Simon Fyodorovich Ushakov (1626-1686) - the famous Moscow icon painter descended from hereditary nobles. Apparently, at a young age, Simon received serious artistic training, thoroughly mastered the art of "signs" (drawing). Only this can explain the fact that only twenty-two years old, he was received by the "honored" tsarist master of the Silver Chamber under the Armory Order in the Kremlin. And soon he was called nothing other than "the gold and silver works of the banner and icon painter".
"Savior Not Made by Hands"
Let's go back to the sad 1665, when rough "memories" appeared in the files of the Armory - service notes, which spoke about two different monasteries, about Nikolo-Ugreshsky and Pokrovsky, which are on the Poor houses, behind the Zemlyanoy shaft, at the Pokrovskaya outpost. Both were appointed places of imprisonment for Ushakov. Since September 1666, information finally appears again about Ushakov's occupations in the tsarist service, about the awards he received along with other icon painters. Royal orders, personal wishes of the Quietest, the talented master fulfilled not only in the Kremlin Armory, but also in his house, which eventually turned into a workshop and icon painting school
"Our Lady of Kazan", 1658 
Simon drew images of saints on church vessels, on an embossed badge or decoration on the vestments and caps of the archimandrite.) And this required a special knowledge of drawing, taste and independent creativity. The master painted temples with frescoes, made sketches for banners, coins and ornaments. The iconographer also turned to drawing from "living", that is, from life. Simon Ushakov himself was a master of drawing and an excellent icon painter: it was no coincidence that in Moscow he had the fame of the first icon painter. In his icons, he introduced portraits and landscapes. It is with his work that the gradual transition from medieval icon painting to secular realistic painting is associated.
"Our Lady of the Don", 1668 
Ushakov's talent was multifaceted. He made sketches for church utensils and palace household items, composed patterns for handicrafts, designs for jewelry, drew and painted maps, drew sovereign eagles in branding on muskets, and on silver knives - animals, birds and grass, painted on Christmas holidays walls of the royal room. He did everything masterfully, and most importantly - trying to understand the nature and essence of a person, to convey the originality of the depicted. It is no coincidence that the artist compared painting to a mirror that possesses a wonderful secret to reflect the reality of life as it is.
"Our Lady of Novonikitskaya" 
"Icon of the Monk Nikon of Radonezh" 
"Sergius of Radonezh", 1669 
"Savior Not Made by Hands", 1669 
"Our Lady of Eleusa of Kykkos", 1668 
"The Tree of the Moscow State (Praise of Our Lady of Vladimir)", 1670 
"Our Lady of Eleusa of Kykkos", 1675 
"Archangel Michael trampling on the devil", 1676 
"The Last Supper" 
"Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia" 
"Trinity", 1677 
"John the Evangelist in Silence", 1673 
"Savior Almighty", 1668 
"Savior Not Made by Hands", 1676 
"Savior Not Made by Hands", 1677 
"Savior the Almighty on the throne", 1672 
"Savior Not Made by Hands" 
"Archangel Gabriel" 
"Our Lady of Vladimir with selected saints", 1660 
"Calvary cross", 1651 
"Christ Emmanuel" 
"Life-Giving Trinity" 
"Nicholas the Wonderworker" 
Of course, the exhibition must be seen with your own eyes, otherwise how can you understand how the smallest of the seven images of the Savior Not Made by Hands, presented at the exhibition, differs from others, and why it is the brightest and most preserved example of the icon painter's "life-like" style.
And only with your own eyes you will be able to see an amazing find on the very first Ushakov icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands - fragments of the original author's inscription with the date "1661", discovered quite recently, during the restoration of the icon for the exhibition. Prior to that, all encyclopedias repeated one thing - the Savior Not Made by Hands was written for the Trinity Church in Nikitniki in 1658, since this very date appeared on the later inscription on the lower margin of the icon.
In general, the exhibition must be visited, but for now - video and text of the tour.
"Written by Simon Ushakov, the sovereign icon painter"
Simon Ushakov was a man of his time, who reflected in his works the most important historical and cultural processes of the 17th century. On the other hand, it was in the work of Ushakov, thanks to his individual artistic searches, that a new style of Russian icon painting emerged and established itself in the 60s-70s of the 17th century, which was mastered first by the masters of the Armory Chamber and the metropolitan artists, and after them, already at the end XVII century - almost all Russian icon painters in most of the then existing art centers.
It is very important that, unlike the great predecessors of the master, such as Dionisy or Andrei Rublev, information about the life and work of Ushakov is quite widely represented in the documents of the era. We are accustomed to the fact that the biography of a medieval artist can be reconstructed only in general terms, by brief chronicle or hagiographic references, and the authorship of his works can only be judged by indirect evidence or by style. In addition, we almost never know what was the measure of the personal participation of this or that icon painter in this or that artistic project, what duties the head of the art cooperative performed, what part of the work went to him.
Meanwhile, the official court clerical work of the 17th century recorded every step of the "sovereign people", among whom belonged the "sovereign icon painter" Simon Ushakov. Researchers have at their disposal a huge archive of the Armory, from which you can get a lot of information about in what years and on what the artist worked, where he went and what he did. By the way, some of these documents look ridiculously modern: a statement of issuance of consumables or a statement of salary. And of course, there is one more important circumstance that makes Ushakov's image more definite for us than the images of his great predecessors - the signatures and dates on the icons he executed: “Writing Simon Ushakov, the sovereign icon painter, in such and such year”.
About 50 signed and dated works of Simon Ushakov are known in total, and almost 40 of them are on display. In addition, the exhibition presents some of the works attributed to Ushakov on the basis of late inscriptions or stylistic features, as well as a fairly large number of works by his students.
The creative biography of Ushakov can be traced back to documents from 1648, when he was only 22 years old. It was then that Ushakov wrote a petition for his production as a sovereign icon painter. Moreover, he indicated in the petition that even before that time he had already worked "incessantly at ... the tsar's business", apparently, being attracted to some separate artistic projects. Judging by other documents, this petition was granted, but Ushakov did not become an icon painter. Probably, they found another job for the artist - he was promoted to the banner of the Silver Chamber, where his duties included the production of preparatory drawings for church utensils and other works of decorative and applied art. In addition, he worked in the Tsaritsa's workshop, performing drawings for sewing, decorated the royal chambers, engraved, drew maps and plans.
Our Lady of Vladimir. Innovator or Traditionalist?
The first signed and dated works of Ushakov date back to the 50s of the 17th century, and the earliest of them is the icon "Our Lady of Vladimir" in 1652. On the back of the icon there is an inscription, which says that this icon is a copy of an ancient and glorified miraculous icon. Moreover, on top of the inscription there is a postscript "and by measure" - the icon painter reproduced not only the composition of the original, but also its exact size.
The fact that Ushakov chooses at an early stage of his work precisely the glorified miraculous Byzantine icon, sent to Russia at the beginning of the 12th century, very clearly indicates for us one of the main pivots of his work. We are accustomed to considering the artist an innovator, a revolutionary in ancient Russian icon painting, but we must understand that in the Russian culture of the 17th century the very concept of “innovation” was absent. Church writers and artists focused primarily on tradition. This tradition was of great importance for Ushakov as well. He not only chooses an ancient miraculous image, he reproduces it "by measure and likeness."
