In one of the remote areas of the Vologda region, near the city of Kirillov, there is an ancient monastery founded in the 14th century by the Moscow monk Ferapont. More than 600 years ago it arose from small chopped cells. Over time, surrounding lands began to be transferred to the monastery. Money flowed into the monastery treasury, with which new lands and villages were purchased, and craftsmen were also invited to build stone fortress walls, temples and other buildings. Many books were also purchased: the Ferapontov Monastery started a huge library, books copied to order were sent from here throughout Rus'.
At the very beginning of the 16th century, a team of painters appeared within the walls of the Ferapontov Monastery, painting the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. For more than four hundred years, the stone walls patiently preserved the colors of the frescoes, inscriptions and the memory of the masters who created them. One of them is Dionysius, whose name was read by scientists at the beginning of the 20th century. In my own way geographical location The cathedral was a wayside temple. At a time when, with the fall of Constantinople, a new trade route to the Russian state was being established, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the Ferapontov Monastery was precisely on this great route, passing through the White Sea along Onega and Sheksna. It was the first stone cathedral on this route and was quite suitable for fresco painting. Kargopol, located on the same Onega, was still a completely logged city, and there were no stone churches yet in the Solovetsky Monastery. The team of masters and apprentices (carpenters, plasterers, gesso makers, etc.) completed all the work assigned to them in just over two years.
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
The iconography of the frescoes of the Ferapont Cathedral in many ways has no precedent in the wall paintings of Russian churches. Never before, for example, has there been an image of John the Baptist on the altar, there have been no images of Ecumenical Councils and much more. Some researchers (in particular, G. Chugunov) believe that the akathist to the Mother of God also first appeared in Ferapontovo. In Greek and South Slavic churches, the entire life of Mary was usually depicted, starting from the “Nativity of the Virgin Mary” and ending with her “Assumption.” If an akathist to the Mother of God was included in the painting, it usually occupied an insignificant place somewhere in the aisles of churches. Dionysius creates a painting glorifying Mary, a painting similar to the chants that were composed in her honor. Of course, Dionysius did not arbitrarily introduce into the frescoes many subjects that had not been depicted before him. To take such a bold step, he had to see the previous paintings, and not just hear about them, and he could only see them on Athos. But Dionysius’s solution to many gospel stories also differs from those at Athos. At that time there were no strict canons, and Dionysius could take advantage of this circumstance. For example, he independently tried to comprehend some of the provisions of Christianity, in particular, about the life of the Mother of God. What was the main goal for previous painters became a secondary goal for Dionysius. The main task for him is the akathist to the Mother of God, her glorification, therefore the entire large cycle of paintings in the Nativity Church appears as a single hymn: “Rejoice!”
The frescoes created by Dionysius should be considered as an integral part of the architecture of the Nativity Cathedral itself. Its entire internal space - from the dome to the base - is filled with shining paintings. Dionysius willingly surrenders to the bright impressions of life; he can revel in the colorful patterns of precious brocade, bright colors overseas silks, the shine of semi-precious stones.
“The Marriage in Cana of Galilee,” for example, appears to him as a joyful feast. The cathedrals and towers that frame numerous painting scenes remind the viewer architectural monuments Moscow and Vladimir. The rhythmic construction of scenes and the movement of figures speak of the artist’s powers of observation and genius, and Dionysius always translates his life impressions into the realm of beautiful and sublime poetry. Even the most ordinary characters - servants filling vessels with wine, or blind beggars feeding on meager alms - acquire a special nobility and dignity in the frescoes.
Marriage in Cana of Galilee
In the center of the cathedral, in the dome, Christ the Pantocrator is depicted.
According to many researchers, this image resembles “Pantocrator” from St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, however, this connection is felt purely externally - in the arrangement of hands and the Gospel. The essence of Ferapont's Christ the Pantocrator is very different from Novgorod's. In Ferapontovo, Christ the Pantocrator does not have that formidable and unyielding will, like the Novgorod Pantocrator.
On the north side of the cathedral, the Virgin Mary sits on a throne, surrounded by archangels, and at the foot of the throne crowds of mortals are crowded, chanting the “Queen of Peace.” On the southern side, a host of singers glorify Mary, as in her womb she bore deliverance to the captives.”
On the western side, instead of the “Assumption”, more usual for South Slavic churches, the composition of the “Last Judgment” is depicted, in which Mary is glorified as the intercessor of the entire human race. In the eastern lunette of the temple, the Mother of God is depicted in a purely Russian, national spirit - as the patroness and defender of the Russian state. She stands with a “veil” in her hands against the background of the walls ancient Vladimir, which in those years was a symbol of the religious and political unity of Rus'. Mary is no longer surrounded by singers or saints, but by Russian people.
Protection of Our Lady
The cathedral was painted by Dionysius and his comrades not only inside, but partly also outside. On the western facade there is a well-preserved fresco that greeted those entering the temple and gave the right direction to his thoughts and feelings (later a porch was built in this part of the cathedral, and the painting ended up inside the temple).
The painting is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and consists of three belts: the upper one is the Deesis, the middle one is the scenes of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the Caress of Mary by Joachim and Anna, the lower one is the archangels. To the right of the portal is Gabriel holding a scroll on which is written “The angel of the Lord will write the names of those entering the temple.”
The portal fresco is a kind of prelude to the painting of the cathedral, because the akathist to the Virgin Mary begins here. Before Dionysius, other artists interpreted the plot of “The Nativity of the Virgin Mary” as a purely family scene in the house of Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents. Dionysius also left genre details dictated by the very content of the painting, and at the same time, his frescoes differ sharply from the works of his predecessors. In the middle tier of the paintings, Dionysius placed not scenes from the life of Mary, but illustrations to the twenty-four songs of the akathist to the Mother of God. Here the artist was least bound by canons, and from under his brush came images that were completely original. He did not show the violent movements of the human soul; the artist is drawn to reflection, to an original interpretation of traditional gospel themes.
Caress and Mary
For example, Anna and the elderly Joachim, who learned that his wife was expecting a baby. Usually other masters portrayed this scene as full of dramatic explanations. Joachim rushed to his wife, and Anna responded to him with no less expressive gestures. Dionysius doesn’t even have anything similar. His Joachim already knows about the “immaculate” conception, he reverently bows before the newborn Mary, extending his hand to her and repeating the gesture usual for “immature”. Anna in Dionysius’s fresco makes no attempt to stand up or reaches for food. Filled with dignity and humble grace, she sits on the bed, and the woman standing behind the bed not only does not help Anna get up, but does not even dare to touch the cover of the one who gave birth to the future mother of Christ. The woman to the right of the bed does not just hand Anna a bowl of food, but solemnly offers it. And this golden cup, receiving a special semantic meaning, becomes the center of the entire composition. Dionysius shows the viewer that what is before him is not the usual everyday vanity that accompanies the birth of a child, but the fulfillment of a sacred sacrament.
Nativity of the Virgin Mary
The images of all the characters from the life of Mary are filled by Dionysius with extraordinary spiritual delicacy. Their movements are smooth, gestures are only outlined, but not completed, participants in many scenes only indicate touching, but do not touch each other. This applies, for example, to the scene "Mary's Bathing". The compositional center of this part of the fresco is the golden font. Women bathing a newborn do not dare to touch her, and the one who brought Anna a gift holds it carefully, like a vessel with incense.
