In the numerous paintings of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, the originality of the frescoes “The Seven Sleeping Youths of Ephesus”, “The Adoration of the Magi”, “Forty Sebastian Martyrs”, “Praise to the Virgin”, as well as the figures of saints on the altar wall of the cathedral attract attention. All these works are too characteristic to be generated by the icon painter, only blindly following the Byzantine canon of isography. The wizard’s brush is clearly visible here. Yes, the frescoes were created at a time when Rafael, Durer, Botticelli and Leonardo lived and worked in Europe, because church art in Russia did not know the Renaissance. But Dionysius the icon painter - the creator of the amazing murals of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow - still broke out of the "Procrustean bed" of the canon. His figures are not deadly static, they are graceful, with an elongated silhouette, they soar. Therefore, many foreign art critics and call this isograph "Russian mannerist."
Artist and era
In order to fully understand the work of Dionysius, you need to study at least a little the era in which he lived. The universal aspiration and horror of the Orthodox world at that time was the expectation of the Apocalypse. The end of the world was to come, according to the clergy, in 1492. The political life of Russia also underwent great changes. In 1480, victory was won on the Ugra, which marked the fall of the Mongol yoke. The Prince of Moscow captured the lands of Pskov, Novgorod and Tver. Ivan III decided to create a centralized state. The court scribes began to derive the genealogy of the royal family through the Byzantine basileus of the Paleologists from the Roman emperor Augustus. Therefore, the modest size and decoration of Moscow churches no longer suited Ivan III. He started a large-scale construction to turn Moscow into the "Third Rome". And in this situation, architects and painters were very in demand.
Dionysius the icon painter: biography
Unlike his great predecessors, Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev, this master has been studied well. The life of Dionysius is more or less known to researchers. Of course, the dates of birth and death of the master are rather vague. It is believed that he was born around 1440, and died not earlier than 1502 and not later than 1525. He was born into the family of a layman, but wealthy enough to send his son to study the isographic craft. The first work of the master known to contemporaries was painting in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Pafnutievo-Borovsky Monastery. However, a young artist worked there in 1467-1477 under the supervision of his teacher, a certain master Mitrofan, about whom nothing is known. Probably, the independent talent of the student appeared during the paintings, so in 1481 he was invited to Moscow to work in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. After completing this order, the artist received the official title "The Graceful Master." Dionysius also worked in a number of northern monasteries. He had three sons - Andrew, Vladimir and Theodosius, the last two followed in the footsteps of his father and became icon painters.
Carier start
As already mentioned, Dionysius, as part of the creative cartel of Mitrofan, took part in the murals of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Pafnutevo-Borovsky Monastery near Kaluga. Art historians see in these works the continuation and development of the heritage of Andrei Rublev. The same floating figures, a clean, harmonious composition, a joyful mood and bright saturated colors. Prince of Moscow Ivan Vasilievich, seeing the frescoes of the "monks of Dionysius and Mitrofan," invited the young painter to Moscow to work on the murals of the Assumption Cathedral. So, on the move, talent was noticed and rewarded by the highest authorities.
Moscow period
After the annexation of foreign lands, Prince Ivan III begins the construction of cathedrals to give his Kremlin the size of a capital. But the Assumption Church did not work out: it was erected by the Pskov architects Myshkin and Krivtsov, but, as is often the case with us, high-quality building materials were spoiled, which almost destroyed the structure. The king decided to invite foreign architects, and discharged from Italy the famous Bologna architect Aristotle Fiorovanti. He began work in 1475. The cartels of Dionysius, which included, in addition to the master himself, some “Horse, Yarets da Pop Timofei”, allocated 100 rubles in advance. When the frescoes were painted and the tsar and the boyars came to take work, then, as the chronicler writes avariciously for poetic comparisons, they, “seeing many-miraculous paintings, imagined themselves as standing in the heavens ...”.
Iconostasis of the Assumption Monastery in the Kremlin
The collaboration of the art cartel led by Dionysius with the Moscow authorities did not end there. In 1481, at the invitation of Metropolitan Vassian, artists began work on the iconostasis in the same cathedral. Like the frescoes of Dionysius, his work on a wooden board with oil surprises the viewer with coloristic harmony. But if in the painting on raw stucco the palette of colors looks surprisingly delicate, translucent, reminiscent of watercolor, then in the icons the artist resorts to the innovative technique of “color reinforcement”, which is his own “know-how”. He puts a smear of one tone on top of another, which makes the image become three-dimensional, convex. In the altar gates, Dionysius the icon painter performed the most important part - the deesis rite. Two works - the lives of Metropolitan Peter and Alexius - are vivid examples of his work. In 1482, the artist also "restored" the Byzantine icon of Our Lady "Hodegetria", damaged during the fire, for the Ascension Monastery in Moscow.
The surviving work of Dionysius in the capital
If the master’s icons are mainly transferred from the Assumption Cathedral to the museum expositions, then the frescoes can still be seen on the walls of this Kremlin church. More than twenty wall paintings of the master have been preserved. Among the "Adoration of the Magi", "Praise to the Theotokos" and other works mentioned above, attention should be paid to the fresco "Alexei, the man of God." Researchers believe that this image is a self-portrait of the artist. You can not pass by the icon of Dionysius, depicting the Last Judgment. Painted in an atmosphere of eschatological expectations of 1492, this picture is full of inner tension. But the multi-tiered composition, despite the complexity and overload of inscriptions, looks easy and elegant. Horror is replaced by glee: the translucent images of angels trample on the black figures of demons.
Work in the northern monasteries
After the success in Moscow, Dionysius the icon painter received the nickname of the “great master”. And in the Paterikon of the Volokolamsk monastery, he is mentioned under the title "Wise." And other written sources are full of laudatory references to his talent and mind. Apparently, the prominent public figure of that time, writer Joseph Volotsky, devotes his treatise to him. After 1486, the master, possibly with the same comrades in the artel, paints the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery near Moscow. But the work of Dionysius manifested itself most vividly after 1500, when he worked in the northern and Trans-Volga monasteries. Towards the end of his life, the master worked with his two sons and, possibly, with his other students. Unfortunately, only the annals tell us many works of Dionysius. He painted the Pavlo-Obnorsky, Spaso-Prilutsky, Cyril-Belozersky monasteries. It is also known that the master painted the iconostasis of the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery near Vologda.
Ferapontov Monastery
This modest monastery located in the Vologda Oblast (Kirillovsky District) should be especially mentioned. Here, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius the icon painter worked with his sons in 1502. The master created an ensemble of icons and frescoes, unique in beauty and technology. This is a real hymn to the Mother of God in colors - solemn, but at the same time joyful and bright. White, golden and greenish colors, delicate halftones dominate. In general, the images give rise to a festive mood, bear hope for the forgiveness of God and the coming Kingdom of Heaven. What is so remarkable for the murals of the Ferapontov Monastery? The monastery subsequently never had enough funds to rewrite the murals to suit the new fashion. Therefore, only here we can see the master’s work in a genuine, unchanged form.
The significance of Dionysius for Russian iconography
UNESCO dedicated the year 2002 to Dionysius the icon painter. The significance of the work of this master is difficult to overestimate. He developed the ideas of his famous predecessor, Andrei Rublev, and at the same time brought many characteristic features that were unique to him. For example, other artists began to use color enhancement and the abundant use of white after Dionysius. His manner of depicting figures with intentionally elongated limbs is also noteworthy, which among art critics brought him the glory of a mannerist. The frescoes and icons of Dionysius surprise with a confident pattern, translucent color, plasticity and perfection of compositions.