Simon Ushakov. Our Lady of Vladimir, on the back - the Calvary Cross. 1652
Tempera on wood. 104 × 70. Tretyakov Gallery
Savior Not Made by Hands and the search for "living likeness"
To talk about Ushakov as a reformer, it is necessary to turn to one of the most favorite subjects of his work - the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which the artist repeated several times in different periods of his creative biography.
The earliest icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, executed by Ushakov, comes from the Moscow Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki and was earlier dated to 1658. But it was for the exhibition that the complete restoration of the icon was made, it was freed from the records of the 18th and 19th centuries, and we got the opportunity to see the almost completely preserved original Ushakov painting. In addition, the restorers succeeded in reconstructing the original inscription from fragments of golden letters and their detachments on drying oil and establishing the correct date - 1661.
Why was it the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands that attracted the artist's attention so much, and why did he practice his new artistic techniques on it for decades? To understand this, we need to turn, first of all, to the aesthetic treatises of both Ushakov himself and his friend, the Yaroslavl artist Iosif Vladimirov (this original genre is one of the new features of the artistic culture of the 17th century).
The main pathos of Iosif Vladimirov's lengthy composition is the struggle against deviation from ancient traditions. According to the artist, his predecessors made many mistakes, distorting the original evidence that the ancient works preserved, and it is to this evidence that icon painters should return. He gives specific examples, asking contemporaries why, for example, today martyrs are depicted with dark faces, if they were young and beautiful, or why the ideal and perfect appearance of Christ and the Mother of God, known from biblical testimonies and later legends, is not reproduced on icons. These questions make it possible to understand Ushakov's interest in the Image Not Made by Hands, because it was he who captured the living, authentic features of the Savior.
Hence, from the search for this liveliness and authenticity, comes the very concept of "living likeness", which Ushakov and Vladimirov operated both in their theoretical works and in practice, in their icons.
What is liveliness? First of all, this is not naturalism in the European sense of the word, not working with nature. Life-like is the reproduction of living, authentic testimony of sacred persons and events as the main task of icon painting. It was important for Ushakov to clarify this evidence, correct it, and make it more convincing. And therefore the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands for Simon Ushakov is an eternal challenge and eternal search. He is looking for the most accurate and adequate, genuine, living features of Christ. And this persistent search, of course, refutes all traditional prejudices about the secularization of Russian culture in the 17th century.
Simon Ushakov. Savior Not Made by Hands. 1678
Tempera on wood. 53 × 42. Tretyakov Gallery
State tree of Moscow
The importance of tradition for Ushakov is evidenced by his repeated appeal to the image of "Our Lady of Vladimir". In addition to the very first icon of 1652, this theme is reflected in three other works of the early 1660s, presented at the exhibition.
The icon of Our Lady of Vladimir with selected saints in the margins of 1660 comes from the Dormition Cathedral of the Florischeva Hermitage, and, judging by the lengthy inscription in its lower part, this is the artist's own contribution to the Dormition Monastery - evidence that the artist was, firstly, sufficiently wealthy for to make their own contributions, and secondly, very religious. Another Vladimir icon was painted by order of the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky monastery Dionysius in 1662.
The third image is the famous icon "Praise to the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir" or "The Tree of the Moscow State" in 1663. These names are late and more or less conventional, since we do not know its original name, and in the 19th century inventories it was called "The Image of Vladimirskaya with Moscow miracle workers." Around the medallion with the icon of the Mother of God there are images of Moscow saints and some famous historical figures. The gallery of these characters begins with the founders of the Moscow principality - Prince Ivan Kalita and Metropolitan Peter, who transferred the metropolitan see from Vladimir to Moscow and founded the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which is also represented on the icon.
On the left, on the branches of the tree, are Moscow saints, the successors of Metropolitan Peter, the last of whom is Patriarch Filaret. Above is his son, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the founder of a new dynasty, Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the last of the Rurikovichs, and the noble Tsarevich Dimitri, the patron saint of the entire Moscow reigning house.
On the right branch are depicted saints, and their number unexpectedly opens with the image of the prince-schema-monk - the Monk Alexander Nevsky. At the top of the icon is Christ in the clouds, who gives the crown and robe to the angels. The story of the plot is as follows: in 1625, a glorified relic was sent to Moscow from Persia by Shah Abbas - the Lord's robe, which was solemnly laid in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. And, of course, when depicting the robe, the artist had in mind precisely this precious Kremlin relic. The combination of two relics - the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir and the robe of the Lord - clearly demonstrated the direct protection of Christ and the Mother of God to the Moscow state.
On the sides of Christ are inscribed inscriptions from the Apocalypse - fragments from appeals to the Sardian and Smyrna churches. These texts, together with the texts on the scrolls of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the then heir to Tsarevich Alexei Alexeevich, form a kind of dialogue: in response to the prayer appeal of the Tsar and Tsarevich, Christ promises them and the entire Moscow state a robe and a crown as a sign of his patronage.
How a nobleman became an icon painter
One of Ushakov's important customers was Saint Hilarion of Suzdal, the founder of the Assumption Hermitage. He was a relative of Simon Ushakov, as reported by his life. And it is from the life that we learn that Metropolitan Ushakov ordered four icons: "The Savior on the Throne", "Our Lady of Vladimir", "Our Lady of Kykkos" and the large temple "Assumption", performed in 1663.
A remarkable legend is associated with the icon of the Assumption, also set forth in the life of Hilarion of Suzdal. When the wooden church was replaced with a stone one, Hilarion wondered whether to preserve the previous consecration to the throne, and then the Mother of God appeared to him in a dream in the image she was written on the Ushakov icon. Hilarion realized that the consecration of the throne must be preserved, the new stone church was also dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin.
Other facts from his life also testify to the fact that Metropolitan Hilarion played an important role in Ushakov's life. In particular, it is known that Hilarion himself and the monks of his monastery stayed at Ushakov's house in Kitai-Gorod. And the life tells that when the monks who were staying in Ushakov's house stood in prayer, a pillar of light and flame rose over the house. It was so large that the watchmen came running from the Spasskaya Tower, fearing that a fire had started in Kitai-Gorod.
These episodes show how closely Ushakov was connected with the spiritual environment, and, perhaps, it was this connection with childhood that predetermined his fate. Ushakov came from a noble family, and for a Moscow nobleman at that time, the choice of the artistic field was somewhat unexpected. Most likely, the reason for such a choice was not only the talents of the young man, but also internal spiritual motives.
Simon Ushakov with his students Egor and Ivan. Dormition of the Mother of God. 1663
Tempera on wood. 146 × 120. Tretyakov Gallery
Light and lively
In 1668, Ushakov took part in a very important artistic project - the creation of decorative furnishings for the Church of St. Gregory of Neokesary on Bolshaya Polyanka. This temple was founded in 1667 and built this year on the initiative of its rector, Archpriest Andrei Savinov, who was also the rector of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Judging by the surviving signatures, Ushakov himself owns only two main icons from this church: the Lord's image of Christ the Almighty and the image of the Mother of God of Kykkos.
It is noteworthy that for the main image of the Mother of God of the temple, Ushakov chooses iconography that is rather rare and exotic for Russia, which he could have known from post-Byzantine lists from the ancient shrine. They, as well as other post-Byzantine icons, probably contained some artistic techniques characteristic of European art. But Ushakov did not copy the European art system: the amazing face of the Mother of God of Kykkos was created exclusively by traditional icon-painting means. These are thin translucent layers of tempera painting that are superimposed on each other in order to convey color and light-and-shadow transitions. Moreover, the icon painter learns to gradually smooth out the contrast, lay translucent light layers over the shadows, and replace the highlights with almost pure whitewash, which are characteristic of icons at the turn of the 60s and 70s, with more ocher in tone. In addition, Ushakov puts a slightly darker translucent layer on top of the highlights. In such a complex way, a feeling of smoothness of transitions is achieved, there is a feeling of a real, lively volume.
