Perhaps this post will not seem very 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 what! Moscow photographer and publisher Yuri Holdin - the only one who managed the almost impossible: he not only captured all the frescoes of Dionisy of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Ferapontov Monastery on a camera, but also, thanks to innovative methods of photography, 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 work - 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 the works of his project "The light of the frescoes of Dionysius to 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. The frescoes in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God of the Ferapontov Monastery are the only monument in Russia of medieval Russian artistic culture of the 11th-15th centuries. with a full cycle of murals (I emphasize this, otherwise you will think that it is the only one in general), preserved in its original form. For this reason alone, they have a unique meaning, not to mention the fact that their master wrote, whom his contemporaries called "wise", "more notorious in such a matter", "the beginning 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 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, included in the State Code of Particularly Valuable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Peoples of Russia. I will not write about the brilliant Dionysius and the Ferapontov Monastery.

The ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery is a monument of history and culture of federal significance on the territory of the Kirillovsky district of the Vologda region

Frescoes of Dionysius in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yuri Holdin was born on August 15, 1954. Graduated from the University of Arts in 1979, VGIK. Worked in cinema. Since 1990, he plunged into the Orthodox theme, began to take pictures. During this period, he removed the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery. Publishes an album of his photographs "Moscow Necropolis. Novodevichy Convent". Starts working on a series of "Frescoes of Rus'". Since 1995, he has been taking pictures of Dionisy's frescoes in the Ferapontov Monastery. The result of the work was the educational project "The Light of the Frescoes of Dionysius to the World", within the framework of which the frescoes of Dionysius captured by Yuri Holdin were exhibited in 2006 at the State Tretyakov Gallery, the New Manege at the exhibition "The Light of Orthodoxy" as part of Educational Christmas Readings (2007), Russian State University for the Humanities, Novgorod, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg. One of the most significant works of the master in recent years has become the art album "Through the veil of five centuries: a secret meeting with the frescoes of Dionysius the Wise." Yuri Kholdin 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 Mother of God at the Ferapontov Monastery in 34 days. Holdin filmed a complex of these frescoes for 10 years! It took so much time not only to cover the entire wall painting. Looking at the works of the master, you remember the literal translation of the word "photography" - "light painting". Usually frescoes are removed at night, under artificial lighting, which results in rather rigid contours with impenetrable spots of black shadows. Worst of all looks what is written on the concave surfaces of the temple. The author’s method of Yuri Kholdin allows photographing during the day: “We took a summer sunny day as a standard for rendering the color of Dionisy’s frescoes, when the ocher flares up, lights up festively, and at the same time you can perceive it as a liturgical time, when candles light up and the ocher turns into such a warm golden color, and blue and blue colors calm down a little. And that's when we started to succeed. But this work does not lie in the field of reproduction or in the field of photographic fixation, because this is an interior staged shooting. Of course, we worked with light, space and image, including the image of Dionysius's compositions. That is, everything was important for 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 an innovative development in the field of light physics and in the field of color science. Holdin himself always compared himself with a translator - a translation 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 drop of retouching and, as they would say now, photoshop. Even the cracks are alive. In addition, the photo artist, contrary to the art history techniques of the twentieth century, did not reproduce frescoes, but began to work with space.

The Mother of God on the Throne with the Archangels Gabriel and Michael

Saint Nicholas of Myra

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin - northeastern part

First Ecumenical Council

Archangel Gabriel (fragment of the fresco " Annunciation ") - left; " Oh, All-Singing Mother"

"Annunciation"

"Sleep and Caress of Mary"

"Bathing Mary"

"Adoration of the Magi"

"Rejoicing in You... "Virgin Mary with Saints

Marriage at Cana of Galilee

Great Martyr George

Righteous Joseph. Fragment of a fresco Escape to Egypt

I got acquainted with the works of Yuri Holdin at an exhibition in Kolomenskoye. To be honest, I did not 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: “Have they really been removed from the wall and turned around?” Looking at the too realistic representation of Dionysius, you do not immediately understand that behind the photographic frescoes the huge 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 a half-hour excursion program is not enough to “embrace the immensity”. And 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 consistency and coloring of the photo frescoes, which create the effect of being in the cathedral itself, allows us to see a lot now without perspective distortions. As an example, even those who visited the Ferapont Monastery did not see such a 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 - exterior painting of the western portal

Fragment of the northern wall of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The work of Yuri Ivanovich Holdin was not commissioned, not funded. His only support was his family, his wife, who did not grumble (although she had to sacrifice a lot) to enable her husband to finish shooting the ancient masterpiece. Holdin did not make any compromises when it came to the quality of both shooting and printing. Those prints that looked quite decent to an outsider's eye, but, from his point of view, did not match the color of the frescoes in Ferapontov, he destroyed. The argument that this is throwing money away was not accepted at all. Each of his photographs is unique: one author's print remains from each frame. As applied to photography, this is a paradox. But Holdin was engaged not just in photography, but in translating from the language of icon painting into the language of light painting. A virtuoso and faithful translation. The skill of a 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 the secret of Yuri Holdin. He died during the filming of morning Moscow - on Sunday, July 29, 2007 at about five in the morning - fell off the 11th floor of the house where he lived. There was a collapse of the cornice on which the Master stood...

