out the clothes of each of them, then the arms and legs, then the faces. Therefore, only the figures of Christ, the Mother of God and St. John and the shoulder images of the New Martyrs painted on canvas - the so-called hallmarks (this tradition allows you to capture on the icon a secondary plot in addition to the main plot - for example, scenes from the life of the saint, which is depicted in the center) . It happens that several people work on an icon with a large number of hallmarks. But Lena writes everything herself - they don’t share a diploma.

So far, only one person has been registered - the Apostle John ...

Len, why did you start with the apostle?

I decided to start with the most clear, understandable, clear, static figure and move on from there ...

So that the bug does not eat ...

And then, when the work - including the inscriptions and the frame - is completed, the icon will be covered with drying oil. This is also traditional technology. Natural drying oil is made not at all from olive oil, as you might think, but from linseed. In terms of significance for icon painting, drying oil is almost the same as oil paints for oil painting. Until this protective layer is applied, the image is fragile: yolk-based paint is not the most resistant substance, but when it is covered with drying oil, the surface will become hard for many tens and even hundreds of years. Unless, of course, the icon is stored in a damp room or a bug works on the board...

Here, willy-nilly, one recalls the endless dispute between art critics and representatives of the Church. A difficult dilemma: to place an ancient masterpiece under glass, preserving it for future generations, and put it in a temple, where it will slowly but surely collapse under the influence of external factors - at least, the inability to maintain the desired temperature regime.

“It seems to me that this is an exaggeration,” Ekaterina Sheko shares her thoughts on this matter. - This is paradoxical and incomprehensible, but experience shows that when an icon is in a church, it is much better preserved. Many icons were perfectly kept in churches before the revolution, and when they migrated to museums, this is where the problems began: they would lay the swelling, and it would pop up again, then cracks would appear ... "

Art critics, of course, really want the masterpieces to be preserved. But even in a museum you can’t foresee everything, and in the church the images are preserved in a natural way. Recall one fact that before Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, even the Assumption Cathedral was not heated, much less ordinary churches were not heated - what temperature regime can we talk about? And the icons have survived and have come down to our days.

The result is always unpredictable

No, after all, a secret cannot but be hidden in icon painting. It also happens that incomprehensible things begin long before the icon painter makes the final touch in his work.

“Sometimes it happens that the image turns out by itself, and you don’t know how it happened. You try to remember what you did and how, and you can’t understand everything early” , - Approximately such an explanation is given by both students and teachers. I read somewhere the phrase: “God paints an icon, but the icon painter only draws with a brush.” It must have been meant. According to the icon painters, there is some kind of inner feeling - that's it, it turned out! And it does not depend on skill or attitude. Ekaterina Dmitrievna tells how she painted 4 faces of the martyr Barbara - the same in composition, in image, in technique, in materials. “But they all turned out different, and in fact, out of four, only one really turned out - a truly spiritualized image. How? Do not know".

So it’s not without reason that the wall of one of the workshops is decorated with a sheet with the lines of Alexei Tolstoy: « In vain, artist, you think that you are the creator of your creations! A simple reminder: the author is not you, but the Church, which means God. Here is the secret...

Is there a tradition to carry out some additional strict fasting, to pray while the icon is being painted? People approach it differently. And prayer - it should always be, in any work. Icon painters, of course, pray to the saint whose image they paint; someone, the girls say, is listening to akathists. Above the usual posts, students are not required to do anything here. The fact is that icon painting is a stressful job, it just seems that the icon painter just stands in one place and moves with a brush.

“I read about one desert, - shares the head of the department - where the sisters lived in the 19th century. Some of them were engaged in icon painting, they constantly sat indoors and were pale, emaciated. And others worked a lot in the field - and were rosy-cheeked, cheerful, cheerful. So the first sisters - icon painters - relied on poultices, it was they, oddly enough, who were given additional nutrition.