It is very important that Ushakov's painting continues to be saturated with light. This luminosity for the artist was even more important than vivacity. Light and lively - this is how a real icon painter should work. And in this such reverent attitude to the light, apparently, a spiritual tradition manifested itself, going back to the times of the ascetic exploits of the hesychast monks, from the mystical culture of the XIV century.
Another example of the life-like Ushakov style is the 1671 Trinity icon, created by order of the Greek merchant and diplomat Nikolai Nicoletta. This is evidenced by the inscription in Greek, placed at the bottom of the icon.
Among the remarkable exhibits presented at the exhibition is the festive rite from the Church of the Intercession, created in 1673 by order of Bogdan Matveyevich Khitrovo, head of the Armory. The first icon of the festive rite was performed by Ushakov himself, and the rest of the icons of the rank were painted by his students and co-workers - Nikita Pavlovets, Fyodor Kozlov, Georgy Zinoviev, Ivan Filatyev and others.
In addition to the icons of Simon Ushakov himself, the exhibition also displays the most famous works of his direct students, among whom were such masters as Georgy Zinoviev, Mikhail Milyutin and Theodot Ukhtomsky.
Ushakov Simon Fedorovich (1626-1686)
In the history of Old Russian icon painting, it is customary to associate the idea of \u200b\u200bthe last period of the art of Moscow Rus with the name of S.F.Ushakov.
Both his work and his very personality are typical of the era of fundamental changes that took place in the second half of the 17th century. The clearly marked breakdown of the medieval worldview leads to serious changes in the understanding and interpretation of the iconographic image.
These innovations were especially clearly expressed in the activities of the masters of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. Arose at the sovereign's court at the beginning of the 17th century. As a repository of weapons, already in the middle of the century it turns into a large art workshop, where the best icon painters from different cities of Russia gather, where invited foreign masters work next to them. A huge amount of work is carried out here, from painting temples and living quarters of the Kremlin to decorating banners, carriages, and various household items.
Simon Ushakov worked at the Armory for more than twenty years. His performance and energy are amazing. He paints the walls of temples, paints icons and miniatures, draws maps, makes drawings for banners, coins, ornaments on guns, engravings and engraves himself. He writes a lot on orders for churches in Moscow, Novgorod, Tver, Rostov, for the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
Ushakov heads the icon-painting workshop and leaves many students and followers, among whom Tikhon Filatyev and Kirill Ulanov are especially famous. Following the teacher, they are trying to find new forms for creating an icon-painting image.
Ushakov formulates his new look at the tasks of icon painting in the "Word to the Lovely Icon Writing", written by him no later than 1667, where he admires the properties of a mirror, which can accurately reproduce the world around him, and wants to liken a pictorial image to it. Following this aspiration, he tries with the help of multilayer melts (small, barely noticeable strokes that give a smooth transition from one tone to another) to apply light and shadow modeling in the interpretation of faces.
He often writes images of the Savior and the Mother of God, demonstrating his ability to gently model the face and neck, emphasize the roundness of the chin, swelling of the lips. In the icon "The Mother of God of Vladimir (The Tree of the Moscow State)", written in 1668, he depicts Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, trying to convey his portrait features.
It is known that Ushakov wrote Parsuns. In depicting an interior or landscape on icons, he sometimes uses the principles of linear perspective. The artist sometimes uses Western European engraving as a model for the backgrounds of icons. So, in the architectural landscape of the icon "Trinity" (1671), he repeated the image from the engraving, executed on the painting of the Italian painter of the 16th century Paolo Veronese "Feast at Simon the Pharisee." As for the understanding of the iconographic image as a whole, the master remains within the framework of medieval ideas. (The dual character inherent in his art finds analogies in the work of late Greek icon painters, such as, for example, Emmanuel Tzanes.)
Unlike icon painters of the past, Ushakov often signs his works, giving the date of the painting of the image and his name. From the surviving documents, it is known that from 1648 to 1664 he worked as a standard-bearer in the Silver Chamber, and from 1664 to 1686 he worked as an iconographer of the Armory Chamber. Information about the "family of the icon painter Simon Fedorov, son of Ushakov" is contained in the handwritten synodic of the Moscow Church of the Georgian Mother of God.
Of his legacy that has survived to this day, the most famous are the icons that are now kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum. Among them are repetitions of the famous Russian shrines: images of Our Lady of Vladimir (1652, 1662), Our Lady of the Don, Our Lady of Kykkos (both 1668), etc. His engravings on copper - "Fatherland", "Seven Deadly Sins" are also known; engravings for "The Life of Barlaam and Joasaph", for "Psalms of Simeon of Polotsk".
artsait.ru
In the 17th century, Simon Ushakov painted a unique icon "Planting the tree of the Russian state", on which Vladimirskaya is depicted as the main shrine of all Russia. The icon seems to grow out of a tree watered by Prince Ivan Kalita and St. Metropolitan Peter, and in the branches, in medallions, Russian saints are depicted. What other icons did the great iconographer write and why his work is especially relevant now, says art critic Svetlana LIPATOVA.
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. 1662 State Russian Museum
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, commissioned by the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, Dionysius, is one of those icons of Ushakov, where the gravitation towards a life-like style has not yet fully manifested itself. The gloomy coloring of the icon and dark olive fields refer to the samples of Russian icon painting of the 16th century
Nowadays, the name of Simon Ushakov is not as well known to a wide circle of lovers of Russian icon painting as the names of Rublev and Dionisy. And in vain, because the art of this icon painter is extremely relevant now, when we are faced with the task of finding a new integral artistic language, which should not rely on stereotyped copying of ancient images, but on the awareness of the entire historical development of Russian icon painting.
Old and new
The work of Simon Ushakov is the most vivid expression of those aspirations and aesthetic ideals that lived in his era. The fact that Ushakov always left the author's signature on the images he created, often containing not only the date, but also the name of the customer and the place where the icon is intended, testifies not only to the formation of personal identity in the 17th century, but also to such a new line of mentality, as acceptance of copyright responsibility for the created work. Thanks to one of these inscriptions indicating the artist's age, we learn that the future master was born in 1625 or 1626. This means that Simon was not just a contemporary, but actually the same age as Alexei Mikhailovich, during whose reign the most famous works of Ushakov were created.
It is not known where and from whom Simon studied the art of icon painting. By 1648, when he entered the sovereign's service as an artist, the country had already recovered from the consequences of the turmoil and invasion of the interventionists. The economy of Russia was consolidated, foreign contacts were significantly expanded, artistic life was actively revived in Moscow, Yaroslavl and other large cities. Despite social uprisings, riots and church reforms that led to a split in the Church, it was the second half of the 17th century that was marked by the last, unprecedented in scale flowering of late Russian medieval architecture, monumental art and icon painting. Often the culture of this period is called "transitional" from the Middle Ages to the New Age and is sometimes compared with the Western European Renaissance, then with the Baroque era. In reality, it was an extremely variegated phenomenon, when not only magnificent buildings and grandiose ensembles of frescoes were created, but also active debates were conducted about the style and quality of Orthodox icons. During a long creative life, which lasted about forty years, if we count from the earliest known icon of the artist to the latest, Ushakov worked on solving the most difficult problem of merging new artistic techniques and the centuries-old icon painting tradition.