I understand that a lot of text turned out, but do not be lazy, please read the article by Guzel Agisheva. You will get to know this amazing person and Master better.

There was such an ascetic, Yuri Kholdin, who revealed to us the great Russian icon painter Dionysius, the author of frescoes in the Ferapont Monastery

The frescoes of Dionysius in the Ferapontov Monastery are 510 years old. Let's be honest: very few people get there. And if he does, he won't see much. They only let you in for 15 minutes, during which time even the most experienced person in icon painting with the most keen eyesight is not able to grasp the genius of Dionysius. But! There was such an ascetic, Yuri Kholdin, who revealed Dionysius to us. And this is not an exaggeration. To appreciate his work, you need to come to the exhibition in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This exposition continues to be supplemented with new works from the photographer's archives 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, make money. But "everyone chooses for himself a woman, a religion, a road." In 1992, he went to Solovki to tell about the fate of Russia through the fate of the monastery. He filmed a large cycle about the "Solovki Golgotha" and the return of the monastery. Without waiting for understanding, he put a huge amount of work on the table, having managed to publish in Italy only a small album. Later, on a pilgrimage to the Russian north, he drove with a friend, the poet Yuri Kublanovskiy, to 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 not tear myself away from them. Ferapontov became the meaning of his life. 12 years, until his tragic death, Yuri Ivanovich Holdin gave Dionysius, how to show people this famous, but, in fact, unknown to the world masterpiece without distortion.

At that time, it was considered correct to capture the true color of the frescoes at night, under hard frontal artificial lighting. Holdin destroyed this stereotype. He thought about what kind of light environment Dionysius could keep in mind when painting the temple? I began to study how natural light affects our perception of space and color in a 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 from wood and pasted over it from the inside with pictures of Giotto's frescoes. Flat. Someone laughed at it, called canned food. And Holdin already knew why this sensation arose. That is why I set myself a super-task: the feeling should be such that you find yourself in a single color space of the cathedral.

For a whole year I studied wall painting, calculated the light, in which the color of Dionysius reveals itself most harmoniously, so that neither warm nor cold paint prevails, so that the ocher lights up, and the stuffed cabbage flickers, there were no failures and inevitable black shadows: And I found the only true one for solving the task tuning fork: noon of a sunny day - that's when the plan of Dionysius is fully revealed. Of course, this is the culmination of the Divine Liturgy! But after all, daylight is very changeable, which means that it is impossible to correctly convey color in daylight conditions? Holdin found his narrow way to overcome this problem. It took seven years to solve the most complex technological problems of light and color reproduction in order to evoke in the viewer a sense of the otherworldly images, their floating in the light-air space of the temple. And in the end, as one artist-priest put it, “he revealed Dionysius to the world without a single shadow of the earthly world.” His album "Through the Veil of Five Centuries" (2002) became an event of world 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 the ancient Russian icon painters. But in the Nativity of the Mother of God Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery, he left a signature - in the wall of the northern door of the temple: “And the scribes Deonisy are an icon with their children. O lord Christ of all the king, deliver them, O Lord, from eternal torment.

Holdin's exhibition works are unique - all experimental specimens, where more than half a percent of the color festivities, were destroyed by him. He was firm in understanding his responsibility for Dionysius: "After me there should be no marriage left." Replicating Kholdin's works is the most difficult task. Considering that the "figure" is just an intermediate information product, he took a slide as the basis for shooting, an object of the same water-based nature as the fresco itself. And, scanning every time to the right size, he achieved a special ringing: to convey each composition without the slightest loss of quality, so that the viewer had the feeling that he was seeing the fresco itself. And he achieved this - many come up, feel:

There were legends about Holdin's professional demands even during his lifetime. He annoyed many with it. Previously, art critics used to describe in words what a potential viewer had to take for granted: the clothes of an angel of such and such a color, the wing - such and such: And here you are, here are the works of Dionysius, without the slightest distortion! If you go to the temple, you won’t see it: it is not known at what time of the day they will let you go there, and even then for 15 minutes! And the monblancs of candidate and doctoral students, with their shaming and frank gag, which is commonly called a scientific interpretation, flew to hell! Because one such smart "photographer" came and 12 years of his earnest, ascetic work, led by talent, intuition, insight, turned the whole thing upside down.

By showing Dionysius, Holdin gave us unprecedented opportunities for research, and thanks to such a breakthrough, interesting things have already been revealed. Not some trifles, but, perhaps, the main thing in the work of the icon painter: we saw the luminous center of the works of Dionysius. In Soviet times - feel the difference - it was called an 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 Light of Tabor! Thus, the Tabor light of the works of Dionysius, five centuries later, was revealed to us thanks to Holdin.

I am watching the shooting of 2006 - Yuri Holdin and Savva Yamshchikov are giving a press conference in 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 while shooting from the 12th floor, no one believed in an accident. They talked about the unnatural flight path, and the criminal case was opened. But Katya, his wife and most faithful assistant, does not want to talk about it. She talks with pleasure about his case, laughs, remembering that she once complained to him about the lack of money, about life, about children: after all, almost all personal funds from the family budget went to the movement of the project for years. And how, in response, a saying from the New Testament appeared on the wall above her desk: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” He believed that one should be ready to receive God's mercy. He was ready.