Rosy-cheeked and cheerful Lena certainly refutes the stereotype that is already ready to take shape. True, he also admits that after work he comes home with only one thought: to lie down and fall asleep as soon as possible.

An irresistible pursuit of perfection

The point, probably, is also in the constant, even if subconscious, striving for perfection. Future craftswomen, as one, without saying a word, sigh: "The main dream is to learn how to paint icons." Is it something to learn in the last courses?!

The thing is that, unlike painting, where the master himself evaluates his work, the painter of the icon feels that he must strive for some kind of absolute - after all, there are these amazing unattainable samples, there is also the Prototype ... Therefore, all icon painters experience similar torments of creativity: they try, they do not achieve, they suffer - even the master subconsciously always has doubts, what to say about students?

“Although sometimes it seems,” Olga admits, “how great it turned out! And the teacher comes up and says: “Olya, what did you do?”. Then I redo it. Humility is, of course, very necessary here: it seems that you have achieved something, but the teacher sees that in fact, on the contrary, he deviated in the wrong direction.

An icon is not a piece of paper, you can't throw it away, but how can you remake it then?

“If the icon does not work out,” Victoria explains, “they clean it off with a scalpel and start working again. Changing the silhouette, of course, is more difficult, but for this they teach drawing, so that they don’t have to redo it later. ”

Alone with myself…

No matter how hard the work, in the meantime it seems that the students in the workshops literally day and night. It's worth it: it's comfortable, quiet, light, everyone has his own workplace, which he equips for himself. There, poems hang on the wall, here the violin stands against the wall ... People live and study, in their own words, like in a greenhouse.

Icons at the university begin to write on their own in the 2nd year of study, before that they train to draw individual elements on pieces of hardboard. Some can make a small image already in the 1st course. Then, the tasks gradually become more difficult: the size of the image increases, the number of figures increases, less preserved samples are given, etc. There are such "complex" saints, from the image of which only a contour drawing, a silhouette, remains. Then they look for analogues and synthesize several samples into one.

It is difficult to write on a large board - all the mistakes can be seen at once, it is difficult on a small board - small details require patience. But everyone has their own preferences - someone is more inclined to monumental painting, and someone to miniature.

True, the icon painter is far from always able to take into account his preferences, choosing the appropriate plot or style. Usually his work is work to order, there is simply not enough time for other things. But in principle, according to Ekaterina Sheko, any person who believes and is capable of artistic creativity can write an icon for himself. When it comes to icons for the Church, of course, you need to take a blessing.

Naturally, the customer can express some of his wishes: to write an image in one style or another, for example. An icon painter in this sense is a forced person.

But while he is studying, he can improvise to a certain extent, especially if he is a graduate student.

Lena, for example, borrows the central plot from one icon, and angels from another.

And this is not the first time Nadya takes non-traditional icons as a model - from Greece and from the island of Cyprus.

“In Cyprus, the icons are all unexplored - for some reason, few people are engaged in this art,” she says. - This is an island, so there is a kind of writing there: non-classical proportions - a large head, short arms and legs. And ornaments - there are only such in Cyprus.

No, no matter how rigid the canons are, the icon still reflects the individuality of the master, even if it is a copy - the selection of samples, shades, details, even facial expressions give out this uniqueness of the work.

"What is your favorite job?" - again a question that warms the soul of the artist, and in these walls he stumbles upon unexpected, but similar answers:

The one you are currently writing is my favorite.

I can’t single out, because you try to give all your best on each one ...

This is probably a dream when every fruit of your labor is a favorite.

Love the work itself. Indeed, in addition to everything else, iconography is remarkable in that it does not take away a person’s personal time, but on the contrary, it gives. To be alone with yourself, and not with a thousand compatriots in a subway car at rush hour; listen to yourself, listen to silence, and not loud advertising on TV.

“This is the time when you belong to yourself,” says Lena. - Although many are dismissive of our profession: well, they say, an artist - everything is clear ... In fact, this is hard work. But it pays off. A hundred times."