Highland Jewels
It is difficult to imagine all the abundance and variety of visual material that surrounded Ushakov in the Armory. Foreign masters worked here, and a huge number of engravings based on the works of European masters were brought here. Greek icons flocked to Moscow, testifying to the continuation of the tradition of post-Byzantine Orthodox icon painting. Standing at the crossroads of cultural influences, the isographers borrowed many elements, not copying them from paintings and prints, but creatively reworking and modifying them. In the icons and frescoes of the second half of the 17th century, some rudiments of direct perspective appear, traditional iconic slides are replaced by detailed landscape backgrounds.
Ushakov was primarily interested in the methods of writing the faces of saints. Dolichnoe, that is, the image of the background and clothes, he often instructed his students to write. At the same time, for his works, Ushakov most often chose a simple background, for example, light blue, as in the icons "Our Lady of Kykkos", "St. Sergius of Radonezh", "Archangel Michael trampling on the devil." It was in connection with Ushakov's intense enthusiasm for technique and methods of personal writing that he created more than twelve images of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Returning again and again to this iconography, he set himself the task of visually conveying the union in Christ of two natures - divine and human, to create images of the incarnated Lord, the God-man. Of course, in these icons there is a greater, in comparison with ancient images, tangibility, corporeality. Sometimes Ushakov uses the sfumato technique, which creates an airy haze, but the light in his icons still comes from within the image, without a physical characteristic and a source from outside. It seems that the artist's goal was not to imitate European painting, as researchers sometimes wrote about it, but to try to update Russian church art, which could not remain unchanged due to new historical conditions. Ushakov's icons do not turn into a religious picture, but remain true Orthodox images.
Ushakov's writing style is called "vivacity", which is often interpreted as a black and white modeling of faces, close to a realistic manner. In fact, despite the great anatomical precision and the outlined physical volume, the icons created by the master have aloofness, enamel smoothness and luminous power, which gives the images the character of a jewel of the mountain world.
Master's word
Ushakov, apparently, was indispensable at court. He was entrusted with overseeing the renovation of ancient monuments, making estimates for work, and testifying to the skill of the artists employed by the artel. Being in the civil service, Simon made drawings for banners, coins and for decoration of weapons, drew maps and plans. Any job was within his reach. Alexey Mikhailovich appreciated his talent, ordering him measured icons depicting the heavenly patrons of his children. It is quite remarkable that it is Ushakov, who has already created a large number of magnificent icons, that the tsar commissions to paint a carriage, that is, a carriage, for his wife.
Ushakov was a strong personality, he organized the work of a huge workshop and at the same time found time for his creativity. As is known from the documents, he strove to open his own icon-painting school, for which he planned to write the "ABC of Arts", a kind of book of samples, an anatomical atlas. Through him, the master would transfer his drawing skills not only to the immediate circle of students, but also to record the invaluable experience accumulated over the years for the next generations of church artists. Unfortunately, both plans remained unfulfilled, but the introduction to the supposed "ABC" was nevertheless created, showing us a magnificent treatise on the art of painting. In an essay titled "A Word to the Amateurs (that is, to the lover. - S. L.) iconic writing", the master speaks of the superiority of fine art over other types of arts, as well as the artist's personal responsibility for his works: "Many of us, those who know the art of painting write what is more worthy of laughter than favor and tenderness, by this they cause the wrath of God and [subject themselves] to the condemnation of foreigners and great shame from honest people. " Ushakov calls the Main Artist the Creator, who created and beautified the world. "Doesn't the Lord Himself teach us the art of icon painting?" he asks. The treatise also sounds a word in defense of the veneration of icons, contains discussions about the relationship between the image and the prototype, and condemns the blasphemy of holy icons.
State tree
While Ushakov can be called an innovator in the field of painting technique, he was not an innovator in the field of Orthodox iconography, referring to the once and for all chosen type of the Savior Not Made by Hands on the board or creating lists of Russian and Greek images revered for centuries. An exception is one of Ushakov's most famous icons "Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God" (1668, State Tretyakov Gallery, also called "Planting the Tree of the Russian State"), whose brilliant iconographic design can be attributed to the artist's genius. The image was painted for the iconostasis of the Trinity Church in Nikitniki - a temple in Kitay-gorod, next to which the artist lived and whose parishioner, apparently, was.
Outside the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, the Assumption Cathedral is depicted, from which a tree grows. In the center, among its branches and flowers, there is a medallion with the image of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. At the foot of the Assumption Cathedral are depicted prince Ivan Kalita planting a tree and Metropolitan Peter watering the roots of a plant from a jug. On either side of them is the living royal family: Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, his wife Maria Ilyinichna, sons Alexei and Fyodor. From a tree growing in the center of the Moscow state, there are shoots in the form of vines with leaves, rose flowers and bunches of fruits. Its main fruits are the saints of the Russian land, depicted in twenty medallions with prayer scrolls in their hands. To the right of the icon of the Mother of God are the saints (Metropolitans Jonah, Alexy, Cyprian, Philip, Photius, the patriarchs Job and Philaret), as well as Tsars Fyodor Ivanovich, Mikhail Fedorovich and Tsarevich Dimitri. On the left are the reverends Andronicus of Moscow, Sergius and Nikon of Radonezh, Paphnutiy Borovsky, as well as the Moscow holy fools Basil the Blessed, Maxim the Blessed, and John the Big Kolpak. The overall composition of the work goes back to the Serbian images of the genealogy of the rulers of Nemanjić, which, in turn, is based on the iconography of the genealogy of Christ, called the "Tree of Jesse". But if in these two schemes the tree with numerous branches was primarily a genealogical tree, then in the icon of Simon Ushakov it symbolizes the spiritual deeds of those depicted. Their relationship lies in the fact that they are all saints of the Russian land. The Moscow kingdom, or rather the Kremlin, its spiritual and political center, symbolizes the helipad built by the Lord. The pious workers of Christ as the owner of the vineyard are Metropolitan Peter (1308-1326) and Ivan Kalita (1325-1340), whose names are traditionally associated with the rise of Moscow. Under Metropolitan Alexy, Prince Dimitrii built the walls of the Kremlin, and under Metropolitan Cyprian, the icon of the Mother of God was transferred from Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral from Vladimir (in 1395), which became his main shrine. This is how the rise of Moscow took place, its transformation into the first capital city. "Planting the tree of the Russian state" is a unique icon that reflected the single history of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church and had state and political relevance.
Meeting with Ushakov
In the late 17th - early 18th centuries, Ushakov had many imitators. His disciples replicated the images of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the manner of the master, but no one managed to achieve the virtuosity that was inherent in his brush.
We have to admit that today the name of Ushakov is not as well known to a wide circle of lovers of Russian icon painting as the names of Rublev and Dionisy. His genius, as the main achievement of an entire era, has yet to be rediscovered and comprehended - the artist's legacy, surprisingly enough, has not yet found its reflection either in an individual exhibition or in a large album edition. The icons he created are scattered across numerous museums and are in private collections. The magnificent Ushakov icon "Savior Not Made by Hands" with illustrations for the morning stichera in the stamps is located in the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane in Moscow.
