A LAST EASTER SEPULCHRE: THOMAS WEVER AND ST MARY’S CHURCH, TARRANT HINTON, DORSET

The defaced and probably unfinished Easter sepulchre at St Mary’s Church, Tarrant Hinton, in Dorset is exceptional in its scale and sophisticated renaissance decoration, in comparison to other sixteenth-century structures associated with contemporary Easter liturgy. Previous notice of it has been impeded by failure to assess properly the upper part of the monument, which new photography now renders accessible. This demonstrates a remarkable resemblance between its (defaced) angels and the bronze angels by Benedetto da Rovezzano being prepared at Westminster in the late 1520s for the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey; while the lower part of the structure displays influence from contemporary French decoration. This structure is assessed in the contexts of other monuments of the early sixteenth century intended to support a temporary Easter sepulchre and of what can be reconstructed of the career of the minor but wealthy cleric who was responsible for its erection. Thomas Wever MA (d. 1536) made additions to two of his rectories besides building substantial extensions on the north side of Tarrant Hinton church. It is suggested that both his building there and the Easter sepulchre itself are unfinished and were abandoned at his death as a result of his continued indebtedness. The sepulchre itself suggests a direction that English church decoration never took.

To the Issue Concerning a Byzantine Iconostasis in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Centuries

The purpose of the article is to discover the issue of creating the Byzantine iconostasis in the artistic decoration of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the 19th – early 20th centuries a case study of the Great Pechersk Church (the Dormition Cathedral). The methodology is based on complex using historical and cultural analysis, and art study analysis. Scientific novelty. Milestones of creating the Byzantine style iconostasis in the Dormition Cathedral during the 19th – Early 20th centuries have been discovered. The cultural and artistic basis for implementing the idea of Byzantine iconostasis in 1845–1847, 1890–1900s has been revealed according to the text and visual records introduced into scientific circulation. The dominant role of the main iconostasis for the image of side-altars’ new iconostasis has been determined. The conservatism of religious personages who wanted to preserve the features of the previous iconostasis (height, number of tiers, the old icons, etc.) has been proved. It is determined that the sacred value of some icons was more important as a stylistic priority and it barely led to the replacement of the material of the iconostasis (silver instead of marble that traditional for Byzantine iconostases). Published photos of the Big iconostasis and the approved draft of the main iconostasis with the author of autographs (photos from the collection of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”). It has been found out distinguished Ukrainian art historian H. Pavlutskyi in one of them. The autonomy of the iconostases style of the mural paintings style in the Great Pechersk Church decoration has been proved. Conclusions. The attempt to realize the idea of the Byzantine iconostasis in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church in 1845–1847 created a precedent of the inconsistency of the artistic style of iconostasis and mural painting. The Byzantine style iconostasis hypothetically could exist in the spacious Baroque plastic art. Conversely, the complex of Baroque iconostases existed independently of the wall form performed in accordance with the Byzantine tradition at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. The polemic pointed around the main iconostasis, a new іmage of other iconostases designed in a complex with it. The baroque tradition was implemented in the new iconostasis projects. The monks perceived a change in mural paintings but they considered some icons by sacral constants in the Great Church. The Big iconostasis without upper tiers with the Byzantine cross was the victory of the Baroque tradition. The preservation of Baroque iconostases was a testimony of their stylistic autonomy from the mural painting decorated in Byzantine style. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, Byzantine art, Baroque art, iconostasis, sacral mural painting, KyivPechersk Lavra, Dormition Cathedral.

Monumental Painting: Post-Iconoclasm

Although few secular examples of Byzantine monumental painting survive, hundreds of churches throughout the Mediterranean and the Balkans preserve impressive decorative programs. Many of these churches are well studied. Others, however, remain unpublished. Close study of the paintings provides valuable information about techniques, materials, and artistic styles. Church decoration can show enormous regional variation: specific communities and patrons often exerted influence on subject matter. Inscriptions played an important role in many churches, providing an archive of liturgical texts to be spoken and sung and epigrams to be read. Liturgical texts, hymns, and ritual performance were important inspirations for painters and communities in the Middle and Late Byzantine periods. Phenomenological effects of sound and light were also considered in monumental decoration.