Guzel Agisheva

Article "The Second Coming of Dionysius". Newspaper "Trud" from issue 169, November 20, 2012

Frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery

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, the surrounding lands began to retreat to the monastery. Money flowed into the monastic treasury, for which new lands and villages were acquired, 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 by order were sent from here throughout Rus'.

At the very beginning of the 16th century, an artel of painters appeared within the walls of the Ferapontov Monastery, who painted the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. For more than four hundred years, the stone walls have patiently kept the colors of the frescoes, the 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. According to its geographical location, the cathedral was a travel temple. At a time when, with the fall of Constantinople, a new trade route was being established to the Russian state, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Ferapont Monastery just happened to be on this great route, which passed through the White Sea along the Onega and Sheksna. It was the first stone cathedral on this path 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 in the Solovetsky Monastery yet. All the work assigned to them by the artel of masters and apprentices (carpenters, plasterers, gesso, etc.) was completed in a little over two years.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The iconography of the frescoes of the Ferapontov Cathedral has no precedent in the wall painting of Russian churches in many respects. Never before, for example, was there an image of John the Baptist on the altar, there were 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 whole life of Mary was usually depicted, starting from the “Nativity of the Virgin” and ending with her “Assumption”. The Akathist to the Mother of God, if included in the painting, usually occupied an insignificant place somewhere in the side chapels of churches. Dionysius, on the other hand, creates a painting glorifying Mary, a painting similar to the hymns 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 see them only on Athos. But the solution of many gospel stories by Dionysius also differs from those of Athos. There were no strict canons then, and Dionysius could take advantage of this circumstance. For example, he independently tried to comprehend some provisions of Christianity, in particular, about the life of the Mother of God. What was the main goal for previous painters, became secondary for Dionysius. The main task for him is the akathist to the Mother of God, her glorification, therefore the entire large cycle of murals of the Nativity Church is presented 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 interior space - from the dome to the base - is filled with radiant paintings. Dionysius willingly surrenders to the vivid impressions of life, he can revel in the colorful patterns of precious brocade, the bright colors of overseas silks, the radiance of gemstones.

"Marriage in Cana of Galilee," for example, appears to him as a joyful feast. Cathedrals and towers, which frame numerous scenes of painting, remind the viewer of the architectural monuments of Moscow and Vladimir. The rhythmic construction of the scenes, the movement of the figures speak of the artist's observation and brilliant skill, and Dionysius always translates life impressions into the realm of beautiful and sublime poetry. Even the most ordinary characters - servants filling vessels with wine, or blind beggars eating miserable alms - acquire special nobility and dignity in frescoes.

Marriage at Cana of Galilee

In the center of the cathedral, in the dome, Christ the Almighty is depicted.

According to many researchers, this image is reminiscent of the "Pantocrator" from St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, but this connection is felt purely outwardly - in the arrangement of hands and the Gospel. The essence of Ferapontov's Christ the Almighty is very different from Novgorod's. In Ferapontov, Christ the Almighty does not have that formidable and inflexible will, like the Novgorod Pantocrator.

On the north side of the cathedral, the Mother of God sits on a throne, surrounded by archangels, and at the foot of the throne crowds of mortals chant the "Queen of the World." On the south side, hosts of singers praise Mary, as if in her womb she carried deliverance to the captives.

On the western side, instead of the “Assumption”, which is more familiar to South Slavic churches, the composition “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 protector of the Russian state. She stands with a "veil" in her hands against the background of the walls of ancient Vladimir, which in those years was a symbol of the religious and political unity of Rus'. Maria is no longer surrounded by singers and saints, but by Russian people.

Protection of the Mother of God

The cathedral was painted by Dionysius and his comrades not only inside, but partly outside as well. On the western facade, a fresco is well preserved, which met the one 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 and consists of three belts: the upper one is the deesis, the middle one is the scenes of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Caressing of Mary by Joachim and Anna, the lower one is the archangels. To the right of the portal, Gabriel is depicted holding a scroll in his hands, 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 Theotokos begins right here. Before Dionysius, other artists interpreted the plot of the Nativity of the Virgin 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 murals, Dionysius placed not scenes from the life of Mary, but illustrations for twenty-four songs of the akathist to the Theotokos. Here the artist was least of all bound by the canons, and completely original images came out from under his brush. He did not show the turbulent movements of the human soul, the artist is attracted to reflection, to the original interpretation of traditional gospel themes.

Caress and Mary

Here, for example, Anna and the elderly Joachim, who learned that his wife was expecting a baby. Usually other masters depicted this scene as full of dramatic explanations. Joachim rushed to his wife, and Anna answered him with no less expressive gestures. Dionysius does not even have anything similar. His Joachim already knows about the “immaculate” conception, he reverently bows before the newborn Mary, holding out his hand to her and repeating the gesture usual for “anticipations”. Anna on the fresco of Dionysius does not make an attempt to get up, does not reach for food. Filled with dignity and humble grace, she sits on the couch, and the woman standing behind the couch not only does not help Anna to rise, 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 brings it. And this golden bowl, receiving a special semantic meaning, becomes the center of the whole composition. Dionysius shows the viewer that before him is not the usual worldly fuss that accompanies the birth of a child, but the accomplishment of a sacred sacrament.

