15-16 Century Icons
The earliest works in the museum collection used to adorn the
two wooden churches of the assumption that were built on after another on the
same spot in the first half of the 15th century. The partial icon of the first
church erected in Kirill's lifetime, was the "assumption", created in the first
quarter of the 15th century. We can suppose that it was specially brought for
the consecration of the edifice from Rostov, which was the centre of the see and
was painted by a master from that city. The composition of this image is quite
traditional: the body of the Mother of God is lying on a bed, surrounded by the
apostles, saints and a holy women of Jerusalem. Further up, againsta grey-blue
background with angels, one can see the magnificent figure of the Saviour,
holding in his left hand the soul of Mary, symbolised by a baby.
This panel was later moved to the stone Cathedral ofthe Assumption, consecrated in 1497,until 1668 remained in its iconostasis. It was then taken to the side-chapel devoted to St. Kirill, and later to the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the temple. In 1920 the panel was restored along with another number of icons, which later found their way to the collections of major Leningrad and Moscow Museums.
The Holy Gate, dated in the middle or second half of the 15th century, was probably created for the second assumption church (1436) in the time Hegumen Trifon, father superior from 1435 to 1447. It consists of two folds and small pillars. The doors are decorated with latticed gilded ornament, its design formed by stylised spiralling plants. Among the six icons that adorned the Holy Gate only two are still extant: "St. Gabriel" and "St. John on Patmos".
The small pillars embellished in a somewhat different manner: minute low-rekift fretwork surrounds shallow "cases" with small paintings, which are well preserved. Among these miniatures there are six representations of holy bishops on the front sides of the pillars and of six archdeacons on the sides facing the doors. The square-shaped forms that crown the pillars are adorned with the images of the Saviour on the towel (St. Mandylion), Christ Emmanuel and seraphs. These icons were executed by a very skilful master. Their colour scale is dominated by white in combination with gold, the few strokes of cinnabar giving a festive appearance to the paintings. Judging by their style, they were created in Rostov in the middle or second half of the 15th century.
The Holy Gate is a magnificent example of medieval Russian woodcarving and is characterised by a singular clarity of design. Art historian M.N. Sharomazov expressed the option that these sanctuary doors may have been donated by Vasili II (the blind) who visited the monastery in 1447. If such is the case, then we are dealing with a unique work, connected with the Grand Duke's pilgrimage. After the erection of the stone Assumption Cathedral, the Holy Gate was moved to the Presentation church and in the 18th century finally found its place in the Church of St. Sergi of Radonezh, where it can be seen today.
The iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral (1497) of the Kirillo-Belozerski Monastery is an outstanding example of the art of 15th-century Rus, presently the most well-preserved and largest of its kind in the country. Originally it consisted of four ranges: local, Deesis, feasts and prophets. By the end of the 16th century there appeared and additional tier of smaller panels on both sides of the Holy Gate. These images were donated by rich pilgrims and adorned with precious settings. In 1630 the Vologda painter Zhdan Dementiev created a new range, representing the forefathers of the old testament. The panels of (Moscow) by a group of experts headed by O.V. Lelekova.
The central part of any Orthodox iconostasis is the Deesis, visually depicting the prayer of the Heavenly Church for mankind. In the Assumption Cathedral it consisted of twenty-one panels, sixteen of which are in the Kirillov collection and the remaining five in the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg).
The most important image of the tier is the magnificent two-meter high "Christ in Glory". The figure of Jesus is placed inside a bright red Quadrangle, its elongated corners containing the symbols of the four evangelists: an angel, an eagle, a lion and an ox. In the centre of the composition we can see a dark blue-green oval, representing the Universe and heavenly powers. Christ is sitting on a throne, depicted as a supreme judge, with a diamond-shaped vermilion quadrangle in the background, a sign of powerful creative energy. With his right hand the saviour makes a blessing and his left hand holds the open book of the New Testament with the words “do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you give will be the measure you get” (Matthew 7.1-2). The iconography of “Christ in Glory” is very similar to that of the central Deesis image in the Assumption Cathedral in Valdimir (1408), only the position of the fingers of the blessing hand is different. The icon has preserved its setting of gilded chased silver. On the reverse between the dowels that bind the boards, one can read an inscription written in a single line: “in the year 7050 (1542) in the time of Hegumen Afanasi Archbishop Dosifei of Rostov did cover the image of Saviour”. This helps us establish the date of the setting that adorned not only this particular panel, but of the majority of works of the Assumption iconostasis. Today only a few images are exhibited with their settings. After extensive restoration that took place in the 1970s, experts decided to remove then on copies. This was necessary in order to keep an eye on the state of the painting itself.
The iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral was created by a crew from Moscow, its members influenced by different artistic schools. Studying the panels, experts discovered three principal styles, pointing to at least three different painters. However, inside these groups some images also vary in terms of their colour, drawing and composition. This is why certain art historians, unable to perceive the iconostasis as a single aesthetic whole, even suggested that fifteen or more masters were involved in this creation.
On both sides of the “Christ in Glory” we can see fifteen panels: “Virgin Mary”, “St. John the Baptist”, “St. Michael” and “St. Gabriel”, “St. Peter” and “St. Paul”, “St. Andrew” and “St. John”, “St. Basil the Great” and “St. John Chrysostom”, “St. Gregory the Theologian” and “St. Nicholas”, “Metropolitan Peter” and “St. Leonti of Rostov” and “St. Demetrius of Thessalonica”. O.V. Llekova holds the option that these works were created by the first master of the Assumption iconostasis, who was infuluenced by one of the trends of the Moscow School. He can be considered the leading artist of the crew, because he painted the most important sections of the iconostasis, including the mentioned “Christ of Glory” and the patronal “Assumption” (1497), which now belongs to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
The icons of the feast range represent the main events of the lives of Jesus and Virgin Mary. In the Assumption iconostasis this tier included twenty-four traditional images, as well as panel depicting St. Alypius the stylite. Only the latter did not come down to use. In 1764-1773 the iconostasis was rebuilt, and in the new construction there was not enough space for ten images of the feast range, so they were moved to the cathedral’s sanctuary and to other churches. When after 1917 the revolution the Bolsheciks closed down the monastery, these works ended up in various collections. “Pilate’s Judgement”, “Carrying of the Cross”, “Raising the cross”, “deposition” and “Entombment” can be seen in the Andrei Rubliov Museum (Moscow). “Raising of Lazarus”, “Holy Women”, “Last Supper” and “Washing the feet” are presently in the Russian Museum (St. Ptersburg). Fortunately, the majority of the panels remained in place, in the new ionostsis of the Assumption Cathedral, and today can be regarded as some of the finest works in the Kirillov collection.