Maslov Konstantin

Painting of V. M. Vasnetsov in the Vladimir cathedral in art criticism of the late 19th century

Abstract

This article deals with the views of A.V. Prakhov, who supervised the adornment of St. Vladimir Cathedral in 1885–1896, and of V. M. Vasnetsov, who did the wallpaintings. In general, the direction of the works — the return to the “old arrangement of the Cathedral” — was initially inspired by the Ecclesiastical Archaeological Society of Kiev Theological Academy. The response to paintings by Vasnetsov in the late 19th century art criticism is also dealt with in the paper. It has been shown that with all the appreciation of the artist as the founder of the new national trend in church painting, the authors of reviews of Vasnetsov’s work in the Cathedral were not unanimous as to the relationship of these paintings to Old Russian and Byzantine art as well as to the domestic tradition of icon-painting in particular. While some of them looked at Vasnetsov as the direct successor of the tradition and even ascribed the status of original icons to his works, others regarded the traditional aspects in his paintings as merely a dead form that came to be revived by the “Russian hand” of the “Russian artist”. Finally, there were those who plainly denied any reference to the tradition in these paintings. A. N. Benoit was the sole critic who stood apart from all those who responded to Vasnetsov’s paintings with excitement and enthusiasm. He denied both the national authenticity of Vasnetsov’s work and its affi nity with the Russian tradition. According to Benoit, this was a “gaudy and frivolous extravaganza” which, he remarked, would be appreciated “by a touring French who applaud the Esclarmonde in the Grand Opera”.

Keywords

church painting, icon-painting tradition, A. V. Prakhov, V. M. Vasnetsov, Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev, Pochvennichestvo

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Information about the author

Maslov Konstantin

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Art Criticism;
Email: zmaslo@mail.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.