Ushakov's art is extremely relevant today, when modern icon painters are faced with the task of searching for a new integral artistic language, which should be based not on stereotyped copying of ancient images, but on the awareness of the entire historical development of Russian icon painting, including in the 17th century.
Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God (Planting the Tree of the Russian State). 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna with her sons Alexei and Fyodor. Detail of the icon "Planting the tree of the Russian state". 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
One of the most famous icons of Ushakov, whose brilliant design belongs to the artist's genius
Archangel Michael trampling on the devil. 1676, State Tretyakov Gallery
The icon has an unusual "round" manure. To the left and to the right of the archangel, figures of selected saints are drawn. In the lower left corner, attention is drawn to the image of a man in a prayer pose, dressed in a posad dress and wearing boots. There was an assumption that this is a self-portrait of the artist or a portrait of the customer of the icon
Trinity. 1671 State Russian Museum
Detail of Paolo Veronese's painting "Feast in the House of Levi". 1573 Gallery of the Academy of Arts in Venice.
Ushakov repeats the general compositional scheme of the famous icon of Andrei Rublev "Trinity", borrowing poses, gestures, drawing folds on the clothes of angels. At the same time, an engraving from Paolo Veronese's painting "Feast in the House of Levi" served as a prototype for the architectural backdrop in the mirror image. The strict classicistic background does not destroy the prayerful character of the image
Icon of the Mother of God "Kikskaya" from the Church of St. Gregory Neokesariyskiy on Bolshaya Polyanka. 1668, State Tretyakov Gallery
The faces of the Mother of God and Christ. Detail of the icon of the Mother of God "Kikskaya". 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
One of the icons, of which Ushakov makes a copy, is the Kykkos (or Cypriot) icon of the Mother of God, which goes back to the miraculous image of the Khilandar monastery on Mount Athos and was revered throughout the Greek East in the 16th-17th centuries
Savior Not Made by Hands. 1658 State Tretyakov Gallery
Savior Not Made by Hands. 1673 State Tretyakov Gallery.
Ushakov's image "Savior Not Made by Hands" was replicated by the artist's students, but none of them was able to achieve the virtuosity of the teacher
Barlaam's conversation with Tsarevich Joasaph. Illustration for the book "The Story of Barlaam and Joasaph" by Simeon of Polotsk. Drawing by Simon Ushakov. Engraving by Afanasy Trukhmensky. 1681 g.
King David. Frontispiece to the poetic psalter of Simeon of Polotsk. 1681 g.
The engravings made according to Ushakov's drawings are distinguished by their courage in conveying the space built by several plans. In the engraving depicting Tsar David, Ushakov again uses the architectural background from the painting by Veronese, and in the engraving depicting Tsarevich Ioasaph, the window shows a landscape with a palace and a geometrically built regular park in front of it
Svetlana LIPATOVA, nsad.ru
Iconography reformer. Simon Ushakov - through reforms to tradition (VIDEO excursion)
"Written by Simon Ushakov, the sovereign icon painter"
Simon Ushakov was a man of his time, who reflected in his works the most important historical and cultural processes of the 17th century. On the other hand, it was in Ushakov's work, thanks to his individual artistic searches, that a new style of Russian icon painting emerged and established itself in the 60s and 70s of the 17th century, which was mastered first by the masters of the Armory Chamber and the capital's artists, and after them, already XVII century - almost all Russian icon painters in most of the then existing art centers.
It is very important that, unlike the great predecessors of the master, such as Dionisy or Andrei Rublev, information about the life and work of Ushakov is quite widely represented in the documents of the era. We are accustomed to the fact that the biography of a medieval artist can be reconstructed only in general terms, by brief chronicle or hagiographic references, and the authorship of his works can only be judged by indirect evidence or by style. In addition, we almost never know what was the measure of personal participation of this or that icon painter in this or that artistic project, what duties the head of the art cooperative performed, what part of the work went to him.
Meanwhile, the official court clerical work of the 17th century recorded every step of the "sovereign people", among whom belonged the "sovereign icon painter" Simon Ushakov. Researchers have at their disposal a huge archive of the Armory, from which you can get a lot of information about in what years and on what the artist worked, where he went and what he did. By the way, some of these documents look ridiculously modern: a statement of issuance of consumables or a statement of salary. And of course, there is one more important circumstance that makes the image of Ushakov more definite for us than the images of his great predecessors - the signatures and dates on the icons he executed: "Written by Simon Ushakov, the sovereign icon painter, in such and such year."
In total, about 50 signed and dated works by Simon Ushakov are known, and almost 40 of them are on display. In addition, the exhibition presents some of the works attributed to Ushakov on the basis of late inscriptions or stylistic features, as well as a fairly large number of works by his students.
The creative biography of Ushakov can be traced back to documents from 1648, when he was only 22 years old. It was then that Ushakov wrote a petition for his production as a sovereign icon painter. Moreover, he indicated in the petition that even before that time he had already worked "incessantly at ... the tsarist business", apparently, being attracted to some separate artistic projects. Judging by other documents, this request was granted, but Ushakov did not become an icon painter granted. Probably, they found another job for the artist - he was promoted to the banner of the Silver Chamber, where his duties included the production of preparatory drawings for church utensils and other works of decorative and applied art. In addition, he worked in the Tsaritsa's workshop, performing drawings for sewing, decorating the royal chambers, engraving, drawing maps and plans.
Our Lady of Vladimir. Innovator or Traditionalist?
The first signed and dated works of Ushakov date back to the 50s of the 17th century, and the earliest of them is the icon "Our Lady of Vladimir" in 1652. On the back of the icon there is an inscription, which says that this icon is a copy of an ancient and glorified miraculous icon. Moreover, on top of the inscription there is a postscript “and by measure” - the icon painter reproduced not only the composition of the original, but also its exact size.
The fact that Ushakov chooses at an early stage of his work precisely the glorified miraculous Byzantine icon, sent to Russia at the beginning of the 12th century, very clearly indicates for us one of the main pillars of his work. We are accustomed to considering the artist an innovator, a revolutionary in ancient Russian icon painting, but we must understand that in the Russian culture of the 17th century the very concept of “innovation” was absent. Church writers and artists were guided primarily by tradition. This tradition was of great importance for Ushakov as well. He not only chooses an ancient miraculous image, he reproduces it "by measure and likeness."
Simon Ushakov. Our Lady of Vladimir, on the back - the Calvary Cross. 1652
Tempera on wood. 104 × 70. Tretyakov Gallery
Savior Not Made by Hands and the search for "living likeness"
To talk about Ushakov as a reformer, it is necessary to turn to one of the most favorite subjects of his work - the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which the artist repeatedly repeated in different periods of his creative biography.
The earliest icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, executed by Ushakov, comes from the Moscow Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki and was earlier dated to 1658. But it was for the exhibition that the icon was fully restored, it was freed from the records of the 18th and 19th centuries, and we got the opportunity to see the almost completely preserved original Ushakov painting. In addition, the restorers succeeded in reconstructing the original inscription from fragments of golden letters and their detachments on drying oil and establishing the correct date - 1661.
Why was it the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands that attracted the artist's attention so much, and why did he practice his new artistic techniques on it for decades? To understand this, we need to turn, first of all, to the aesthetic treatises of both Ushakov himself and his friend, the Yaroslavl artist Iosif Vladimirov (this original genre is one of the new features of the artistic culture of the 17th century).