Nativity of the Virgin

The images of all the characters from the life of Mary are performed by Dionysius with extraordinary spiritual delicacy. Their movements are smooth, gestures are only outlined, but not completed, the participants in many scenes only indicate touch, but do not touch each other. This applies, for example, to the scene "Bathing Mary". The compositional center of this part of the fresco is a 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

The researchers noted that the soft rounded contours of one form are repeated in another, all the figures are painted lightly and picturesquely, as if they are devoid of weight and hover above the ground. The frescoes of the cathedral are distinguished by tenderness, muted and bright 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 raspberry, green with light green, yellow with straw yellow, blue with turquoise, so his paints almost lost their power and 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 Moscow Metropolitans Peter and Alexei. Beneath them, near a reservoir, stand a gray-haired old man, an elderly woman, and two youths. Connoisseur of antiquity S.S. Churakov hypothesized that the reservoir symbolizes the source of "God's bounties", and the people who receive them form one family - a husband, wife and their sons. Perhaps Dionysius portrayed himself and his family here, because in Ferapontov two of his sons, Vladimir and Theodosius, worked with him.

S. S. Churakov believes that real people are introduced by Dionysius into another composition. So, 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 depicted is somewhat thrown back, a large forehead, a nose with a characteristic hump, brown eyes, a shaved face, a bald skull ... Before the viewer appears a middle-aged man, independent, wise with experience and knowledge, not even bowing rulers. So far, this is only a hypothesis, which, perhaps, will be answered by future studies.

Text by Nadezhda Ionina

With. 285 The frescoes are generally in good condition. The restoration of 1738 was carried out rather carefully, and the frescoes were not completely painted over, as was usual in the 18th century, but only refreshed with tempera in those places where the painting had especially suffered from time. There are scuffs and mechanical damage to the top paint layer. For more information about the state of preservation of the frescoes in the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Ferapontov Monastery, see the book: Chernyshev N. M. Fresco art in ancient Rus'. M., 1954, p. 82–84. With. 285
With. 286¦

Among the murals of the Ferapontov Monastery, there are several stylistic groups (at least four). The strongest and most subtle master was undoubtedly the one who painted the entrance wall around the western portal. His compositions are the most rhythmic, his slender figures, distinguished by great grace, at the same time have nothing mannered in themselves, his palette is distinguished by softness and special harmony. This master is still firmly connected with the traditions of the 15th century. His brushes in the church itself can be attributed to the saints in the apse and the half-figure of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the deacon. Probably this master was Dionysius himself, who in 1502 must have been about sixty years old. Among the masters of the older generation was the author of most of the gospel scenes. But his work is immeasurably worse in quality than the frescoes of the entrance wall. This is, undoubtedly, another individual, less gifted and more primitive in his sense of life.

Next to these two groups of murals, the most numerous is the one that includes the main episodes of the Mother of God cycle (Protection, Rejoices in You), the Praise of the Virgin, the Annunciation, the Meeting of Mary with Elizabeth and most of the illustrations for the Akathist, the Parable of the Indispensable Servant, Marriage in Cana , the best parts of the Last Judgment and the Cathedrals. The style of this group, close to the style of the 16th century, is marked by a special sophistication: thin figures, exaggeratedly elongated proportions, a light, as if dancing step, detailed cutting of the form, an abundance of jewelry. The author of the frescoes that make up this group was a younger master than the author of the frescoes of the entrance wall. I would like to identify him with one of the sons of Dionysius - Theodosius. Apparently, the aged Dionysius, although he played a leading role, left most of the work to his sons. The weakest master was the one who wrote the cycle of scenes from the life of Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Conversations of the Three Hierarchs, who suffered from the restoration of 1738. There is something sluggish and artisanal in the hard, little rhythmic compositions he performed.

The murals of the dome, drum, girth arches also reveal a not very skillful hand. It remains to be clarified whether this is the work of the fifth master or one of the masters just listed. If we stop at the last assumption, then we can only talk about the second or fourth master (that is, the author of the gospel scenes or the author of the life of Nicholas the Wonderworker). Dionysius, who headed the artel and corrected all its work, probably acted as follows: he took for himself those murals that occupied the most prominent place in the temple (the entrance wall, apse and conch of the deacon), he entrusted one of his sons (more gifted) to complete the main and most important part of the order (murals of walls and pillars), for another son (who was much inferior to the first in talent) and for an assistant, he assigned the paintings of the altar, deacon, vaults, girth arches, drum and dome, believing that they are less accessible to the viewer . This stylistic classification of the Ferapontov frescoes needs to be checked and clarified. But it can still serve as a starting point in solving one of the most difficult problems in the history of ancient Russian painting.