Bathing Mary
Researchers noted that the soft rounded contours of one shape are repeated in another; all the figures are painted lightly and picturesquely, as if they were weightless and hovering above the ground. The frescoes of the cathedral are distinguished by their tenderness, muted and lightened colors, soft color transitions, they lack contrasts and sharp comparisons. Experts (though not all) believe that when painting the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius deliberately “replaced” the red tone with pink or pale crimson, green with light green, yellow with straw yellow, blue with turquoise, so his colors almost lost their power and the masculinity inherent in his works of an earlier period.
In the vault of the southwestern pillar of the Nativity Cathedral there is a composition depicting Jesus Christ and the Moscow Metropolitans Peter and Alexei. Below them, near a pond, are a gray-haired old man, an elderly woman and two young men. Antiquity expert S.S. Churakov hypothesized that the reservoir symbolizes the source of “God’s bounties”, and the people receiving them constitute one family - husband, wife and their sons. Perhaps Dionysius depicted himself and his family here, because his two sons, Vladimir and Theodosius, worked with him in Ferapontovo.
S.S. Churakov believes that real people were introduced by Dionysius into another composition. Thus, in the scene of the Last Judgment, among the Fryazins (foreigners), the artist depicted the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who built the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. And indeed, this portrait is very expressive: the head of the person depicted is somewhat thrown back, a large forehead, a nose with a characteristic hump, brown eyes, a shaved face, a bald skull... The viewer is presented with a middle-aged, independent man, wise with experience and knowledge, who does not bow even to overlords. For now, this is just a hypothesis, which may be answered by future research.
Text by Nadezhda Ionina
Perhaps this post will not seem entirely interesting to you - there are few reproductions, their quality leaves much to be desired (however, it seems to me that this is simply impossible to convey in photographs), a lot of text (I warn you right away) - but I really wanted to remind you of the great Master who dedicated all my life to one project. ONE - but which one!!! Moscow photographer and publisher Yuri Holdin - the only one who managed the almost impossible: he not only captured all the frescoes of Dionysius of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Ferapontov Monastery on a camera, but also, thanks to innovative photography methods, managed to convey their color, texture, volume, proportions, which, according to experts, is unique even for the modern level of photography technology. By the way, residents and guests of Moscow can see his works - the Museum of Orthodox Art of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior now has a permanent exhibition of works by photographer Yuri Holdin. In addition, there is a traveling exhibition of works from his project “The Light of Dionysius’ Frescoes for the World.”
So, Yuri Ivanovich Holdin. No. First Dionysius, or rather his frescoes. On September 21, 2012, the famous frescoes of the great Dionysius in the Ferapontov Monastery turned 510 years old. Frescoes in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the Ferapontov Monastery are the only monument in Russia of medieval Russian artistic culture of the 11th-15th centuries. with a complete cycle of paintings (I emphasize this, otherwise you will think that it is the only one), preserved in its original form. Only for this reason they have a unique meaning, not to mention the fact that they were written by their master, whom his contemporaries called “wise,” “notorious above all in this matter,” “the first artist of painting” in Rus'. The area of fresco painting is about 700 sq.m. and includes about three hundred compositions by the artist. The frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery are included in the World Heritage List cultural heritage UNESCO are included in the State Code of Especially Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia. I will not write about the brilliant Dionysius and the Ferapont Monastery.
The ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery is a historical and cultural monument of federal significance in the Kirillovsky district of the Vologda region
Frescoes of Dionysius in the Cathedral of the Nativity Holy Mother of God
Yuri Holdin was born on August 15, 1954. Graduated from the University of Arts in 1979, VGIK. Worked in cinema. Since 1990, he became immersed in Orthodox themes and began taking photographs. During this period, he rented the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery. Publishes an album of his photographs "Moscow Necropolis. Novodevichy Convent". Begins working on the series "Frescoes of Rus'". Since 1995, he has been photographing the frescoes of Dionysius in the Ferapontov Monastery. The result of the work was the educational project “The Light of Dionysius’s Frescoes to the World”, within the framework of which the Dionysius’ frescoes captured by Yuri Holdin were exhibited in 2006 at the State Tretyakov Gallery, New Manege at the exhibition “The Light of Orthodoxy” as part of the Educational Christmas Readings (2007), Russian State humanitarian university, Novgorod, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg. One of the master’s most significant works in recent years has been the art album “Through the Veil of Five Centuries: An Intimate Encounter with the Frescoes of Dionysius the Wise.” Yuri Holdin was one of the founders and president of the Frescoes of Rus' Foundation. His professional activities took place in Russia and other countries.
Dionysius and his sons painted the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the Ferapontov Monastery in 34 days. Holdin photographed the complex of these frescoes for 10 years! It took so much time not only to cover all the wall paintings. Looking at the master’s works, you remember the literal translation of the word “photography” - “light painting”. Typically, frescoes are photographed at night, under artificial lighting, which results in fairly rigid contours with impenetrable spots of black shadows. The worst thing is what is written on the concave surfaces of the temple. Yuri Holdin’s author’s method allows you to take photographs during the day: “We took as a standard for conveying the color of Dionysius’s frescoes a sunny summer day, when the ocher flares up, lights up festively, and at the same time you can perceive this as a liturgical time, when the candles light up and the ocher is painted so warm golden color, and the blue and blue colors calm down a little. And only then did we start to succeed. But this work does not lie in the field of reproduction or in the field of photographic recording, because this is already an interior staged shooting. Of course, we worked with light, space and image, including the image of Dionysius’ compositions. That is, everything was important to us - the window, the frames, the screed, the floor, the door, and, of course, the frescoes.” This is a unique work, both artistic and scientific at the same time. The exceptionally high quality level of reproduction of the created material is associated with innovative developments in the field of physics of light and in the field of color science. Holdin himself always compared himself to a translator - translating from the language of icon painting into the language of light painting, that is, photography. And here, as in the work of any translator, the main thing is to achieve maximum artistic and semantic accuracy. Not a bit of retouching or, as they would say now, photoshop. Even the cracks are as if they were alive. In addition, the photographer, contrary to the art historical techniques of the 20th century, did not reproduce frescoes, but began to work with space.
Our Lady on the throne with the archangels Gabriel and Michael
Saint Nicholas of Myra
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary - northeastern part
First Ecumenical Council
Archangel Gabriel (fresco fragment " Annunciation ") - left; " Oh, All-Singing Mother"
"Annunciation"
"The Dream and Caress of Mary"
"Mary's Bath"
"Adoration of the Magi"
"He rejoices in You... "Virgin Mary with Saints
Marriage in Cana of Galilee
Great Martyr George
Righteous Joseph. Fragment of the fresco " Flight to Egypt"
I became acquainted with the works of Yuri Holdin at an exhibition in Kolomenskoye. To be honest, I didn’t immediately understand, or rather, realized that these were photographs. I leaned towards them to get a better look. A wild thought was spinning in my head: “Were they really taken off the wall and framed?” Looking at the too realistically presented Dionysius, you do not immediately understand that behind the photographic frescoes the enormous work of another master, through whose eyes we can now see the frescoes, is much more real than in the native walls of the cathedral. Those who have been there at least once understand how half an hour is not enough. excursion program to “embrace the immensity.” But you can go a long way and not get to the cathedral - at the opening of the exhibition in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' spoke about his own sad experience. In addition, the compositional accuracy and coloring of the photo frescoes, which create the effect of presence in the cathedral itself, now allows us to see a lot without perspective distortions. As an example, those who visited the Ferapont Monastery did not see such John the Baptist. This image is high, its visibility depends on the light, and the light depends on the time of day, year and weather. Holdin’s works provide an opportunity, unattainable in a museum, to see the frescoes as Dionysius himself saw them.