The main pathos of Iosif Vladimirov's lengthy composition is the struggle against deviation from ancient traditions. According to the artist, his predecessors made many mistakes, distorting the original evidence that the ancient works preserved, and it is to this evidence that icon painters should return. He gives specific examples, asking contemporaries why, for example, today martyrs are depicted with dark faces, if they were young and beautiful, or why the ideal and perfect appearance of Christ and the Mother of God, known from biblical testimonies and later traditions, is not reproduced on icons. These questions make it possible to understand Ushakov's interest in the Image Not Made by Hands, because it was he who captured the living, genuine features of the Savior.
Hence, from the search for this liveliness and authenticity, comes the very concept of "living likeness", which Ushakov and Vladimirov operated both in their theoretical works and in practice, in their icons.
What is liveliness? First of all, this is not naturalism in the European sense of the word, not working with nature. Life-like is the reproduction of living, authentic testimony of sacred persons and events as the main task of icon painting. It was important for Ushakov to clarify this evidence, correct it, and make it more convincing. And therefore the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands for Simon Ushakov is an eternal challenge and eternal search. He is looking for the most accurate and adequate, genuine, living features of Christ. And this persistent search, of course, refutes all traditional prejudices about the secularization of Russian culture in the 17th century.
Simon Ushakov. Savior Not Made by Hands. 1678
Tempera on wood. 53 × 42. Tretyakov Gallery
State tree of Moscow
The importance of tradition for Ushakov is evidenced by his repeated appeal to the image of "Our Lady of Vladimir". In addition to the very first icon of 1652, this theme is reflected in three other works of the early 1660s, presented at the exhibition.
The icon of Our Lady of Vladimir with selected saints in the margins of 1660 comes from the Dormition Cathedral of the Florishcheva Hermitage, and judging by the lengthy inscription in its lower part, this is the artist's own contribution to the Dormition Monastery - evidence that the artist was, firstly, sufficiently wealthy for to make their own contributions, and secondly, very religious. Another Vladimir icon was written by order of the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky monastery Dionysius in 1662.
The third image is the famous icon "Praise to the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir" or "The Tree of the Moscow State" in 1663. These names are late and more or less conventional, since we do not know its original name, and in the 19th century inventories it was called "The Image of Vladimirskaya with Moscow miracle workers." Around the medallion with the icon of the Mother of God there are images of Moscow saints and some famous historical figures. The gallery of these characters begins with the founders of the Moscow principality - Prince Ivan Kalita and Metropolitan Peter, who transferred the metropolitan see from Vladimir to Moscow and founded the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which is also represented on the icon.
On the left, on the branches of the tree, there are Moscow saints, the successors of Metropolitan Peter, the last of whom is Patriarch Filaret. Above is his son, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the founder of a new dynasty, Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the last of the Rurikovichs, and the noble Tsarevich Dimitri, the patron saint of the entire Moscow reigning house.
On the right branch are depicted saints, and their number unexpectedly opens with the image of the prince-schema-monk - the Monk Alexander Nevsky. Above the icon is Christ in the clouds, who gives the crown and robe to the angels. The story of the plot is as follows: in 1625, a glorious relic was sent to Moscow from Persia by Shah Abbas - the Lord's robe, which was solemnly laid in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. And, of course, when depicting the robe, the artist had in mind precisely this precious Kremlin relic. The combination of two relics - the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir and the robe of the Lord - clearly demonstrated the direct patronage of Christ and the Mother of God to the Moscow state.
On both sides of Christ are inscribed inscriptions from the Apocalypse - fragments from appeals to the Sardian and Smyrna churches. These texts, together with the texts on the scrolls of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the then heir to Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich, form a kind of dialogue: in response to the prayer appeal of the Tsar and Tsarevich, Christ promises them and the entire Moscow state a robe and a crown as a sign of his patronage.
How a nobleman became an icon painter
One of Ushakov's important customers was St. Hilarion of Suzdal, the founder of the Assumption Hermitage. He was a relative of Simon Ushakov, as reported by his life. And it is from the life that we learn that Metropolitan Ushakov ordered four icons: "Savior on the throne", "Our Lady of Vladimir", "Our Lady of Kykkos" and a large temple "Assumption", performed in 1663.
A remarkable legend is associated with the icon of the Assumption, also set forth in the life of Hilarion of Suzdal. When there was a change from a wooden church to a stone one, Hilarion wondered whether to preserve the previous consecration to the throne, and then the Mother of God appeared to him in a dream in the image that She was painted on the Ushakov icon. Hilarion understood that the consecration of the throne must be preserved, the new stone church was also dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin.
Other facts from his life also testify to the fact that Metropolitan Hilarion played an important role in Ushakov's life. In particular, it is known that both Ilarion himself and the monks of his monastery stayed at Ushakov's house in Kitai-Gorod. And the life tells that when the monks who were staying in Ushakov's house stood in prayer, a pillar of light and flame rose over the house. It was so large that the watchmen came running from the Spasskaya Tower, fearing that a fire had started in Kitai-Gorod.
These episodes show how closely Ushakov was connected with the spiritual environment, and, perhaps, it was this connection with childhood that predetermined his fate. Ushakov came from a noble family, and for a Moscow nobleman at that time, the choice of the artistic field was somewhat unexpected. Most likely, the reason for this choice was not only the young man's talents, but also internal spiritual motives.
Simon Ushakov with his students Egor and Ivan. Dormition of the Mother of God. 1663
Tempera on wood. 146 × 120. Tretyakov Gallery
Light and lively
In 1668, Ushakov took part in a very important artistic project - the creation of decorative furnishings for the Church of St. Gregory of Neokesary on Bolshaya Polyanka. This temple was founded in 1667 and built this year on the initiative of its rector, Archpriest Andrei Savinov, who was also the rector of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Judging by the surviving signatures, Ushakov himself owns only two main icons from this church: the Lord's image of Christ the Almighty and the image of the Mother of God of Kykkos.
It is noteworthy that for the main image of the Theotokos, Ushakov chooses iconography that is rather rare and exotic for Russia, which he could have known from the post-Byzantine lists from the ancient shrine. They, as well as other post-Byzantine icons, probably contained some artistic techniques characteristic of European art. But Ushakov did not copy the European art system: the amazing face of the Mother of God of Kykkos was created exclusively by traditional icon-painting means. These are thin translucent layers of tempera painting, which are superimposed on each other in order to convey color and light and shade transitions. Moreover, the icon painter learns to gradually smooth out the contrast, lay translucent light layers over the shadows, and replace the highlights with almost pure whitewash, which are characteristic of icons at the turn of the 60s and 70s, with more ocher in tone. In addition, Ushakov puts a slightly darker translucent layer on top of the highlights. In such a complex way, a feeling of smoothness of transitions is achieved, a feeling of a real, lively volume arises.
It is very important that Ushakov's painting continues to be saturated with light. This luminosity for the artist was even more important than vivacity. Light and lively - this is how a real icon painter should work. And in this such reverent attitude to the light, apparently, a spiritual tradition manifested itself, going back to the times of the ascetic exploits of the hesychast monks, from the mystical culture of the XIV century.
Another example of the life-like Ushakov style is the 1671 Trinity icon, created by order of the Greek merchant and diplomat Nikolai Nicoletta. This is evidenced by the inscription in Greek, placed at the bottom of the icon.