S. S. Churakov tried to identify in the Last Judgment scene the portraits of famous Italian architects who took part in the construction of the Kremlin - Aristotle Fioravanti and Pietro Antonio Solari (Portraits in the frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery. - Soviet archeology, 1959, No. 3, p. 99–113) . This hypothesis seems a little convincing, especially since the faces of the alleged "portraits" are not at all individual. Another assumption of S. S. Churakov has more grounds. He is inclined to see in the fresco illustrating the 11th Kontakion of the Akathist of the Mother of God (Singing, everything is conquered), a group portrait of the Dionysius family (the artist himself, his wife and two sons). However, it should be noted that here, too, the faces are by no means portrait in nature. With. 286
¦

81. The parable of the fig tree and the parable of the harlot. Frescoes on the western slope of the northern vault	82. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Fresco in the conch of Nikolsky chapel	[Col. ill.] 107.	[Col. ill.] 108. Dionysius. Archangel. Fresco in the dome
[Col. ill.] 109. Dionysius. Marriage in Cana and Healing of the daughter of Jairus. Fresco on the eastern slope of the southern vault	[Col. ill.] 110. Dionysius. The Miracle at the Wedding Feast, the Widow's Mite and the Healing of the Blind. Fresco on the western slope of the southern vault	[Col. ill.] 111. Dionysius. Virgin with Child. 1502. Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Ferapontovo. Fresco in the conch of the apse

Literature

Georgievsky V. T. Frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery. SPb., 1911.

Georgievskaja-Druzinina E. Les fresques du monastere de Therapon. Etudes de deux themes iconographiques. - In: L "art byzantin chez les slaves, II. Paris, 1932, p. 121–134.

Lavrov V. A. Frescoes of Dionysius. - Architecture of the USSR, 1939, No. 2, p. 80–82.

Mikhailovsky B. A., Purishev B. I. Essays on the history of ancient Russian monumental painting from the second half of the 14th century. until the beginning of the 18th century. M.–L., 1941, p. 40–52.

Nedoshivin G. Dionysius. M.–L., 1947.

Chernyshev N. M. Fresco art in ancient Rus'. Materials for the study of ancient Russian frescoes. M., 1954, p. 61–96.

Churakov S. S. Portraits in the frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery. - Soviet archeology, 1959, No. 3, p. 99–113.

Danilova I. E. The iconographic composition of the frescoes of the Nativity Church of the Ferapontov Monastery. - In the book: From the history of Russian and Western European art. [Collection of articles] dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the scientific activity of V. N. Lazarev. M., 1960, p. 118–129.

Tretyakov N. Frescoes of Dionysius. - Creativity, 1962, No. 9, p. 13–16.

Michelson T. N. Picturesque cycle of the Ferapontov Monastery on the theme of Akathist. - Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, XXII. L., 1966, p. 144–164.

Filatov V.V. On the history of wall painting technique in Russia. - In the book: Old Russian art. Artistic culture of Pskov. M., 1968, p. 58, 65, 66–67.

Danilova I. E. Ferapontov Monastery. (Frescoes of Dionysius). - Artist, 1970, No. 9, p. 44–56.

Danilova I. E. Frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery. M., 1970.

Danilova I. Dionissi. Dresden, 1970, pp. 63–95.

Danilova I. Le schéme iconographique dans la peinture de l "ancienne Russie et son interprétation artistique. - In: Actes du XXII e Congrés international d" histoire de l "art. Budapest, 1969, II. Budapest, 1972, p. 515–518; III Tables, Budapest, 1972, pp. 442–444.

Rudnitskaya L. Frescoes of the portal of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos of the Ferapontov Monastery. - Zbornik for likovne eloquence, 10. Novi Sad, 1974, p. 71–101.

Bunin A. On the Ferapontovsky paintings of Dionysius. - Art, 1974, No. 8, p. 59–67.

Popov G.V. Painting and miniature of Moscow in the middle of the 15th - early 16th centuries. M., 1975, p. 100–113.

Khlopin I. N. To clarify the date of the painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Ferapontov Monastery. - Monuments of culture. New discoveries. Yearbook, 1975. M., 1976, p. 204–207.

Orlova M. A. Some remarks on the work of Dionysius, II. Painting of the western facade of the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. - In the book: Old Russian art. Problems and attributions. M., 1977, p. 334–354.

Kochetkov I. A. On the original coloring of the paintings by Dionysius. - Monuments of culture. New discoveries. Yearbook, 1977. M., 1977, p. 253–258.

Chugunov G. Dionysius. L., 1979.

Gusev I. V., Maistrov L. E. Mathematics of ornaments Dionysius. - Historical and mathematical research, vol. 24. M.–L., 1979, p. 331–339.

Gusev H. B. On the painting of the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. - In the book: Old Russian art. Monumental painting of the XI-XVII centuries. M., 1980, p. 317–323.

Michelson T. N. Three compositions on the theme "The Cathedral of the Three Hierarchs" in the paintings of the Ferapontov Monastery. The origins of iconography. - In the book: Old Russian art. Monumental painting of the XI-XVII centuries. M., 1980, p. 324–342.

Danilova I. E. On the Ferapontovsky paintings of Dionysius. On the problem of art synthesis. - In the book: Danilova I. E. Art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. M., 1984, p. 12–20.

Ferapontovsky collection, no. 1. M., 1985 (articles by N. I. Fedyshin, I. A. Kochetkov, O. V. Lelekova and M. M. Naumova, M. S. Serebryakova, M. G. Malkin, E. V. Duvakina) .