The Russian icon has constantly attracted and still attracts the closest attention of art historians, artists and simply art lovers with its unusualness and mystery. This is due to the fact that ancient Russian icon painting is a peculiar, unique phenomenon. It has great aesthetic and spiritual value. And, although a lot of special literature is currently being published, it is very difficult for an unprepared viewer to decipher the encoded meaning of the icon. To do this, some preparation is required.

Unfortunately, even professional artists do not always understand the beauty and originality of an ancient icon. The purpose of this work is to get acquainted with the basics of icon painting technique.

Of course, only a professional artist who knows perfectly all the secrets of the icon-painting craft and follows the canons of the Lives of the Saints, which is typical for old masters, can competently perform icon painting. They very keenly felt the harmony and beauty of the icon. Careful study reveals their attempt to understand the icon mathematically. For example, they took the size of the width of the icon and put it on the vertical side of the field, thereby determining the height of the centerpiece (the central image of the icon), and a third of the width of the icon was the height of the top row of hallmarks. The ratio of the height and width of the icon most often in proportions was 4: 3. The width of the centerpiece was the size of two diagonals of the side marks. The figure of the centerpiece was equal to 2.5 diagonals of the hallmarks. The height of the figure, together with the nimbus in the middle, was equal to 9 radii of the nimbus, etc. These mathematically verified calculations gave the geometric clarity of the composition, allowed the master to build a rhythmic row and focus the viewer's gaze on the main images of the icon.

In a number of religious literature, "craftsmen" stand apart, that is, collections of recipes that indicated how to make and apply gesso (primer), grind and mix pigments with a binder, make a binder, cook drying oil and much more.

In the old days, the craft was taught by the method of "seating", when a young man was seated with an old, experienced icon painter to learn from experience. Traditions and secrets developed over the years have been passed down from generation to generation, from generation to generation, and so on up to the present day. Without this knowledge and without the appropriate craft skills, it is difficult to count on success. The study of the canons of the Lives of the Saints, their sacred vestments, church texts and original iconography of the Byzantine and Russian churches is a vast topic. Therefore, to clarify these issues, we have the right to refer our esteemed reader to more fundamental works and sources.

ICONOGRAPHY AND CANON

Everyone who begins to look at icons involuntarily wonders about the content of ancient images, why for several centuries the same plot has remained almost unchanged and easily recognizable. The answer to these questions will help us find iconography, a strictly established system for depicting any characters and religious plots. As church ministers say, iconography is "the alphabet of church art."

The iconography includes a large number of plots taken from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, theological writings, hagiographic literature, religious poetry on the themes of the main Christian dogmas, that is, canons.

The iconographic canon is a criterion for the truth of an image, its correspondence to the text and meaning of the "Holy Scripture".

Centuries-old traditions, the repetition of compositions of religious subjects led to the development of such stable schemes. The iconographic canons, as they were called in Russia - "exclusions", reflected not only common Christian traditions, but also local features inherent in one or another art school.

Constancy in the depiction of religious subjects, in the immutability of ideas that can be expressed only in the appropriate form - this is the secret of the canon. With the help of it, the symbolism of the icon was fixed, which in turn facilitated the work on its pictorial and content side.

The canonical foundations covered all the expressive means of the icon. In the compositional scheme, the signs and attributes inherent in the icon of one kind or another were recorded. So, gold and white symbolized the divine, heavenly light. Usually they marked Christ, the powers of heaven, and sometimes the Mother of God. Green color denoted the earthly flowering, blue - the heavenly sphere, purple was used to depict the clothes of the Mother of God, and the red color of Christ's clothes meant his victory over death.

The main characters of religious painting are the Mother of God, Christ, the Forerunner, the apostles, prophets, forefathers and others. Images are main, shoulder, waist and full-length.