Wizjonerstwo historyczne w tekstach pisarzy innowierczych

This article reviews the creation and the roots of two historical legends about the trip of Ivan Smera to Alexandria and the privilege of Alexander Macedon to Slavs. The methodology of current research is based on the comparison of historical narratives. Two versions of the legend about the trip to the Orient were composed on the ground of old Kyivan chronicle which narrates the story about the choice of religion by Kyivan prince Volodimer in the last decades of the X th century when several ambassadors were sent to study the peculiarities of Judaism, Islam, Latin and Byzantine Christianity. During the second half of the XVI century, a new version of this tale was composed by Calvinists in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It narrates the visit of a certain person (Jolash or Ivan Smera) who arrived at Alexandria in North Africa to investigate the customs of the local Christian community. Ivan Smera found that the customs and the rite of the local community reflect the ideals of simple Christian service, without icons and church decoration. The rite of this religious community responds to the customs and the service of Calvinism. Smera has reported about the customs of Alexandria’s Christians to Volodimer but the Kyivan price ignored the ambassador’s notes and accepted Christianity in the byzantine rite. The other legend, which circulated in East and Central Europe during the Renaissance, narrates about the privilege of Alexander Macedon that was inscribed by golden letters on the tables in Alexandria. This imagined document relates that Slavic tribes arrived from the lands of Illyria and Dalmatia under the rulership of chieftains Lech, Roxolan, and Czech. It seems that both legends are rooted in Alexandria because Arianism prevailed in this city during late antiquity and Calvinism leaders supposed to establish good relations with orthodox patriarchs of this city in the second half of the XVI century. Religious life in ancient Alexandria was treated by the authors of the legend about the trip to North Africa as an example of perfect Christianity.

Piety, Power, or Presence? Strategies of Monumental Visualization of Patronage in Late Antique Ravenna

Between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, lay and cleric alike felt the need to be remembered in the monuments they sponsored. Accordingly, specific elements of the décor were designed as means capable of bearing the patron’s memory. The late antique churches of Ravenna offer an extraordinary field to understand how patrons left their mark on decorative programs of ancient buildings. There, portraits, inscriptions, and monograms emerge as the primary instruments used in a complex strategy of visual communication. However, each had its own communicative power and peculiar use. Either separately or in connection, they were able to convey strong messages of patronship to the viewer. By focusing on each of these elements in its context and on the ways they all interacted with the surrounding architecture and church decoration, this paper will highlight their value as visual objects capable to immortalize the piety, power, or presence of the patron. Indeed, the silent dialogue enacted into the architectural space with the beholder will allow us to reconstruct the hidden messages that individuals or groups meant to communicate to posterity.

Biblical and missionary plots in the decoration of Saints Peter & Paul Garrison church (former Jesuit church)

After the former Jesuit Church, now the Garrison Church was opened in 2011, the need to explore and reinterpret its historical and cultural heritage arose. This was primarily caused by the process of church renovation which started in 2012. At the same time, the well-preserved interiors and exteriors of the church are of significant research interest. In particular, the art and religious culture of the society of the XVII-XIX century and not only in Lviv. It is known that until 1946 the church belonged to the Society of Jesus, a monastic order that operated all over the world. Under the influence of various cultures, a particular art culture of the order was slowly formed. It consisted of local plots and those that had a general meaning for the whole order with its own ideological load. Besides, the church as a place of worship/man’s encounter with God should have also had a biblical meaning. A combination of order and biblical themes in church decoration created a comprehensive image in which the order is the bearer of Christian ideas laid down in the Bible. This statement provides the opportunity to view decorations in the Garrison Church and in churches in general as a certain ideological construct that was supposed to “declare” specific “messages” incorporated in a fresco, a sculpture, and an icon, etc. Therefore, studying and interpreting church decorations makes it possible to understand, at least partially, the ideological motive of its author. Hence, it becomes easier to understand the art and religious culture of the society, particularly in the XVII-XIXcenturies. Considering the abovementioned, this article is an attempt to interpret the decorations of Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church (the former Jesuit Church), a significant part of which consists of biblical and missionary plots.

