Architecture and painting of Ancient Russia. Religious painting of Ancient Russia

The development of painting and architectural temple style of Russia originate in the depths of centuries. In 988, Kievan Rus along with the adoption of Christianity received a huge cultural heritage of the Byzantine Empire, combining the features of the sparkling pomp of the East and the ascetic simplicity of the West. In the process of synthesis of this multilateral artistic style and specific original art, architecture and painting of Ancient Rus formed.

Historical preconditions for the development of the original style of architecture and painting of Ancient Rus

Painting of Ancient Rus as a monument of pre-Christian culture is unknown to modern scientists, and the sculpture of this era is represented only by a few wooden statues of idols. The same is true for architectural monuments of pre-Christian Russia, most likely because they were created from wood and have not survived to this day.

Painting in Russia began to experience its rapid development in the 10th century, when, after the introduction of the Slavic alphabet by Kirill and Methodius into Russia, an exchange of experience between Russian and Byzantine masters, invited by Prince Vladimir after 988 in Russian cities, became possible.

At the beginning of the 11th century the situation in the political and social spheres of the ancient Russian state developed in such a way that the pagan religious component was forcibly taken out by the ruling class from all spheres of public life. Thus, the architecture and painting of Ancient Rus began to develop precisely from the Byzantine heritage that had merged into this environment.

Preconditions for the development of style features of architecture

Architecture and painting of Ancient Rus as an integral style ensemble appeared under the direct influence of the architecture of Byzantium, which synthesized the forms of ancient temple structures, gradually forming the type of cross-domed church, which was known from the 10th century, very different from the early Christian basils. Moving the domes to the semicircular stiff ribs of the quadrangular foundation of the temple, using the newest developed "sailing" system to support the dome and facilitate its pressure on the walls, the Byzantine architects achieved the maximum expansion of the interior space of the temple and created a qualitatively new type of Christian temple construction.

The design features described above refer to the temples, which are based on the so-called "Greek cross", which is five squares located at the same distance from each other.

Much later - in the 19th century - a so-called "pseudo-Byzantine" style of temple structures will form in Russia, in which the dome-shaped domes are located on low drums girded with a window arcade, and the interior space of the temple represents a single area not divided by pylons and cross vaults.

Preconditions for the development of style features of painting

Painting of Ancient Russia as an independent type of artistic decoration of churches took shape after the Byzantine masters brought their icon-painting experience to this territory after the baptism of Rus . Therefore, numerous wall paintings and frescoes of the first Christian churches of the pre-Mongol period are indistinguishable in Russian and Byzantine origin.

In the theoretical plan, icon painting, painting of Ancient Rus perfectly illustrates the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechora Lavra, the works of which belong to the Byzantine masters. The temple itself was not preserved, but its interior decoration is known by the description recorded in the 17th century. Invited icon-painters remained in the monastery and began to train their craft. The Monks Alypius and Gregory were the first Russian masters who came from this icon-painting school.

Thus, the art, icon painting, painting of Ancient Russia leads its theoretical and methodical continuity from the ancient knowledge of oriental masters.

Specificity of the architectural and construction type of residential and temple buildings of Ancient Rus

The culture of Ancient Rus, painting, icon painting and architecture of which represent a single ensemble, had little effect on the architecture of public and residential buildings, which continued to be carried out either by typical tower buildings or fortresses. The Byzantine architectural norms did not presuppose any practical protection of the complex of buildings or each of them separately from the attacks of the enemy. The art of Ancient Russia, painting and architecture of which can be shown on the example of Pskov and Tver monastic buildings, is oriented to their constructive security, lightness of the domed parts of the building with the maximum thickening of bearing structures.

Cult ancient Russian painting

The culture of Ancient Rus, whose painting progressed under the all-round influence of Byzantine art, finally took shape by the end of the 15th century, absorbing all its brightest specific qualities and assimilating with original artistic Old Russian techniques. And although some types of fine arts, such as artistic sewing and woodcarving, were known to ancient Russian masters, they received the widest distribution and development in the bosom of the cult art precisely after the arrival of Christianity in Russia.

The Orthodox culture of Ancient Rus, whose painting is represented not only by temple frescoes and icon painting, but also by face embroidery and carving, reflecting the symbols of faith and used in everyday life by worldly people, left an imprint on the interior decoration of buildings and the decoration of their facade parts.

Variety and composition of paints

Monasteries and icon painting workshops of Ancient Rus were a place of concentration of scientific achievements and experiments in the field of chemistry, since in them hand-made paints were made from various ingredients.

In miniature painting on parchment and icon painting the masters used mostly the same colors. They were cinnabar, lapis lazuli, ocher, lead white and others. Thus, the painting of Ancient Rus remained true to its practical skills : the ancient Byzantine painting could not completely replace the local methods of obtaining paints.

However, in each specific technique of painting there were and are their favorite techniques and methods - both the manufacture of the paint itself and the methods of applying it to the surface.

According to the New World icon painting script of the 16th century, cinnabar, azory, white, and greengrass were the preferred preference for masters. In the original, the names of these flowers also appeared for the first time - yellow, red, black, green.

White, as the most popular paint, was most often used in color mixtures, served to fill in gaps and "bleach" other colors. White was produced in Kashin, Vologda, Yaroslavl. The method of their manufacture consisted in oxidation of lead strips with acetic acid with further washing of the resulting white color.