"The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins" . Section along the central longitudinal nave
Section along the central transverse nave - view to the west. After receiving the good news, Mary went to her mother’s sister Elizabeth, the wife of the priest Zechariah, the future mother of John the Baptist.
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary - external painting of the western portal
Fragment of the northern wall of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
The work of Yuri Ivanovich Holdin was not an order and was not funded. His only support was his family, his wife, who did not complain (although she had to sacrifice a lot) to allow her husband to finish filming the ancient masterpiece. Holdin made no compromises when it came to the quality of both shooting and printing. He destroyed those prints that looked quite decent to an outsider, but, from his point of view, did not match the color of the frescoes in Ferapontov. The argument that this is a waste of money was not accepted at all. Each of his photographs is unique: from each frame there remains one author’s print. When applied to photography, this is a paradox. But Holdin was engaged not just in photography, but in translation from the language of icon painting to the language of light painting. A masterly and faithful translation. The skill of the photographer cannot be separated from a deep understanding of ancient Russian art. God knows how much time the artist devoted to developing a unique method of photographic reproduction of frescoes. All this will remain a secret to Yuri Holdin. He died while filming morning Moscow - on Sunday, July 29, 2007, at about five in the morning - he fell from the 11th floor of the building where he lived. The cornice on which the Master was standing collapsed...
I understand that there is a lot of text, but don’t be lazy, please read Guzel Agisheva’s article. You will get to know this amazing person and Master better.
There was such an ascetic, Yuri Holdin, who revealed to us the great Russian icon painter Dionysius - the author of the frescoes in the Ferapontov Monastery
The frescoes of Dionysius in the Ferapontov Monastery are 510 years old. Let's be honest: few people will get there. And even if he gets there, he won’t see much. They are allowed in for only 15 minutes, during which time even the most experienced person in icon painting with the keenest eyesight is not able to grasp the genius of Dionysius. But! There was such an ascetic, Yuri Holdin, who revealed Dionysius to us. And this is not an exaggeration. To appreciate his works, you need to come to the exhibition at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This exhibition continues to be supplemented with new works from the archives of the photographer and, with the blessing of the patriarch, will now be permanent.
In the early 1990s, Holdin was already a well-known personality - he had international awards for associative photography. I could do commercial photography and make money. But “everyone chooses a woman, a religion, a path for themselves.” He went to Solovki in 1992 to talk about the fate of Russia through the fate of the monastery. Filmed a large series about the “Solovetsky Golgotha” and the return of the monastery. Without waiting for understanding, he threw away a huge amount of work, managing to publish only a small album in Italy. Later, on a pilgrimage to the Russian north, I stopped with a friend, the poet Yuri Kublanovsky, at the Ferapontov Monastery. Does this happen by chance? I saw the frescoes of Dionysius in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and could no longer tear myself away from them. Ferapontov became the meaning of his life. For 12 years, until his tragic death, Yuri Ivanovich Holdin devoted Dionysius to how to show people this famous, but essentially unknown masterpiece to the world without distortion.
At that time, it was considered correct to shoot frescoes at night, under harsh frontal artificial lighting, to convey true color. Holdin destroyed this stereotype. He thought about what kind of light environment Dionysius could have kept in mind when painting the temple? I began to study how natural light affects our perception of space and color in the cathedral. Confirmation of his search came from Italy - along with the exhibition “Giotto in Padua”, which was brought to Russia in 2004. The Italians built a model of the chapel out of wood and covered it inside with photographs of Giotto's frescoes. Flat. Someone laughed at this and called it canned food. And Holdin already knew why this feeling arose. That’s why I set myself a super task: the feeling should be as if you find yourself in the single color space of a cathedral.
For a whole year I studied the murals, calculated the light in which the color of Dionysius was revealed most harmoniously, so that neither warm nor cold paint would dominate, so that the ocher would light up, and the cabbage roll would flicker, there would be no gaps and inevitable black shadows: And I found the only correct one for solving the task tuning fork: midday on a sunny day - that’s when Dionysius’s plan is fully revealed. Of course, this is the culmination of the Divine Liturgy! But daylight is very changeable, which means it is impossible to correctly convey color in daylight conditions? Holdin found his own narrow way to overcome this problem. It took seven years to solve the most complex technological problems of light and color rendering in order to give the viewer a feeling of otherworldliness of the images, of them floating in the light-air space of the temple. And in the end, as one priest-artist put it, “he showed Dionysius to the world without a single shadow earthly world" His album “Through the Veil of Five Centuries” (2002) became an event of global significance. 300 compositions, or 700 “squares” of painting! Everything was here - volume, color, light, texture. In fact - a facsimile of Dionysius himself! By the way, about the facsimile: Dionysius did not sign his creations; this was not customary among ancient Russian icon painters. But in the Nativity of the Theotokos Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery he left a signature in the pier of the northern door of the temple: “And the scribes Deonisius the icon-maker with his children. O Lord Christ, King of all, deliver them, O Lord, from eternal torment.”
Holdin's exhibition works are unique - all experimental specimens with more than half a percent of color were destroyed by him. He was firm in his understanding of his responsibility for Dionysius: “There should be no marriage left after me.” Replicating Kholdin's works is the most difficult task. Believing that “digital” is just an intermediate information product, he used a slide, an object of the same water-based nature as the fresco itself, as the basis for shooting. And, scanning each time to the required size, he achieved a special ringing: to convey each composition without the slightest loss of quality, so that the viewer would have the feeling that he was seeing the fresco itself. And he achieved this - many come up and touch:
There were legends about Holdin's professional demands even during his lifetime. He irritated many people with it. Previously, art historians used words to describe what a potential viewer had to take on faith: an angel’s clothes are such and such a color, a wing is such and such: And here you go, here are the works of Dionysius, without the slightest distortion! If you go to the temple, you won’t see it like that: you don’t know what time of day they will let you in there, and even then for 15 minutes! And the Mont Blancs of candidate and doctoral theses, with their rituals and outright gags, which are usually called scientific interpretation, went to hell! Because one such smart “photographer” came and through 12 years of his earnest, selfless work, guided by talent, intuition, insight, he turned the whole thing from head to foot.
By showing Dionysius, Holdin gave us unprecedented opportunities for research, and thanks to this breakthrough, the most interesting things have already been discovered. Not some trifles, but perhaps the most important thing in the icon painter’s work: we saw the luminous center of Dionysius’s works. In Soviet times - feel the difference - it was called the empty center! But it turned out that it was not empty at all, but luminous. For the main thing that the icon painter Dionysius sought was to convey the Divine Tabor light! Thus, the Favorian light of Dionysius’s creations was revealed to us five centuries later thanks to Holdin.
I’m watching filming from 2006 - Yuri Kholdin and Savva Yamshchikov are giving a press conference at the Tretyakov Gallery. Holdin is handsome, light, as if drawn with a feather, with an open, clear face. He speaks calmly, simply. And when a year later he fell from the 12th floor while filming, no one believed it was an accident. They talked about the unnatural flight path, and a criminal case was opened. But Katya, his wife and most faithful assistant, does not want to talk about it. She talks about his business with pleasure, laughs, remembering that she once complained to him about the lack of money, for everyday life, for the children: after all, almost all personal funds from the family budget for years went to the progress of the project. And in response, a saying from the New Testament appeared on the wall above her desk: “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” He believed that one must be prepared to receive God’s mercy. He was ready.