Rybakov A. A. On the dating of the frescoes of Dionysius in the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. - Monuments of culture. New discoveries. Yearbook, 1986. L., 1987, p. 283–289.

Michelson T. N. Frescoes of the western vault of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos at the Ferapontov Monastery in the system of church painting. - In the book: Literature and art in the system of culture. M., 1988, p. 310–316.

Ferapontovsky collection, no. 2. M., 1988 (articles by V. V. Rybin, T. N. Mikhelson, L. T. Rudnitskaya, O. V. Lelekova, and M. M. Naumova).

Michelson T. N. Three scenes of "spiritual feasts" in the system of murals on the duct vaults of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos at the Ferapontov Monastery. - In the book: Byzantium and Rus'. [Collected articles] in memory of V. D. Likhacheva. M., 1989, p. 188–193.

Popov G.V. Dionisy's trip to Beloozero. - In the book: Old Russian art. Artistic monuments of the Russian North. M., 1989, p. 30–45.

Orlova M. A. To the history of the creation of the painting of the cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. - In the book: Old Russian art. Artistic monuments of the Russian North. M., 1989, p. 46–55.

Lelekova O. V., Naumova M. M. Paintings by Dionysius in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Ferapontovo (according to restoration studies). - In the book: Old Russian art. Artistic monuments of the Russian North. M., 1989, p. 63–68.

Gusev N.V. About the initial stages of the work of the masters of the Ferapontov painting. - In the book: Old Russian art. Artistic monuments of the Russian North M., 1989, p. 69–73.

Ferapontovsky collection, no. 3. M., 1991 (articles by V. D. Sarabyanov, V. V. Rybin, S. S. Podyapolsky, M. S. Serebryakova, archim. Macarius, I. P. Yaroslavtsev, O. V. Lelekova, N. M. Tarabukina).

Lifshits L.I. The theme "Entrance to the House of Wisdom" in the painting of the Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery. - State. historical and cultural museum-reserve of the Moscow Kremlin. Materials and Research, XI. Russian artistic culture of the XV-XVI centuries. M., 1998, p. 174–195.

Vzdornov G.I. Painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin of the Ferapontov Monastery (list of compositions). M. - Ferapontovo, 1998.

Bugrovsky V. V., Dolbilkin N. P., Rolnik I. A. Dionysius. Culture of Moscow Rus'. History lessons. M. - Kyzyl, 1998, p. 111–148 (Chapter 3: “Painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos at the Ferapontov Monastery”).

Naumova M. M. Medieval colors. M., 1998, p. 47–53 (Paints of the murals in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Ferapontovo).

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin of the Ferapontov Monastery

Lost in the forests near the White Lake, the Ferapontov Monastery was founded in 1398 by the monk of the Moscow Simonov Monastery Ferapont. In the world known under the name Fedor, he was born in Volokolamsk in the family of noblemen Poskochins. Dreaming of a monastic life from a young age, he secretly left home and took monastic vows at the Simonov Monastery.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The abbot often gave him various assignments. Once he sent Ferapont to the distant Belozersky side. The stern and thoughtful North captivated the young monk. The thirst for desert solitude in the silence of the northern forests seized him. Returning to the Simonov Monastery, he shared his thoughts with the monk Cyril - the future Cyril Belozersky. “Is there a place on White Lake where a monk can remain silent?” Kirill asked. "There are a lot of them"- answered Ferapont. The die was cast: Cyril and Ferapont decided to leave for the desert side.

Having chosen a place on the shore of Lake Siverskoye, they erected a cross here and dug out dugouts for themselves. After living with Cyril for some time, Ferapont went in search of solitude and settled on the shore of Lake Borodava, in a place "spacious and smooth." Soon other monks began to come here, wishing to share his hermitage. In 1409, Ferapont built a wooden temple in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God. This is how the Ferapontov Monastery arose.

The famous church writer Pakhomiy Logofet, who visited Ferapontovo in 1461, wrote that the monastery "Great red, many wealthy brethren working". Throughout the 15th century, the monastery was a major spiritual center. A whole galaxy of famous educators and scribes came out of its walls.

The solitude and remoteness of the monastery made it the seat of exiles from persons of high spiritual rank. The first of them was Archbishop Joasaph (Obolensky) of Rostov. In 1488, after a quarrel with Ivan III, he was exiled to Ferapontovo. Joasaph lived in the monastery for about twenty-five years, spending the last years in complete silence.

Some time after the appearance of Archbishop Ioasaph in Ferapontovo, a strong fire broke out in the monastery, during which a holy fool named Galaktion saved the treasury of the archbishop. With these miraculously surviving funds in 1490, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin was built. It became the second stone building in Beloozero (after the Cathedral of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery).

The cathedral church of the Nativity of the Mother of God of the Ferapontov Monastery is a strict single-domed building, traditional for Russian northern monasteries, in which the traditions of the Novgorod-Pskov school of stone architecture of the 15th century are felt. The cathedral is very sparingly decorated. A massive bell-shaped dome with a small cupola at the end rises above the temple on a wide drum. The cathedral is surrounded by a covered stone gallery, which is adjoined on the western side by a square single-tier bell tower, covered with a low tent.