The image of the Mother of God enjoyed special love among icon painters. There are more than two hundred types of iconographic images of the Mother of God, the so-called "outs". They have names: Hodegetria, Eleusa, Oranta, Sign and others. The most common type of image is Hodegetria (Guidebook), (). This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with Christ in her arms. They are depicted in a frontal spread, gazing intently at the prayer. Christ rests on Mary's left hand, she holds her right hand in front of her chest, as if pointing it at her son. In turn, Christ blesses the worshiper with his right hand, and in his left hand he holds a paper scroll. Icons depicting the Mother of God are usually named after the place where they first appeared or where they were especially revered. For example, the icons of Vladimir, Smolensk, Iver, Kazan, Georgian and so on are widely known.

Another, no less famous, view is the image of the Mother of God called Eleusa (Tenderness). A typical example of an icon of the Eleus type is the Vladimir Mother of God, widely known and beloved by all believers. The icon is an image of Mary with a baby in her arms. In the whole guise of the Mother of God, maternal love and complete spiritual unity with Jesus are felt. This is expressed in the tilt of Mary's head and in the gentle touch of Jesus on the mother's cheek ().

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Impressive is the image of the Mother of God, known as Oranta (Prayer). In this case, she is depicted without Jesus, with her hands raised up, which means "standing before God" (Fig. 3). Sometimes a "circle of Glory" is placed on the chest of Oranta, in which Christ is depicted as an infant. In this case, the icon is called "Great Panagia" (All-holy). A similar icon, but in a half-length image, is usually called the Mother of God of the Sign (Incarnation). Here, the disk with the image of Christ denotes the earthly being of the God-man (Fig. 4).

The images of Christ are more conservative than the images of the Mother of God. Most often, Christ is depicted as Pantokrator (Almighty). He is depicted frontally, or half-length, or in full growth. At the same time, the fingers of his right, raised, hands are folded in a blessing two-fingered gesture. There is also the addition of fingers, which is called "naming". It is formed by the crossed middle and thumb fingers, as well as the set aside little finger, symbolizes the initials of the name of Christ. In his left hand he holds an open or closed Gospel (Fig. 5).

Another, the most common image is "The Savior on the Throne" and "The Savior in Power" (Fig. 6).

The icon called "The Savior Not Made by Hands" is one of the oldest, which depicts the iconographic image of Christ. The image is based on a belief about the imprint of Christ's face imprinted on a towel - ubrus. The Savior Not Made by Hands in ancient times was depicted not only on icons, but also on banners, which Russian soldiers took on military campaigns (Fig. 7).

Another encountered image of Christ is his full-length image with a blessing gesture of his right hand and the Gospel in his left - Jesus Christ the Savior (Fig. 8). Often you can see the image of the Almighty in the clothes of the Byzantine emperor, which is usually called "King king", meaning that he is the King of all kings (Fig. 9).

Interesting information about the nature of the clothes and vestments in which the characters of the icons are dressed. From an artistic point of view, the clothes of icon-painting characters are very expressive. As a rule, it is based on Byzantine motifs. Each image has clothes that are characteristic and inherent only to him. So, the clothes of the Mother of God are a maphorium, a tunic and a cap. Maforium - a veil, envelops the head, shoulders and goes down to the floor. It has a border decoration. The dark cherry color of maforia means a great and royal family. Maforius is put on a tunic - a long dress with sleeves and ornaments on cuffs ("armlets"). The tunic is dyed dark blue, which symbolizes chastity and heavenly purity. Sometimes the Mother of God appears in the clothes of not Byzantine empresses, but Russian queens of the 17th century.

On the head of the Mother of God, under the maphorium, a green or blue cap is drawn, decorated with white stripes of ornament (Fig. 10).

The female images in the icon are mostly dressed in a tunic and a cloak, fastened with a fibula clasp. Headdress is depicted on the head.

A long dress is put on over the tunic, decorated with a hemline and an apron going from top to bottom. This clothing is called dolmatik.

Sometimes, instead of a dolmatic, a table can be depicted, which, although it looks like a dolmatic, does not have an apron (Fig. 11).