Guzel Agisheva
Article “The Second Coming of Dionysius.” Newspaper "Trud" from issue 169, November 20, 2012.
Dionysius the Wise. With this definition, the name of this famous and one of the most revered artists of Rus' of the late 15th and early 16th centuries is written down on the pages of the history of icon painting.
The exact dates of the artist’s birth and death are not known: he was born into the family of a noble layman Kvashnin around 1450, and died around 1520. The founder of the family was Ivan Rodionovich, a boyar of Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1390. Funeral entries in the Ferapont Synodik suggest that Dionysius’s wife, Maria, came from the family of clerk Elizar Tsypletev - “a descendant of the princely origin of the family of Belozersk patrimonial Monastyrevs.”
According to ancient Russian chronicles, the icon painter worked a lot, received orders from monasteries, churches, princes of such principalities as Vladimir, Rostov, Uglicheskoe, and from the Moscow Tsar Ivan III. According to historical documents, we know the artist’s works in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky Monastery (between 1467 and 1476), the Assumption (1480-1481) and Ascension (1482) cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery (1481), the cathedrals of Joseph-Volokolamsk (after 1485), Chigasov (1480), Pavlo-Obnorsky (1500), Spaso-Prilutsky (1503), Kirillo-Belozersky (1497) and, of course, Ferapontov monasteries (1502).
Unfortunately, today the Master’s works have been preserved only in fragments or have been lost completely. But the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Ferapontov Monastery has such a treasure as authentic frescoes, almost unchanged by time and people.
The cathedral's murals are enormous - 600 square meters. meters! 300 plots and individual characters occupy the entire space! Outside, the paintings are located in the central part of the western wall above the doorway and in the lower part of the southern wall above the burial of St. Martinian.
And all this work was carried out in an incredibly short time - only 34 days! This is evidenced by the artist’s signature on the surface of the arch of the northern entrance: “In the summer of the 7010th month of August at 6, on the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, the registration of this church began. And on the 2nd summer of the month of September, at 8 on the Nativity, our Most Holy Lady, Theotokos Mary, passed away. Under the Righteous Grand Duke Ivan Vasilievich of All Rus' and under the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of All Rus' and under Archbishop Tikhon. And scribe Deonisie the icon painter with his children. O Lord Christ, King of all, deliver them, O Lord, from eternal torment.”.
Art historians also agree that the cathedral was painted by Dionysius together with his sons, Theodosius and Vladimir - more than one hand is felt in the manner of painting. For example, on the slope of a cache, a more skilled artist made two drawings that helped the less skilled artist paint his hands. Under these drawings is written the letter “fita”, with which the name Theodosius begins.
The words of prayer at the end of the entry, as historians suggest, mean that the painting of the cathedral was done as a gift to the monastery, i.e. Dionysius did not take payment for this. Thus, he made a contribution to the monastery for the sake of his soul. This can be confirmed by the fact that the artist’s family is recorded in the monastery synodik. But not everyone received such an honor, but only those who made large donations.
The paintings were done from top to bottom, the compositions of each tier most often being united by a common theme. Dionysius painted in mixed media - frescoes on wet plaster and tempera. According to legend, the artist partially used multi-colored minerals located in the vicinity of the Ferapontov Monastery to make paints. But restoration work, which has been carried out since 1981 and is partially ongoing to this day, has refuted this statement. As prosaic as it may seem, Dionysius wrote with imported paints. Most likely Italian and German. But the effect that he achieved, that amazing closeness of the palette of frescoes and nature - this is the great skill of the Artist!
The ancient icons from the cathedral also belong to the brushes of Dionysius. In the 1930s, the iconostasis was confiscated “due to its low artistic value.” And it’s fortunate that the icons were not destroyed, but transferred to museums - the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, and the museum of the Kirillo-Belozersky Reserve.
Iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. Photography from the early 20th century.
The iconostasis consisted of four rows of icons - local, festive, Deesis and prophetic, inserted into a carved wooden frame built in the mid-18th century.
Now, let's go and see the extraordinary frescoes, this is a perfect decoration of the cathedral.
At the time of painting, the temple did not have a porch, and the portal composition took on its function - it helped to tune in to detachment from the daily bustle and prepare oneself for service, to think about the meaning of life.
The theme of the temple holiday is the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, and the main motif of the painting is dedicated to this event. From left to right, directly above the door, the artist depicted the first moments of Mary's life - Christmas, Bathing, Mary's Dream and Mary's Caress. On the sides of the entrance are depicted two angels - Michael, the head of the heavenly army and the punishing sword of the Lord, and Gabriel with an open scroll. At the top, in the medallion, the Savior is depicted with an open book
fate He is surrounded by the Mother of God, John the Baptist, archangels and apostles. This is a traditional rite of prayer for the human race.
The theme of the Virgin Mary runs deep inside the cathedral.
- this line of the Akathist is the basis of everything. Akathist is a solemn prayer, a chant praising the Mother of God. This hymn was supposed to be listened to while standing, hence the name - Akathist, translated from Greek - Nesedalen. The cycle begins with four images of the Annunciation and continues along the entire perimeter of the temple - the Kissing of Mary and Elizabeth, the Doubts of Joseph, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Journey of the Magi, the Return of the Magi to Babylon, the Flight to Egypt and the Candlemas. The compositions flow into one another, echoing each other, unfolding like a scroll with writing, from the eastern to the western pillars and then onto the walls. Researchers note that the order and arrangement of the scenes corresponds to the Akathist Saturday ritual.
“Rejoice, Unbrided Bride!”
The icon was placed in the iconostasis to the left of the Royal Doors and played an important role in the interior of the cathedral, being one of the key images of the entire ensemble dedicated to the Mother of God. It seems to unite and concentrate the idea of the picturesque design of the temple, the leading themes of which were those of the Akathist to the Mother of God.
The image of the Mother of God on the icon belongs to the Hodegetria type, which translated from Greek means “guide”.
The version of the image of the Mother of God Hodegetria presented on the icon has no direct analogies until the 17th century, when icons of similar iconography became widespread under the name Hodegetria of Sedmiezerskaya.
Kept in the Russian Museum
Dionysius, as it turned out, was an innovator not only in the painting of the Akathist. For example, before him, the image of John the Baptist had never been seen on the altar, the Ecumenical Councils were not depicted in the paintings of churches, and on the western wall, instead of the usual “Assumption,” the scene of the “Last Judgment” is depicted. But even here, in this menacing scene, Dionysius continues his hymn to the Mother of God. She acts as a protector of the human race.
The lunettes of the vaults (the wall field in the form of a semicircle) contain the largest and most spectacular compositions dedicated to the Mother of God. On the northern wall - Rejoices in You, on the southern wall - the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary and in the eastern part - the Intercession.
Above all this, in the dome, is a half-figure of Christ Pantocrator - a half-length image of Christ blessing him with a closed Gospel in his left hand. Around it, in the spaces between the windows, archangels are depicted, and at the base of the light drum - foremother Eve with the forefathers (Adam, Abel, Enoch, etc.)
The altar contains a half-figure of John the Baptist and the Procession of the Deacons,
and in the deacon there is an image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and scenes from his life.
And again the Mother of God - now in the central asp. The archangels Michael and Gabriel kneel before her.