Among the remarkable exhibits presented at the exhibition is the festive rite from the Church of the Intercession, created in 1673 by order of Bogdan Matveyevich Khitrovo, head of the Armory. The first icon of the festive rite was performed by Ushakov himself, and the rest of the icons of the rank were painted by his students and co-workers - Nikita Pavlovets, Fyodor Kozlov, Georgy Zinoviev, Ivan Filatyev and others.
In addition to the icons of Simon Ushakov himself, the exhibition also displays the most famous works of his direct students, among whom were such masters as Georgy Zinoviev, Mikhail Milyutin and Theodot Ukhtomsky.
LEVON NERSESYAN, pravmir.ru
Riddle of the festive rank
Exhibition of icon painting - Simon Ushakov with his students and followers.
(Tretyakov Gallery).
Among the presented was a series of icons of the so-called "festive" order. Here is the "Annunciation" by Simon Ushakov himself.
"The Crucifixion", Georgy Zinoviev.
And "The Dormition of the Mother of God", written by Ivan Filatyev.
In general, all these are the masters of the Armory Chamber, and even where the signature was not found, the manner of the experts is beyond doubt.
But where is it all from? Received from a church in the village of Bratsevo (in the present extreme north-west of Moscow, near the Moscow Ring Road, there is now Brattsevskaya Street somewhere). The church in 1911 looked like this (the bell tower did not survive in Soviet times, and the church, which had been used for a long time for anything, was returned to believers in the 90s).
But you and I should be interested in the situation of the village of Bratsevo in the 17th century. This is what it was, according to the inventory, in 1678: “A stone church, a priest’s court, a deacon, two sextons; the boyar yard and around the yard of the backyard businessmen, serfs of Russians and foreigners, 37 people, at the mills 13 people and 3 people of Russians and foreigners. "
And it's all. And in such and such a tiny village, it is not village bogomaz who are working on the iconostasis, but the masters of the Armory Chamber.
Why do you think it would be? 🙂
Tatiana Pelipeiko, diletant.media
September 8 is a holiday in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. In the 17th century, Simon Ushakov painted a unique icon "Planting the Tree of the Russian State", on which Vladimirskaya is depicted as the main shrine of all Russia. The icon seems to grow out of a tree watered by Prince Ivan Kalita and St. Metropolitan Peter, and in the branches, in medallions, Russian saints are depicted. What other icons did the great iconographer write and why his work is especially relevant now, says art critic Svetlana LIPATOVA.
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. 1662 State Russian Museum
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, commissioned by the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, Dionysius, is one of those icons of Ushakov, where the gravitation towards a life-like style has not yet fully manifested itself. The gloomy coloring of the icon and dark olive fields refer to the samples of Russian icon painting of the 16th century
Nowadays, the name of Simon Ushakov is not as well known to a wide circle of lovers of Russian icon painting as the names of Rublev and Dionisy. And in vain, because the art of this icon painter is extremely relevant now, when we are faced with the task of finding a new integral artistic language, which should not rely on stereotyped copying of ancient images, but on the awareness of the entire historical development of Russian icon painting.
Old and new
The work of Simon Ushakov is the most vivid expression of those aspirations and aesthetic ideals that lived in his era. The fact that Ushakov always left the author's signature on the images he created, often containing not only the date, but also the name of the customer and the place where the icon is intended, testifies not only to the formation of personal identity in the 17th century, but also to such a new line of mentality, as acceptance of copyright responsibility for the created work. Thanks to one of these inscriptions indicating the artist's age, we learn that the future master was born in 1625 or 1626. This means that Simon was not just a contemporary, but actually the same age as Alexei Mikhailovich, during whose reign the most famous works of Ushakov were created.
It is not known where and from whom Simon studied the art of icon painting. By 1648, when he entered the sovereign's service as an artist, the country had already recovered from the consequences of the turmoil and invasion of the interventionists. The economy of Russia was consolidated, foreign contacts were significantly expanded, artistic life was actively revived in Moscow, Yaroslavl and other large cities. Despite social uprisings, riots and church reforms that led to a split in the Church, it was the second half of the 17th century that was marked by the last, unprecedented in scale flowering of late Russian medieval architecture, monumental art and icon painting. Often the culture of this period is called "transitional" from the Middle Ages to the New Age and is sometimes compared with the Western European Renaissance, then with the Baroque era. In reality, it was an extremely variegated phenomenon, when not only magnificent buildings and grandiose ensembles of frescoes were created, but also active debates were conducted about the style and quality of Orthodox icons. During a long creative life, which lasted about forty years, if we count from the earliest known icon of the artist to the latest, Ushakov worked on solving the most difficult problem of merging new artistic techniques and the centuries-old icon painting tradition.
Highland Jewels
It is difficult to imagine all the abundance and variety of visual material that surrounded Ushakov in the Armory. Foreign masters worked here, and a huge number of engravings based on the works of European masters were brought here. Greek icons flocked to Moscow, testifying to the continuation of the tradition of post-Byzantine Orthodox icon painting. Standing at the crossroads of cultural influences, the isographers borrowed many elements, not copying them from paintings and prints, but creatively reworking and modifying them. In the icons and frescoes of the second half of the 17th century, some rudiments of direct perspective appear, traditional iconic slides are replaced by detailed landscape backgrounds.
Ushakov was primarily interested in the methods of writing the faces of saints. Dolichnoe, that is, the image of the background and clothes, he often instructed his students to write. At the same time, for his works, Ushakov most often chose a simple background, for example, light blue, as in the icons "Our Lady of Kykkos", "St. Sergius of Radonezh", "Archangel Michael trampling on the devil." It was in connection with Ushakov's intense enthusiasm for technique and methods of personal writing that he created more than twelve images of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Returning again and again to this iconography, he set himself the task of visually conveying the union in Christ of two natures - divine and human, to create images of the incarnated Lord, the God-man. Of course, in these icons there is a greater, in comparison with ancient images, tangibility, corporeality. Sometimes Ushakov uses the sfumato technique, which creates an airy haze, but the light in his icons still comes from within the image, without a physical characteristic and a source from outside. It seems that the artist's goal was not to imitate European painting, as researchers sometimes wrote about it, but to try to update Russian church art, which could not remain unchanged due to new historical conditions. Ushakov's icons do not turn into a religious picture, but remain true Orthodox images.
Ushakov's writing style is called "vivacity", which is often interpreted as a black and white modeling of faces, close to a realistic manner. In fact, despite the great anatomical precision and the outlined physical volume, the icons created by the master have aloofness, enamel smoothness and luminous power, which gives the images the character of a jewel of the mountain world.
Master's word
Ushakov, apparently, was indispensable at court. He was entrusted with overseeing the renovation of ancient monuments, making estimates for work, and testifying to the skill of the artists employed by the artel. Being in the civil service, Simon made drawings for banners, coins and for decoration of weapons, drew maps and plans. Any job was within his reach. Alexey Mikhailovich appreciated his talent, ordering him measured icons depicting the heavenly patrons of his children. It is quite remarkable that it is Ushakov, who has already created a large number of magnificent icons, that the tsar commissions to paint a carriage, that is, a carriage, for his wife.