Christ's attire includes a chiton, a long shirt with wide sleeves. The chiton is dyed purple or red-brown. It is decorated with two parallel stripes running from the shoulder to the hem. This is Clavius, which in ancient times meant belonging to the patrician class. A himation is thrown over the chiton. It completely covers the right shoulder and partially the left. The color of the himation is blue (Fig. 12).

Folk clothes are decorated with a mantle embroidered with precious stones.

On the icons of a later period, one can also see civilian clothes: boyar fur coats, caftans and various robes of commoners.

The monks, that is, the monks, are dressed in cassocks, mantles, schemas, hoods, and so on. On the heads of the nuns, an apostle (cloak) was depicted, covering the head and shoulders (Fig. 13).

Warriors are written in armor, with a spear, sword, shield and other weapons (Fig. 14).

When writing kings, their heads were decorated with a crown or crown. Text hidden

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PREPARATION OF THE BOARD FOR WRITING AN ICON
The basis of any icon, as a rule, is a wooden board. In Russia, linden, maple, spruce, and pine were most often used for these purposes. The choice of wood type in different regions of the country was dictated by local conditions. So, in the north (Pskov, Yaroslavl) they used pine boards, in Siberia pine and larch boards, and Moscow icon painters used lime or imported cypress boards. Of course, linden boards were most preferable. Linden is a soft, easy-to-work tree. It does not have a pronounced structure, which reduces the risk of cracking of the board prepared for processing. The basis of the icons was made of dry, seasoned wood. The gluing of individual parts of the board was carried out with wood glue. The knots that came across in the board, as a rule, were cut out, since when drying, the gesso cracked in these places. Inserts were glued in place of the cut knots. In the old days, icon painters preferred to buy ready-made boards for painting. In Russia at that time there was a fairly extensive network of workshops that specialized in the manufacture of such boards. The craftsmen who made boards were usually called "woodworkers" or "planks".

In the old days, boards were made with an ax and "adze", so the name "tes" has come down to our days. The so-called chipped boards were especially valued, since they rarely cracked and almost never warped, especially if they were split along the radius, that is, along the fibers.

Over time, various tools began to be used for wood processing, which were called "plows". In order for the board to better hold the ground, its front side was scratched with the so-called "tsinubel", that is, a gear planer. Planes in Russia began to be used from the end of the 17th century. The saw in Russia has been known since the 10th century, but until the 17th century it was used only for longitudinal sawing of the workpiece.

Rice. 16 - arrangement of the wooden base of the icon. The front side of the board and the device dowels.

Until the second half of the 17th century, a small depression was chosen on the front of the board, which was called the "ark" or "trough", and the ledge formed by the ark was called "husk". The depth of the ark varied depending on the size of the boards from 2 mm to 5 - 6 mm. If the ark was cut down with the help of an adze, then the husk was formed with a tool called "figurei" (Fig. 16).

Already from the second half of the 17th century, boards, as a rule, were made without an ark, with a flat surface, but at the same time, the fields framing the image began to be painted over with some color. In the 17th century, the icon also lost its colored fields. They began to be inserted into metal frames, and in iconostases they were framed in a baroque style frame.

In order to protect the board from warping on the back side, across the wood fiber, slots were made that widened into the depths of the board, into which veneers were inserted - narrow boards made in the form of a groove made of a stronger tree than a board, for example, oak. The back side of the board was planed evenly and cleanly. Sometimes, for a longer preservation of the icon, its ends and reverse side were glued, primed and painted. For the same purpose, these parts of the icons could be glued with cloth using flour glue.

To prepare the board for the ground ("levkas"), the craftsmen used animal glue, gelatin or fish. The best fish glue was obtained from the bubbles of cartilaginous fish: beluga, sturgeon and sterlet. Good fish glue has great astringent power and elasticity. However, many old masters preferred to use skin glue with whiteness and strength.