Twelve years after the construction of the cathedral, in 1502, the famous painter Dionysius and his sons came to Ferapontovo to paint the cathedral. “In the summer of the 7010s (1502) of the month of August at 6 on the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, the signing of the church began, and ended on the 2nd summer of the month of September 9 ... And the scribes were Dionysius the Icon with his children. O Lord Christ, Tsar of all, deliver them, O Lord, from eternal torment,” reads an ancient inscription on the northern wall of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin.

The Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery with frescoes by Dionysius has long been included in the treasury of domestic and world art. The frescoes of Dionysius are devoted to numerous scientific studies published all over the world, photo albums, information about them can be found in any publication devoted to ancient Russian painting.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. Western facade frescoes

"In the art of Dionysius,– wrote M.V. Alpatov, - a lot of spirituality, moral nobility, subtlety of feelings, and this connects him with the best traditions of Rublev. Dionysius, like Andrey Rublev, strove to create icons that seemed to radiate light. But at the same time “it has that element of solemnity and pomp that was unknown and alien to Rublev and his contemporaries”.

The latter is not surprising - Dionysius worked a lot in the Moscow Kremlin and took on the spirit of representativeness and splendor that established itself in Moscow when the Grand Duke began to be called the "sovereign of all Rus'."

The date of birth of Dionysius is considered to be 1440. The successor of the work of Andrei Rublev, a brilliant painter, whom his contemporaries called the "principal artist", "most glorious above all", worked a lot in Moscow and the monasteries near Moscow. In 1467-1476 he painted frescoes and icons in the Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery, in 1481 he painted the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, then he worked in the Moscow Spaso-Chigasov Monastery and in the Kremlin Resurrection Monastery, after 1485 he painted icons for the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady of Joseph-Volokolamsky monastery, in 1500 - in the Pavlo-Obnorsky monastery. In 1502, Dionysius, together with his sons Theodosius, Vladimir and Andrei, created one of the most perfect ensembles of Russian medieval art - the frescoes of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Ferapontov Monastery. By a happy coincidence, these frescoes are the main work of Dionysius that has survived to this day.

Unlike Andrei Rublev, Dionysius was not a monk. There is practically no ascetic beginning in his art. According to the works of the master, it can be judged that Dionysius was an educated person, well-versed in Russian history, who knew the annals and hagiographic literature. In his art, the influence of Byzantium is also felt. The painting of Dionysius is distinguished by a light, spiritual drawing, a richness of colors, and a skillful composition of the painting. “In the art of Dionysius there is nothing sharp, impetuous, talkative, indefatigable,” art historians G. Bocharov and V. Vygolov note. – His painting is deeply contemplative, leads to reflection, reflection, as if answering one of the provisions of the “Message to the icon painter”, a work of the second half of the 15th century, attributed to the pen of the famous figure of the Russian church, Joseph Volotsky. It is necessary to worship icons, - it says in it, - because "we contemplate the spiritual for the sake of the iconic imagination ... our mind and thought take off towards Divine desire and love." In Ferapontov's paintings, this inner enlightenment and love for a person just sounds.

The painting covers the entire interior of the temple from floor to ceiling. Festiveness, elegance - this is the main mood that determines the impression that the murals of the cathedral make on the viewer. So, in the scene of the wedding feast, the clothes of the feasting, according to P.P. Muratov, “light, festive, decorated with gold and silver brocade and stones, blazing with pink fire, greenery and azure. These are truly “wedding” clothes, and all the art of Dionysius on the walls of the Ferapont Monastery appears to us to be dressed in such wedding, “feast” clothes. Grace and measure, harmony and nobility, harmony and light reign in the frescoes of Dionysius.

The Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery was painted, as recent studies have shown, in just 34 days, and not in two years, as previously thought. The main theme of the frescoes of the Ferapontov temple is the unity of the visible and invisible world, the world of people and the world of “incorporeal heavenly forces”. They are sustained strictly in the spirit of the ancient rule: harmony, unity and nothing more.

Ferapontov's frescoes amaze with their color richness and nobility of tones - soft pink, golden yellow, lilac, greenish, lilac-brown and reddish-brown. Despite some muted color, they give the impression of tenderness and transparency of colors. For many years it was believed that colored pebbles and clays of different colors and shades were used as dyes for frescoes, which can be found on the banks of the Borodavskoye and Paskoe lakes and in the channels of the streams flowing into them. These pebbles were crushed, ground and kneaded on egg white.

This legend even caused a wave of pilgrimage to Ferapontovo by artists from Moscow, Leningrad and other cities. They looked for similar pebbles and clays and prepared paints from them according to old recipes. But very recent studies conducted by specialists from the Restoration Research Institute have proved that the beautiful story of how Dionysius searched for multi-colored pebbles along the shores of lakes and rubbed them, preparing paints, is nothing more than a fairy tale. Most of the paints of the Nativity Cathedral are not of local origin, they are prepared according to the complex technology of European masters, and such paint could be bought either from overseas merchants or from Russian masters who knew the secret of its preparation.