The main component of the "face letter" in icon painting to this day is ocher.

Painting of Ancient Rus, as well as its Byzantine standard, assumed the use of a variety of coloristic material in the writing of holy forms.

One of the main widely used paints was cinnabar - sulfur sulfide mercury. Cinnabar was mined at the famous Russian Nikitin deposit in Europe. The production of paint occurred during the grinding of cinnabar with water, followed by the dissolution of associated pyrite and pyrite in the ore. Cinnabar could be replaced with a cheaper fool, obtained by burning lead white.

Lazor, as well as white, was intended for writing spaces and receiving tones of other colors. In the past, the main source of lazurite was the deposits of Afghanistan. However, since the 16th century a large number of ways of obtaining blue pigment from lapis lazuli have appeared.

Along with these basic colors, the Russian icon painting used a bakan, scarlet, greengrass, greens, copperfish, krutik (blue), a bluebell, a sankir (brownish tones), a hock, a reflex, a game. The terminology of the ancient painter denoted all the colors in different words.

The artistic manner of Old Russian iconography

In each territorially-integral state association, there is a certain consolidation of artistic and aesthetic norms, which later lose some connection with the reference sample. Such a separate and self-developing sphere of national and cultural manifestation is the painting of Ancient Rus. Ancient painting is more subject to technical and visual change than other art areas, so it's worth mentioning its features, which are closely related to architecture and writing methods.

The Mongol invasion destroyed most of the icon-painting and frescoes of Ancient Rus, undermining and suspending the process of writing new works. However, a certain picture of the past can be recovered from the surviving documents and scant archaeological monuments.

Of these, it is known that in the era of the pre-Mongol invasion, the monumental painting of Ancient Rus had a significant influence on iconography with its technical techniques - the conciseness of the compositional construction and the gloomy restrained coloring - but by the 13th century this color was beginning to be replaced by bright warm colors. Thus, the Byzantine icon painting technique by the 13th century undergoes the process of refraction and assimilation with such ancient Russian national techniques as freshness and brightness of the color scale, rhythmic composition and the immediacy of color expression.

In this era, the most famous masters who brought to the present time the painting of Ancient Rus work - this list can be briefly represented by Metropolitan Peter of Moscow, Archbishop of Rostov Theodore, Reverend Andrei Rublev and Daniil Chernoy.

Features of Old Russian fresco painting

Fresco painting in Russia did not exist before the arrival of Christianity and was completely borrowed from Byzantine culture, while assimilating and developing several modifications of the Byzantine techniques and techniques.

First of all, it should be said that the culture of Ancient Rus, whose painting existed before in the form of a mosaic, modified the use of plaster preparatory materials, using a limestone base under a fresco, and by the end of the 14th century there was a transition from ancient Byzantine techniques of writing and making materials to new Originally Russian techniques of fresco painting.

Among the radically changed processes of making bases and paints, one can single out the appearance of plaster, created exclusively on the basis of pure limestone, previously diluted for strength by quartz sand and marble chips. In the case of Russian painting, the plaster fresco base - levkas - was made by prolonged aging of lime in mixture with vegetable oils and glue.

Old Russian face sewing

After 988, with the advent of Byzantine traditions in the painting of Ancient Rus, ancient painting became widespread in the cult ritual area, especially in the face sewing.

Quite a lot helped the tsaritsyns workshops that functioned under the auspices of the Grand Duchess Sophia Palaeologus, Solomonii Saburova, Queen Anastasia Romanova and Irina Godunova.

Facial sewing as a religious painting of Ancient Rus has a lot of common compositional and graphic features with an icon. However, facial sewing is a collective work, with a clear distribution of the roles of the creators. The iconographer painted on the canvas face, inscriptions and fragments of clothing, herbalist - plants. The backdrop was embroidered with a neutral color; Face and hands - silk threads of bodily tones, including, ties were located along the lines along the contours of the face; Clothing and surrounding objects were embroidered either with gold and silver threads, or with multicolored silk.

For greater strength under the embroidered cloth, a canvas or cloth was placed under which a second lining of soft cloth was fastened.

Particularly complex was the two-sided embroidery on banners and banners. In this case, silk and gold threads pierced through.

Facial embroidery has a wide application - large shrouds and air decorated the temple, put under the icons, covered the altar, applied on the banners. In many cases, canvases with saints' faces were fastened to the gates of a temple or a palace, and also inside reception rooms.

Territorial Variability of Old Russian Art

The culture of Ancient Russia - painting, icon painting, architecture - has some territorial variation, affecting both the decorations of churches, and architectural and building features of buildings.

For example, the art of Ancient Rus, whose painting implies the use as decoration of the interior of churches or mosaics, or frescoes, is beautifully revealed by the example of the Cathedral of St. Sophia of Kiev. There is a free combination of mosaic and fresco painting, two layers of soil were revealed during the inspection of the temple. In the Church of the Transfiguration of the village of Bolshye Vyazemy all plaster foundations are made of pure lime without fillers. And in the Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Andronievsky Monastery blood albumin was identified as a connecting link of the plaster levkas.

Thus, we can conclude that the peculiarity and originality of Old Russian art lies in its territorial orientation and individual and personal preferences and skills of Russian artists to convey the color and nature of the idea according to its national norms.