On a carefully crafted and glued board, a “width” was pasted, which was sometimes called a “sickle”. It was a layer of fabric. For these purposes, there was a fabric made of linen, hemp fiber, as well as a durable variety of gauze. Pavoloka was glued over the entire surface of the board or in small parts, for example, along the junction of two glued boards or on knots found in the board. On boards with a large-layer texture (pine, spruce), thick canvas was pasted, capable of covering the pronounced texture of the tree. On small-layered boards (linden, alder), thin canvas was used or it was not used at all. To prepare the fabric for gluing, it was first soaked in cold water, then boiled in boiling water. The canvas pre-impregnated with glue was applied to the glued surface of the board. Then, after thorough drying of the pavoloki, they began to apply gesso. Text hidden
Levkas was prepared from well-sifted chalk mixed with fish glue. Although gypsum, alabaster, and whitewash were sometimes used to make gesso, chalk is preferable in this case, since it gives a very high quality ground, distinguished by whiteness and strength.

Depending on the place where the icons were made, the soil could differ somewhat from each other. Here is the recipe for applying the primer by the People's Artist of the RSFSR, one of the founders of the art of Palekh miniatures, and in the past a professional icon painter N. M. Zinoviev. The following composition was prepared for applying the first layer. In a bucket of water, 1 kg of wood glue was boiled, and well-sifted gypsum was mixed into the composition that had not yet cooled down to the density of the putty. For the second layer of soil, 200 g of glue was boiled in a bucket of water, which was mixed with gypsum and one quarter of chalk. The soil for the third layer consisted of 800 g of glue boiled in a bucket of water mixed with equal parts of gypsum and chalk.

And here is how the nun Juliania (in the world of M. N. Sokolova) describes the implementation of the primer in the book "The Work of an Icon Painter". Finely sifted chalk was poured into a strong glue solution (1 part glue to 5 parts water) in such an amount that, when thoroughly mixed, the mass looked like liquid cream.

Nowadays, in restoration workshops, soil is used, the preparation of which begins with heating fish glue to a temperature of 60 ° C and adding finely ground dry chalk to it in small portions. The composition is thoroughly mixed with a metal spatula. A small amount of polymerized linseed oil or oil-resin varnish is added to the resulting composition (a few drops per 100 ml of mass).

To lay the soil on the board, they used a wooden or bone spatula - a "spatula", as well as bristle brushes. (The old name for a spatula is “klepik” or “loud”. Levkas was applied to the board in a thin layer. Each layer was thoroughly dried. Sometimes craftsmen applied up to 10 layers.

The first coat was applied with a short-cut bristle brush with frequent strokes in the vertical direction, being careful not to touch the treated surface twice. Excess soil was removed with a damp swab.

Sometimes the primer was applied to the board with a wide brush or poured onto separate sections of the board. Leveling was carried out with a palm firmly pressed to the surface. This was done so that the gesso would tightly fill all the holes in the fabric and there would be no air left in them. Icon painters called it whitewashing. Thin layers of primer were applied several times. Then a small amount of chalk was added to the whitewash, so that the mass got the consistency of thick sour cream, which was applied to the board over the whitewash with a spatula and smoothed with it. The layers of soil were applied very thinly, the thinner, the less the risk of cracking. After the final drying, the soil was leveled with various blades and smoothed with pumice stone, sawn into flat pieces. The surface of gesso was polished with stems of horsetail, which contains a large amount of silicon, which makes it possible to use it as a polishing material.

The surface of the icon, which at first glance appears to be perfectly smooth, is actually slightly wavy. The uneven surface was created by the master deliberately. This is due to the fact that the light source reflected by a flat surface is visible from only one place. The wavy surface, covered with a colorful layer, reflects the rays of light in different ways, while creating a flickering effect. This is especially well seen in the sliding light.

By the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, the soil began to be laid directly on the board. This was due to the fact that tempera began to be replaced with oil paints and oil and drying oil were added to the ground. Sometimes gesso was cooked on egg yolk with glue and plenty of oil. So they got a base prepared for painting. Text hidden

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