AESTHETIC EVALUATION IN OLD RUSSIAN LITERARY MONUMENTS

Статья посвящена диахроническому подходу к изучению аксиологии. Говорится о древнем синкретизме оценки и его постепенном расщеплении в связи с возникновением ценностных различий между внутренним и внешним. Рассматривается языковое выражение эстетической оценки в оригинальных памятниках литературы Древней Руси. Приводятся контексты проповеди, жития, летописи, хождения, «похвалы» празднику, повести, обращения к князю, торжественного «слова», в которых описываются единичные объекты и явления действительности (внешность человека, архитектурные сооружения, церковное убранство, религиозный ритуал, окружающая местность, природные явления), т.е. определяется «Что прекрасно?» (вопрос, поставленный еще в Древней Греции Сократом и Платоном). Подчеркивается необходимость дальнейшего изучения отражения в языке эстетической оценки (‘красиво’ – ‘безобразно’) для демонстрации процесса становления эстетики как науки, отвечающей на второй («парный») философский вопрос античности «Что такое прекрасное?». The article is devoted to the diachronic approach to the study of axiology. It is said about the ancient syncretism of evaluation and its gradual splitting due to the emergence of value differences between internal and external. The article considers the language expression of aesthetic evaluation in the original monuments of literature of Ancient Russia. The context of a sermon, a life, a chronicle, a walk, a «praise» for a holiday, a story, an address to the Prince, a solemn «word», which describes individual objects and phenomena of reality (human appearance, architectural structures, Church decoration, religious ritual, the surrounding area, natural phenomena), that is, defines «What is beautiful?» (a question posed in Ancient Greece by Socrates and Plato). The article emphasizes the need to further study the reflection of aesthetic evaluation in the language (‘beautiful’ – ‘ugly’) to demonstrate the process of formation of aesthetics as a science that answers the second («paired») philosophical question of antiquity «What is beautiful?».

New evidence for church decoration in the early ninth century

This paper examines church decoration during the Transitional period (ca. 650-850), focusing on unpublished elements from the Fatih Camii (Hagios Stephanos?) in Zeytinba?? (Trilye). Located on the south shore of the Sea of Marmara, the church may be securely dated to the early years of the ninth century. Among the variety of decorative details uncovered during an unauthorized restoration in 1997 are more than a dozen fragments of opus sectile. The variety of these panels expands the corpus of geometric patterns known from the period; in addition, opus sectile seems to have been used both on the walls and the floor.

The Miracles and Decoration of Sainte-Radegonde

Chapter 5 examines the efforts of the canons of Sainte-Radegonde to enhance their community’s status in the thirteenth century. The canons commissioned new manuscripts, building projects, and church decoration that challenged previous depictions of Saint Radegund controlled by the abbess of Sainte-Croix, and asserted stronger ties between the saint and the canons’ church. Decoration, including a program of stained-glass windows, created a new biography for the saint that shifted Radegund’s power from the monastery to the church; new miracle tales recording healings at Radegund’s tomb demonstrated the power housed within the church. The canons also drew in royal patrons by focusing on Radegund’s royal, rather than monastic, identity. The canons worked subtle challenges in text and image to oppose the nuns’ control of the saint’s cult. Their work resulted in greater patronage and prestige, which placed new pressures on the abbess of Sainte-Croix, and new difficulties in asserting her authority.