And one more, external, fresco, and again the hymn to the Mother of God - on the southern wall, above the burial place of the Monk Martinian! (Ferapontov Monastery. Church of Martinian of Belozersky)
Only thanks to an exceptional coincidence of circumstances, the frescoes created by Dionysius have survived to this day. The painting of the cathedral suffered severely in the 17th century, when the monks, caring for better illumination of the building, broke through new wide windows in the domed vestibule of the cathedral, expanded all the slit windows on the walls and made a new window on the western wall, thereby destroying the image of Jesus Christ from the composition of the Last Judgment . As a result of this, the cathedral slowly began to fall apart into four parts, and by the middle of the 18th century it had to be “tied together” with massive forged iron ties.
After the closure of the monastery in 1798, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was used as a parish church. And only at the beginning of the 20th century the architectural restoration of the cathedral and other buildings of the monastery was carried out. And in the first years of Soviet power, the cathedral was saved as a monument of national Russian art, solely thanks to the efforts of the Vologda architectural inspector A.K. Kedrov.
Dionysius is unique in everything. It is unique even in the restoration of its murals. When examining the paintings, it was established that all previous attempts to strengthen the layers of frescoes using traditional methods led to new and varied destruction. And here, in the Ferapontov Monastery, a unique technique for strengthening painting was used for the first time. The main principle of using new preservatives was to bring them under the lagging paint layer without going onto its surface. The fact is that when they came into contact with the paint layer, the previously used preservatives changed the color of the paint. In addition, those areas of the painting that were still partially lost were strengthened with a special solution - the so-called. “wax nails,” but they did not paint them. This is especially noticeable in the painting of the dome, in the image of Christ Pantocrator.
But first it was necessary to clean the walls from the dirt and dust that had accumulated over so many centuries, without damaging the priceless frescoes. It was truly a titanic work! Cleaning was carried out by rolling the surface with cotton swabs and rollers through a polyamide mesh non-woven material! Manually!
The long-term restoration and strengthening of the cathedral's paintings have generally been completed. Currently, regular preventive work is being carried out here.
In 2000, the ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery with paintings by Dionysius was included in the List world heritage UNESCO.
In preparing the text, materials were used from the monastery’s website and from the report “Results of the Conservation of the Dionysius Mural” by GosNIIR.
Strelnikova E.R.
CATHEDRAL OF THE Nativity OF THE VIRGIN
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was erected in 1490 on the site that was consecrated by the Monk Ferapont for a wooden church in 1408. The construction of stone churches in the North was unusual at that time. Even in the Cyril Monastery - the more famous and rich - only seven years later they were able to build a stone Assumption Cathedral. For the first time, brick construction began in the North in the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery on the island of Lake Kubenskoye. Next was the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the Ferapontov Monastery. Its decor and construction techniques indicate that the architects were most likely Rostov masters.
The type of the temple is traditional for Moscow architecture: cross-domed, four-pillar, cubic, three-apse. Under the pitched roof are hidden the zakomars and the drum of the unpreserved dome above the chapel of St. Nicholas of Myra. The cathedral had a belfry, the remains of which became part of the northern porch. The facades and the drum are decorated with brick patterns.
The temple was “signed” by the famous ancient Russian master Dionysius and his sons. Its authorship is confirmed by the autograph of the icon painter on the northern wall of the church. It states that the painting began on August 6, 7010 (1502), and was completed on September 8, for the temple holiday. “And the scribes Dionysius the iconographer and his children.”
Interior of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the Ferapontov Monastery. Photos of the early 20th century
Frescoes cover the entire internal surface of the temple with a total area of about 800 square meters, they are completely preserved. Only some fragments were lost due to the removal of windows and the reconstruction of the iconostasis. The frescoes of the cathedral made the Ferapontov Monastery world famous. This is the only monument in the country in which the frescoes of the early 16th century have survived in their original design almost in full. Renovations made in the middle of the 18th century affected mainly the paintings in poorer preservation.
Dionysius painted in mixed media - frescoes (on wet ground) and tempera. To make paints, as legend says, he partially used multi-colored minerals located in the vicinity of the Ferapontov Monastery in the form of placers.
The basic scheme of the paintings is traditional: the dome depicts the Lord Pantocrator with the archangels and forefathers, the evangelists are in the sails, the gospel scenes are in the vaults, the Last Judgment is on the western wall, warrior-martyrs and saints are on the pillars, below the ornamental shrouds are the seven Ecumenical Councils , in the altar - the Mother of God with the Child of God on the throne, in the altar - the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, in the deacon (aka the southern chapel) - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. Concha of the southern aisle of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Ferapontov Monastery.
GREAT AKATHIST
A special place among the paintings of the Ferapontov Monastery is occupied by “Akathist to the Mother of God” - a picturesque interpretation of a song of praise consisting of 25 songs. All the chants are reflected in Dionysius. The master placed the akathist scenes in the third tier of paintings along the entire perimeter of the cathedral. Dionysius created one of the most perfect embodiments of the Akathist in painting.
The cycle begins on the eastern pillars with four scenes of the Annunciation, conveying the first four songs of the Akathist. The scenes then move to the edges of the western pillars, facing the center of the temple (Kissing of Mary and Elizabeth, Joseph's Doubt, Adoration of the Shepherds, Journey of the Magi). The continuation of the theme of the Nativity of Christ moves to the southwestern vaults (“Return of the Magi”, “Flight into Egypt”), from the 16th song (kontakion of the 9th “Every angelic nature was amazed...”) on the southern wall, the scenes along the western edges of the pillars move to the northern wall (starting from kontakion 7 - “Candlemas”). The use of the surfaces of the pillars, and not just the southern and northern walls for the Akathist scenes, has no analogues either in the paintings of Russian churches or churches outside Russia. This arrangement is very important compositionally: the artist filled the entire temple with scenes of chants. They “sound” both along the walls, and in the center of the temple on the pillars, and on the vaults in the northern and southern corners of the cathedral.
Akathist to the Mother of God, ikos 3. “Kissing Elizabeth” (meeting of Mary and Elizabeth)
According to the content of the narrative parts, the Akathist songs of Dionysius are divided into two halves - those related to the gospel story (the first 12 songs) and those containing reasoning and doxologies (the next 12).
The akathist cycle is associated with the main paintings of the temple, dedicated to the glorification of the Mother of God, her Praise, which includes such compositions as the Intercession, the Cathedral of the Mother of God (“What shall we bring to Thee”) and “Every creature rejoices in You, O blessed One.” The latter, like the Akathist, are written to the words of chants.
FRESCO OF DIONYSIUS IN THE TOMB OF THE REVEREND MARTINIAN
In addition to painting the entire internal surface of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, Dionysius in the same 1502 partially decorated with frescoes the two outer walls of the cathedral, the western and southern ones. The portal painting of the western wall is dedicated to the temple feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. A lot has been written about her. Much less attention was paid by researchers to the external fresco of the southern wall at the burial of one of the founders of the Ferapontov Monastery, the Monk Martinian. In the 17th century The fresco ended up in the interior of the church-tomb attached to the cathedral, and is located in a niche of its northern wall.
The burial of the wonderworker Martinian turned out to be the logical center around which the stone construction of the monastery took shape. Martinian died in 1483, at the age of 76, and was buried near the southern wall of the then wooden Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, erected by the monk himself in 1465. In 1490, his student and prayer leader, Archbishop of Rostov Joasaph (Obolensky), on the site of a wooden Church built the first stone cathedral without disturbing the burial. The fact that the burial was not under the cathedral, but outside, suggests that the veneration of St. Martinian was already significant at that time, and this was supposed to be evidenced by a separate tomb, following the example of the tomb of St. Kirill of Belozersky. There is no exact information about what the original tomb was like, apparently wooden. I. I. Brilliantov suggested that after the construction of the cathedral a chapel was erected. Its presence is confirmed by the existence of a wooden shrine, built before the construction of the Martinian Church in 1640-1641. The reliquary dates from about 1570. One panel of it survives, forming the east side of the later gilded wooden reliquary of 1646, which became part of the decoration of the stone church.