“Many years of persistent desire to consider the paintings of Dionysius created from local materials is quite understandable,- writes art historian O. Lelekova. - The resulting image of a medieval artist becomes consonant with the “epic-song” idea of ​​Russian art, where icon painting, and even more so wall painting, is elevated to a completely special kind of art, unlike anything else in the world. However, this image is unreliable, and it is not necessary to regret it. The artistic genius of Dionysius is undeniable even without poetic generalizations, which his European contemporaries did not need: Leonardo da Vinci, Giacomo Bellini, Holbein the Elder, Lucas Cranach ... "

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Historical reference:

Ferapontov Belozersky Nativity of the Virgin Monastery was founded at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries, during the expansion of the political influence of the Moscow Grand Duchy, for about 400 years it was one of the prominent cultural and religious educational centers in.

The history of the Ferapontov Belozersky Nativity of the Virgin Monastery, founded at the end of the 14th century, is closely connected with the historical events of the 15th - 17th centuries: the capture and blinding of Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark, the assertion of the power of the first "sovereign of all Rus'" Ivan III, the birth and reign, the formation of a dynasty Romanovs, .

In the second half of the 15th - early 16th centuries, the Ferapontov Monastery became a significant spiritual, cultural and ideological center of Belozerye, one of the famous Trans-Volga monasteries, whose elders provided.

The entire 16th century is the heyday of the monastery. This is evidenced by the preserved contributions and letters of commendation of the secular and spiritual authorities, primarily Ivan IV. Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya, Ivan IV come to the monastery on a pilgrimage. The deposit book of the monastery, begun in 1534, names among the contributors “the princes of Staritsky, Kubensky, Lykov, Belsky, Shuisky, Vorotynsky ... Godunov, Sheremetev” and others. The lords of Siberia, Rostov, Vologda, Belozersk, Novgorod are also mentioned here.

In 1490, with the construction of the first stone church of Belozerye, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, by the Rostov masters, the formation of the stone ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery of the 15th - 17th centuries began. In the XVI century. the monumental Church of the Annunciation with a refectory, a state chamber, service buildings - a stone dryer, a guest chamber, and a cookery are being built in the monastery. After recovering from the Lithuanian ruin, in the middle of the XVII century. the monastery erects gate churches on the Holy Gates, the Martinian Church, the bell tower.

After the destruction by the Nazis during the Second World War of the famous Novgorod churches of the 12th-15th centuries (the Savior on Nereditsa, the Assumption on the Volotovo Field, the Savior on Kovalev, the Archangel Michael on Skovorodka), the murals of Dionysius remained the only completely surviving fresco ensemble of Ancient Rus' of the Moscow school of murals.

The current state of the property:

Currently, the monuments of the Ferapontov Monastery house the Dionysius Frescoes Museum, which has the status of a historical, architectural and art museum-reserve. Since 1975, the formation of a modern museum began, which turned into a research and educational center that spreads knowledge about the unique monuments of the Ferapontov Monastery ensemble through various forms of museum work. At the end of 2000, the ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery with the paintings of Dionysius was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Frescoes of Dionysius

Dionisy is an outstanding icon painter, the most revered artist of Rus' in the late XV - early XVI centuries, a contemporary of Raphael, Leonardo, Botticelli, Durer. The miraculously preserved wall painting of Dionysius in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Ferapontov Monastery (1490) was unknown until 1898. Dionysius painted the cathedral in 1502, together with his sons Vladimir and Theodosius, in 34 days.

Ferapontov's paintings are not classical frescoes, they are made in the technique of multi-layered painting. The mural area of ​​the cathedral is about 600 square meters. m. The murals of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, numbering more than 300 plots and images of individual characters, occupy all surfaces of the walls, vaults, pillars, window and door slopes. The dimensions and proportions of Dionysius's compositions are subordinated to the architectural divisions of the cathedral, organically connected with the interior of the temple and the surfaces of the walls. Elegance and lightness of the drawing, elongated silhouettes emphasizing the weightlessness of “floating” figures, as it were, as well as exquisite paints radiating unearthly light and a unique tonal richness of colors and shades determine the uniqueness of Ferapontov’s painting.

The frescoes of the Ferapontov Monastery are united by the common theme of the glorification of the Virgin Mary, headed by the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. This is a picturesque embodiment of poetic hymns written by the Byzantine poet Roman the Melodist in the 6th century. The desire to glorify the Mother of God in this way was introduced into the work of Dionysius by the Orthodox tradition. The murals adorn not only the interior, but also the facade of the temple, which depicts the plot - "The Nativity of the Virgin". The theme of the glorification of the Mother of God was not chosen by chance as the basis of the system of murals. At the end of the 15th century, the Mother of God began to be regarded as the patroness of the Russian land.

The restoration of the Ferapontov Monastery debunked the legend that Dionysius used local pebbles in the painting of the cathedral, with which the shores of local lakes were dotted. Microchemical analysis of the mineral raw materials of genuine painting showed that Dionysius, like all other artists, painted with imported paints (probably Italian and German), purchased in bulk at the trading floors of Rostov or Moscow.

Dionysius used both artificial and natural pigments: malachite, poznyakite, atakamite, pseudomalachite. Such a quantity of green copper pigments is not contained in the paintings of any of the studied monuments of Western European painting. There is no such diversity in ancient Russian icon painting, which is the individual handwriting of the master.