Gilded wooden carved shrine of St. Martinian. Fresco of Dionysius over the burial. Photo from the 1980s.
It can be assumed that the original tomb on the site of the existing church was erected before the canonization of the abbot. The basis for this can be the healings described in the life at the tomb of Martinian, where prayer services were served before the councils of 1549-1551, although not to the abbot, but to the Mother of God. In the Life, compiled in the middle of the 16th century. The monk of the Ferapontov Monastery, Matthew, mentioned not only the tomb, but also cancer (in the story about the 10th miracle of the healing of the young man Stephen from leprosy). The miracle occurred at a time when Abbot Gury was in Moscow with a list of nine miracles and learned about the tenth miracle upon his return to the monastery. The builder of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Archbishop Joasaph of Rostov, could himself build a tomb for his illustrious teacher. Not without interest in this sense is the opinion expressed to the author by the artist N.V. Gusev, who copied the frescoes of the cathedral for 35 years, that the fresco over the burial of St. Martinian was created for the interior, since it was painted with darker colors, in contrast to the external portal.
Compared to the painting of the cathedral, this painting has very large losses. Despite the poor preservation of the composition, it can be defined as “Our Lady of Pechersk with the upcoming archangels Michael and Gabriel, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the kneeling monks Ferapont and Martinian.” All the figures are facing the central image of the Virgin Mary, which has been completely lost. The figures of the archangels and St. Nicholas standing behind the Archangel Gabriel are in the best state of preservation. The figures of the crouching Ferapont and Martinian have been lost by almost half.
The width of the fresco exactly corresponds to the length of the shrine (231 cm), that is, the size of the saint’s coffin. In the 17th century During the construction of the tomb church, the fresco was to some extent neglected, since its upper left edge turned out to be higher than the edge of the arch of the niche, and a wide field was left behind the right part of the composition. The fresco was not whitewashed for a long time; the monastery inventories were from 1763 and 1747. she is mentioned. In the 19th century Significant alterations began in connection with the extension in 1836-1838. meals on the west side. At the same time, the mural painting of the quadrangle and the meal was completed. During these works, the tombstone fresco of Dionysius was severely damaged: the protruding part of the composition (the cathedral pilaster) was hewed away and a new painting was made on top of the ground. The ancient fresco was hidden by a layer of cement and a recording, different in content, which depicted the “Death of Martinian”.
In 1928, the fresco of Dionysius was uncovered from contamination and cement by restorer P.I. Yukin. The composition turned out to be severely damaged: in addition to the loss of its central part, the spaces on the faces of the saints and some other upper layers of the painting were erased. Confirmation that the central figure was the Mother of God and Child was found in the archive by researcher M.G. Malkin in the inventory of the beginning of the 18th century: “Above the shrine is the image of the Most Pure Mother of God of Pechersk, on the sides are the images of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, St. Nicholas in prayer, the Venerables Ferapont and Martinian, written in wall writing.” Another researcher V.D. Sarabyanov found mention of this fresco in the inventories of 1747, 1751, 1763 and 1767. and did not find it in subsequent inventories of the 18th century, suggesting that the fresco had already been whitewashed by that time.
The author of the first book about the frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery V.T. This composition remained unknown to Georgievsky, since it was revealed by P.I. Yukin much later than the publication of Georgievsky. The murals of the church-tomb were introduced into scientific circulation by N.M. Chernyshev, who dated it to the time of the painting of the cathedral. In art historical literature, different opinions have been expressed about the nature of the composition and the degree of skill of its author. For example, G.V. Popov believed that the fresco was painted without the participation of Dionysius, and M.G. Malkin took it to the hand of the “last master” of his artel.
Following historical logic, it can be argued that the mural painting in the niche of the church of St. Martinian was carried out by Dionysius himself due to the special importance of this place, since it decorated the burial of the highly revered abbot, the “owner” of the monastery, figuratively speaking, the “successor” of the glory of the founder of the monastery, St. Ferapont. Let us recall that the relics of the wonderworker Ferapont are located in the Luzhetsky Mozhaisk Monastery, where he rested in 1426, and his Belozersk monastery began to be called the Martinian monastery.
If we consider the composition in the tomb church not in isolation from the rest of the mural, then in addition to decorating the place where the relics of one of the founders of the monastery are buried, it continued (or rather completed) the disclosure of the general plan for the painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. Like the portal fresco, which was simultaneously completed at the end of the painting of the cathedral, the mural painting of the tomb was the final link in a single artistic embodiment of the idea of intercession. If on the portal of the cathedral the main focus in the upper register of the painting is the appearance of the Savior, then on the southern wall of the temple this continued with the appearance of the Mother of God. Moreover, the asymmetry of the number of Deesis figures in the portal fresco was balanced in combination with the asymmetry of the standing Virgin Mary on the southern wall. Based on this, it seems unconvincing to assume that the fourth figure from the left in the Deesis is St. Nicholas, especially from the unconventional side for him, ¾ at the right hand of the Savior. Following the logic of the unity of the external frescoes, it can be assumed that when placing the image of Archbishop Nicholas of Myra on the fresco in the tomb, Dionysius placed on the portal not him, but his fellow saint. Thus, in the iconostasis of the cathedral, the icon of St. Nicholas corresponded to the icon of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian.
The recognition of the fourth saint on the portal was complicated by the fact that his figure was also badly damaged by alterations, like the fresco in the tomb. In the 18th century the roof of the porch was lowered, and its rafters were cut into the murals of the upper register of the portal. Before restoration work, the figure was not completely visible; it remained above the suspended ceiling. Various assumptions have been made about which saint is depicted in the Deesis of the portal. The monastery inventory of 1747 mentions this composition: “In the porch above the western church doors there is an image of the Savior Almighty. On the sides of the Spasov image there are written in wall script images of the Most Holy Theotokos, John the Baptist, the archangels Michael and Gabriel and the apostolic images, and images of the Nativity of the Mother of God” [emphasis added by us ¾ E.S.] Dionysius depicted the third pair, as in the Deesis of the iconostasis the apostles Peter and Paul, the fourth unpaired figure at the right hand of the Savior is most likely the Apostle John the Theologian, the same name saint of the builder of the cathedral, Archbishop Joasaph of Rostov (in the world Prince John of Obolensky).
Returning to the fresco in the tomb, it should be noted that the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the southern wall is not accidental, since this wall is common with the St. Nicholas chapel (a feature noticed by many researchers). It is worth emphasizing the “feedback” connection of the chapel with the church of St. Martinian. On the southern wall of the chapel there is a composition “The Transfer of the Relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker,” which depicts a large shrine of St. Nicholas. Under this fresco on the outside, that is, in the interior of the church-tomb, there is a shrine of St. Martiniana. The interconnection of the compositions is enhanced by the architectural detail of a ¾ window from the cathedral to the church, which, as is known, also had a symbolic interpretation. The vertical line from the window, which is the connecting link between the cathedral and the church, falls on the edge of the composition from the side of the figure of St. Nicholas.
If in the chapel all the compositions reveal the “earthly” deeds of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, then the outer fresco depicts his “heavenly” intercession. Here the continuity from Archbishop Nicholas to Abbot Martinian is emphasized. Nicholas of Myra is a great organizer and shepherd, and this is in consonance with the actions of the Monk Martinian, the builder of the Ferapont monastery and a revered shepherd. Saint Martinian was the spiritual mentor of such famous figures as the Monk Cassian the Greek, Blessed Galaktion of Belozersky, Bishop Philotheus of Perm and the aforementioned Archbishop Joasaph of Rostov, the builder of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin and the customer of the frescoes of Dionysius.
The frescoes of Dionysius in the St. Nicholas chapel colorfully depict the intercession of St. Nicholas for those unjustly convicted (the compositions “Deliverance of Three Men from Execution,” “Appearance to Three Governors in Prison,” “Appearance of St. Nicholas to Tsar Constantine” and “Appearance of St. Nicholas to Eparch Evlavius”). We find similar examples in the Life of St. Martinian. It is enough to recall his fearlessness in defending the boyar from the disgrace of Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark. The Grand Duke, having chosen the monk as his spiritual father, called him to be abbess at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, from where he subsequently returned to the Ferapont monastery. One day Vasily II wanted to return a boyar who had fled to the prince of Tver, and sent the Monk Martinian to him. Having secured promises, the boyar returned, but was captured and imprisoned. Having learned about this, Abbot Martinian immediately rode on horseback to Moscow, appeared to the sovereign and denounced him with anger, withdrawing his blessing on him and his reign. The prince remembered well how the loss of the blessing of his former rival Dimitry Shemyaka turned out and “feared God.” He immediately removed the boyar’s disgrace and went to the Trinity Monastery with repentance. Hegumen Martinian met and blessed his spiritual son with honor, and he himself asked for his forgiveness for his daring, showing an example of gentleness and humility.
The composition “The Repose of St. Nicholas” is located on the southern altar pillar of the cathedral opposite the “Transfer of the Relics of Nicholas of Myra.” It is the only image of the Dormition in the temple murals, which indicates the connection of both compositions with the tomb behind the wall. We do not see the “unearthly” life of Nikola in the bowels of the cathedral, but we see outside it, in another world, in heavenly intercession. Thus, the cycle of frescoes of the St. Nicholas chapel ends in the church of St. Martiniana with the intercession of Nicholas the Wonderworker before the Mother of God.
The idea of the relationship between the external frescoes of the cathedral is supported not only by the upcoming, but also by the kneeling figures of the Venerables Martinian and Ferapont on the southern wall ¾ of the Venerable John of Damascus and Cosmas of Mayum, respectively, in the tympanum of the door arch of the portal, where they are depicted by Dionysius falling to the Mother of God of the Sign.
In both exterior paintings of the cathedral there are figures of the archangels Michael and Gabriel. In the Martinian Church, the image of the Archangel Michael has an additional meaning. This is the saint of the same name of the Monk Martinian in the world and in the schema. The monk himself is depicted at the feet of the Archangel Michael, above his head there is an almost erased inscription, which can be read as “MARTINIAN”. The image of the buried person on the mural was natural and traditional if the tomb was walled up in the floor or wall of the temple. If it were not for this circumstance, then the founder of the monastery, the Monk Ferapont, should have been depicted on the left side of the composition (his image is opposite). The founders of the monastery are depicted without halos (the head of the right figure has not been preserved), since the canonization of Saints Ferapont and Martinian took place between 1547 and 1549, that is, almost 50 years after the painting of the cathedral. But Dionysius, ahead of his time, leaves us their images.
ICON ARTIST DIONISIOUS
The most difficult thing, perhaps, to write about is the amazing miracle that was preserved in the Ferapontov Monastery by the 21st century - the frescoes of Dionysius. A lot of research has been compiled on this topic, but little is known about the icon painter himself. Monastic synodics (memorial books) with records of the family of Dionysius discovered in recent years do not provide sufficient grounds for judgment about its origin. It remains unknown when and where he was born, when he died and where he was buried.
According to reviews of Dionysius' contemporaries, already in the 1470s he was considered the most famous among Russian icon painters. His works were highly valued. Thus, Vladyka Vassian (Toporkov) of Kolomna gave three icons of Dionysius to the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery for commemoration, and in the monastery’s insert book it was written that it should be commemorated “as long as the monastery of the Most Pure One stands.”
The first mention of one of Dionysius’s early works is contained in a chronicle compiled in Moscow under Grand Duke John III. In it, under 1477, is placed “The Legend of Paphnutius of Borovsk,” which tells about the temple built by the monk and about its “wonderful” painting. However, the names of the masters were omitted by the grand ducal chronicler. The authorship of Elder Mitrofan and Dionysius was pointed out by Archbishop Vassian (Sanin) of Rostov in the life of the Monk Paphnutius of Borovsky, which he compiled. Having named the icon painters, he gave them the highest assessment, calling them “notorious [glorified] then more than anyone else in this matter.”
"Kirillov Ferapontovo. Stars of the Russian North").... You can’t drive up to the Ferapontovsky Monastery, there is a narrow bridge over a small river and you have to walk a little yourself. This picture still stands out in my eyes. Green hill, pine trees, lake, dark sky and white monastery.
…Often in texts when they write about the paintings in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the phrase “you freeze in reverent silence” appears. I disagree. Wrong. Nothing freezes. You don’t feel any pretentious reverence. In this place, to put it crudely, it simply “blows your mind completely away,” and to put it aesthetically, then “thoughts completely disappear” and you experience a state of weightlessness and lightness that cannot be expressed in any words.
The frescoes are so incredibly and unobtrusively beautiful that they cannot be viewed in fragments. They surround you, they envelop you from all sides with inexpressibly delicate creamy colors, they pour on you like the most beautiful heavenly music.
*Photos of the frescoes are taken from the monastery website Ferapontovo.ru and Dionisy.com
… Our plans: sights of Kirillov - Siverskoye Lake and the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery; sights of Goritsa - the Sheksna River, the Goritsa Assumption Monastery and Mount Maura; as well as the sights of Ferapontov - Borodavskoye Lake, Ferapontovsky Monastery with the famous frescoes of Dionysius and Tsypina Gora. We have 1.5 days for everything: in the morning ~ at 12 we left Vologda, half a day we are in Ferapontovo, in the evening in Goritsy, in the morning of the next day we see Kirillov, and in the afternoon we leave for Petrozavodsk via Vytegra.
... I was terribly worried. Rain! After all, we may not be allowed, or rather, they definitely will not be allowed into the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Ferapontovo. They also take care of the frescoes like the apple of their eye, they have the strictest temperature regime and only five people are allowed inside so that they don’t inhale too much. And here it's pouring rain. I so dreamed of seeing these frescoes, I stood so many times in the Tretyakov Gallery in front of the works of Dionysius in the Icon Hall, in order to better understand his technique, to feel him, in order to prepare in advance for Ferapontovo. And then it rains...
...We quickly reached the sign for Ferapontovo, turned left and drove along a good road for another ~7 km to the village itself. We stopped in a small parking lot in front of the store - the road itself led us there. You cannot drive up to the monastery; there is a narrow bridge over a small river and you have to walk a bit yourself.
This picture still stands out in my eyes. Green hill, pine trees, lake, dark sky and white monastery.
Words cannot express the feeling you experience in this place. You know, I now believe in love at first sight. They just took one look and their heart immediately skipped a beat. Why is it interesting? Right away, when we were climbing up to the monastery, we decided to go down (the monastery itself is on a hill) along a path among the pine trees to the round lake. It was a completely spontaneous decision; the lake attracted me so immediately and powerfully that it was useless to resist it. We sat down on the plank bridge and time stood still. Shshur - a wave came, - shshur - another rustled. The wind got tangled in the pine trees overhead. A pebble in clear water under the waves has rolled from one side to the other. I immediately became interested in this matter, caught and put a couple of pebbles in my pocket. It was with difficulty that the lake and this entire calm landscape let us go.
We got up and went to the monastery.
The monastery, thank God, is not particularly overwhelmed by excessive civilization. A path of large cobblestones leads to the gate, and in the monastery itself there is a carpet of small green grass under your feet, and behind all the churches there is a field and unmown, lush, uncontrollable fragrant herbs. From the open gates of the monastery you can see the lake. I have never experienced such a feeling in any monastery - slight excitement, quiet joy, concentration, anticipation of something wonderful, some kind of fulfillment. There are practically no tourists except us...
...We leave the Refectory and along the corridor, past a group of young artists with easels and sketchbooks, we enter directly into the hands of the guide. We are incredibly lucky. Not only did the rain stop and we got to the Cathedral, but we were also face to face with the guide. There are no tourists except us. Or rather, there are several people, but they are wandering around somewhere.
Often in texts when they write about the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the phrase “you freeze in reverent silence” appears. I disagree. Wrong. Nothing freezes. You don’t feel any pretentious reverence. In this place, to put it crudely, it simply “blows your mind completely away,” and to put it aesthetically, then “thoughts completely disappear” and you experience a state of weightlessness and lightness that cannot be expressed in any words.
The frescoes are so incredibly and unobtrusively beautiful that they cannot be viewed in fragments. They surround you, they envelop you from all sides with inexpressibly delicate creamy colors, they pour on you like the most beautiful heavenly music
. They cannot be felt with just your eyes; they include all your senses. You literally have to force yourself to listen to the guide, but she talks very, very interestingly. Her voice reaches you as if from far away. When you look at SUCH creations, no words are needed. “Why words when there are stars in the sky?” Like Pelevin.
Above us in the forget-me-not dome is Christ
. The fingers of his right hand, folded into the sign of the cross, are lowered down, and a literal and really physical feeling is created that they are touching you, that they are seeing you from heaven and are blessing you.
Looks at you from the altar dome Mother of God in a cherry cloak with his arms raised and outstretched, and the baby Jesus also with his two arms raised up. This is a very rare image. This is Our Lady Oranta, or the Sign, or the Incarnation.
Below is a belt from the Archangels
around the dome (or barrel) - Michael (protection), Gabriel (instructing on the true path), Raphael (healing), Uriel (or Jeremiel, peace of mind and love), Salafiel (praying to God for people), Yehudiel protection from troubles and enemies ), Barachiel (receiving blessings in different circumstances).
The figures are all weightless, as if they are floating around you, and you are flying with them.
On the arches there is a necklace of large round medallions with saints.
Everything, everything, all the walls, all the columns are in the subject paintings. Filigree. Honed. Amazing in color.
At the very bottom, what goes from the floor to the height of human growth - a white stripe with single round, never repeated patterns - is called a towel.
We stand in the cathedral, pretend that we are listening to a wonderful guide, and we ourselves circle, roll our eyes, absorb the colors, admire, enjoy. There is something honey-like about this cathedral. Such a mental pleasure. Such joy. Such calmness. Such power. Such grace.
…For some reason, it is customary to begin an acquaintance with the Russian genius icon painter Dionysius with a discussion of the composition of his marvelous colors. One extremely enthusiastic fan of the frescoes of Dionysius, the artist Chernyshov, bam, and one day an idea dawned on him (Newton was just resting with his apple) - ah, he says, he guessed, the secret of the colors lies in the local pebbles from Lake Borodavskoye. For some reason this hypothesis captivated everyone with its romance. Ah, Borodavskoye Lake, ah, multi-colored pebbles under your feet. I picked it up, rubbed it, and here are the finished paints. For some reason, this version had a hypnotic effect on many people, everyone rushed into discussions, and with shovels and basins to the shores of the lake in order to get paints like those of a brilliant master. There is still debate going on. How many pebbles have been exhausted, but there are still no colors “like Dionysius’s”.
…For some reason everyone forgets about the main thing. Who is this master with the strange non-Russian name Dionysius anyway? Indecently little is known about him.
... His sons helped him in painting the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. Dionysius personally painted only its upper part - the dome, drum and medallions on the arches. This is his last work. I think he was pleased with her. Because it is impossible to do better. And the magical color and play of its colors is an exceptionally pure virtuoso skill of an artist-genius. His secret is either mixing colors in a completely intuitive proportion, for example, blue azurite + ocher = a variety of green shades; or the finest glaze, i.e. applying one thin layer of paint to another (white on the lining) and then obtaining either a warm shade or a cold one; or achieving the desired shade, using the fullness of the brush from the beginning of the stroke to its completion; or a play with architectural forms and lighting, for example, he could place the frescoes in the more illuminated upper or, conversely, darkened lower or in the recess of the wall. The simple light from the window already colored the fresco differently. He could also simply play with color combinations. He was a brilliant colorist!
For example, his medallions. There are 68 of them in total. To be honest, I immediately noticed them. They are so unusual, there are so many of them, they are so beautiful, such a necklace of multi-colored balls, when you look at them from below, throwing your head back. So their colors are immediately impressive: forget-me-not, sand, pink and crimson. Just four colors, very soft, very natural and delicate. But how he combines them! Each medallion depicts saints in clothes of different colors: pink in the blue medallion, blue in the crimson medallion, pink in the sand medallion, etc.
68 medallions, only 4 colors - and all different.
The guide let us down To small chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and brought to our attention that the saint's gaze is always directed at you, wherever you stand.
She also said that now the cathedral has wider and more loyal access for visitors, because now the restorers have installed a warm heated floor, so the frescoes are no longer afraid of dampness; in scientific language this is called “stabilization of the microclimate.” Although the Visiting Rules still state that groups of up to 10 people can enter the cathedral if the air temperature in the cathedral is above +10 and the humidity is less than 75%. Visiting time is no more than 30 minutes. Umbrellas and wet clothes must be left outside the cathedral walls.
30 minutes to Dionysius!
Amazing parallels: Dionysius (1440-1502) is a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
Restoration work is carried out very carefully and painstakingly. Thanks to these wonderful people - restorers - practically altruists, selfless specialists (there is a small exhibition about them at the exit of the cathedral), the frescoes were saved and conserved.
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary itself is externally impeccably beautiful with real ancient Russian beauty.
Rows of kokoshniks and a gray domed helmet. White. Slim. Elegant. Patterned. It was built by Rostov craftsmen. Late 15th century. Adjacent to it are the Bell Tower, the Martinian Church and the Church of the Annunciation with a refectory. All buildings are located in the center of the monastery courtyard and are surrounded by white strong monastery walls.
…
« In the darkening rays of the horizon, I look at the surroundings where Ferapont’s soul saw something of God in earthly beauty. And one day arose from a dream, from this praying soul, like grass, like water, like birches, a wondrous wonder in the Russian wilderness! And the heavenly-earthly Dionysius, having appeared from neighboring lands, raised this wondrous miracle to a level unprecedented before... The trees stood motionless, and the daisies whitened in the darkness, and this village seemed to me like something the most sacred on earth...” Nikolay Rubtsov.