Ushakov was a strong personality, he organized the work of a huge workshop and at the same time found time for his creativity. As is known from the documents, he strove to open his own icon-painting school, for which he planned to write the "ABC of Arts", a kind of book of samples, an anatomical atlas. Through him, the master would transfer his drawing skills not only to the immediate circle of students, but also to record the invaluable experience accumulated over the years for the next generations of church artists. Unfortunately, both plans remained unfulfilled, but the introduction to the supposed "ABC" was nevertheless created, showing us a magnificent treatise on the art of painting. In an essay titled "A Word to the Lovely (that is, to the Lover. - S. L.) Iconic Writing", the master speaks of the superiority of fine art over other types of arts, as well as the artist's personal responsibility for his works: "Many of us, those who know the art of painting write what is more worthy of laughter than favor and tenderness, by this they cause the wrath of God and [subject themselves] to the condemnation of foreigners and great shame from honest people. " Ushakov calls the Main Artist the Creator, who created and beautified the world. "Doesn't the Lord Himself teach us the art of icon painting?" He asks. The treatise also sounds a word in defense of the veneration of icons, contains discussions about the relationship between the image and the prototype, and condemns the blasphemy of holy icons.
State tree
While Ushakov can be called an innovator in the field of painting technique, he was not an innovator in the field of Orthodox iconography, referring to the once and for all chosen type of the Savior Not Made by Hands on the board or creating lists of Russian and Greek images revered for centuries. An exception is one of Ushakov's most famous icons "Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God" (1668, State Tretyakov Gallery, also called "Planting the Tree of the Russian State"), whose brilliant iconographic design can be attributed to the artist's genius. The image was painted for the iconostasis of the Trinity Church in Nikitniki - a temple in Kitay-gorod, next to which the artist lived and, most likely, was a parishioner.
Outside the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, the Assumption Cathedral is depicted, from which a tree grows. In the center, among its branches and flowers, there is a medallion with the image of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. At the foot of the Assumption Cathedral are depicted prince Ivan Kalita planting a tree and Metropolitan Peter watering the roots of a plant from a jug. On either side of them is the living royal family: Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, his wife Maria Ilyinichna, sons Alexei and Fyodor. From a tree growing in the center of the Moscow state, there are shoots in the form of vines with leaves, rose flowers and bunches of fruits. Its main fruits are the saints of the Russian land, depicted in twenty medallions with prayer scrolls in their hands. To the right of the icon of the Mother of God are the saints (Metropolitans Jonah, Alexy, Cyprian, Philip, Photius, the patriarchs Job and Philaret), as well as Tsars Fyodor Ivanovich, Mikhail Fedorovich and Tsarevich Dimitri. On the left are the reverends Andronicus of Moscow, Sergius and Nikon of Radonezh, Paphnutiy Borovsky, as well as the Moscow holy fools Basil the Blessed, Maxim the Blessed, and John the Big Kolpak. The overall composition of the work goes back to the Serbian images of the genealogy of the rulers of Nemanjić, which, in turn, is based on the iconography of the genealogy of Christ, called the "Tree of Jesse". But if in these two schemes the tree with numerous branches was primarily a genealogical tree, then in the icon of Simon Ushakov it symbolizes the spiritual deeds of those depicted. Their relationship lies in the fact that they are all saints of the Russian land. The Moscow kingdom, or rather the Kremlin, its spiritual and political center, symbolizes the helipad built by the Lord. The pious workers of Christ as the owner of the vineyard are Metropolitan Peter (1308-1326) and Ivan Kalita (1325-1340), whose names are traditionally associated with the rise of Moscow. Under Metropolitan Alexy, Prince Dimitrii built the walls of the Kremlin, and under Metropolitan Cyprian, the icon of the Mother of God was transferred from Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral from Vladimir (in 1395), which became his main shrine. This is how the rise of Moscow took place, its transformation into the first capital city. "Planting the tree of the Russian state" is a unique icon that reflected the single history of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church and had state and political relevance.
Meeting with Ushakov
In the late 17th - early 18th centuries, Ushakov had many imitators. His disciples replicated the images of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the manner of the master, but no one managed to achieve the virtuosity that was inherent in his brush.
We have to admit that today the name of Ushakov is not as well known to a wide circle of lovers of Russian icon painting as the names of Rublev and Dionisy. His genius, as the main achievement of an entire era, has yet to be rediscovered and comprehended - the artist's legacy, surprisingly enough, has not yet found its reflection either in an individual exhibition or in a large album edition. The icons he created are scattered across numerous museums and are in private collections. The magnificent Ushakov icon "Savior Not Made by Hands" with illustrations for the morning stichera in the stamps is located in the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane in Moscow.
Ushakov's art is extremely relevant today, when modern icon painters are faced with the task of searching for a new integral artistic language, which should be based not on stereotyped copying of ancient images, but on the awareness of the entire historical development of Russian icon painting, including in the 17th century. 
Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God (Planting the Tree of the Russian State). 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna with her sons Alexei and Fyodor. Detail of the icon "Planting the tree of the Russian state". 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
One of the most famous icons of Ushakov, whose brilliant design belongs to the artist's genius
Archangel Michael trampling on the devil. 1676, State Tretyakov Gallery
The icon has an unusual "round" manure. To the left and to the right of the archangel, figures of selected saints are drawn. In the lower left corner, attention is drawn to the image of a man in a prayer pose, dressed in a posad dress and wearing boots. There was an assumption that this is a self-portrait of the artist or a portrait of the customer of the icon
Trinity. 1671 State Russian Museum
Detail of Paolo Veronese's painting "Feast in the House of Levi". 1573 Gallery of the Academy of Arts in Venice.
Ushakov repeats the general compositional scheme of the famous icon of Andrei Rublev "Trinity", borrowing poses, gestures, drawing folds on the clothes of angels. At the same time, an engraving from Paolo Veronese's painting "Feast in the House of Levi" served as a prototype for the architectural backdrop in the mirror image. The strict classicistic background does not destroy the prayerful character of the image
Icon of the Mother of God "Kikskaya" from the Church of St. Gregory Neokesariyskiy on Bolshaya Polyanka. 1668, State Tretyakov Gallery
The faces of the Mother of God and Christ. Detail of the icon of the Mother of God "Kikskaya". 1668 State Tretyakov Gallery
One of the icons, of which Ushakov makes a copy, is the Kykkos (or Cypriot) icon of the Mother of God, which goes back to the miraculous image of the Khilandar monastery on Mount Athos and was revered throughout the Greek East in the 16th-17th centuries
Savior Not Made by Hands. 1658 State Tretyakov Gallery
Savior Not Made by Hands. 1673 State Tretyakov Gallery.
Ushakov's image "The Savior Not Made by Hands" was replicated by the artist's students, but none of them was able to achieve the virtuosity of the teacher
Barlaam's conversation with Tsarevich Joasaph. Illustration for the book "The Story of Barlaam and Joasaph" by Simeon of Polotsk. Drawing by Simon Ushakov. Engraving by Afanasy Trukhmensky. 1681 g.
King David. Frontispiece to the poetic psalter of Simeon of Polotsk. 1681 g.
The engravings made according to Ushakov's drawings are distinguished by their courage in conveying the space built by several plans. In the engraving depicting Tsar David, Ushakov again uses the architectural background from the painting by Veronese, and in the engraving depicting Tsarevich Ioasaph, the window shows a landscape with a palace and a geometrically built regular park in front of it
On August 29, the Church celebrates the transfer from Edessa to Constantinople, on which the Face of the Savior was displayed - the Image of the Lord Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands. One of the most amazing icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands was painted by the tsarist icon painter Simon Ushakov in the 17th century. - at a time when icon painting in the church began to be replaced by realistic painting. Many contemporaries sharply criticized it for its non-canonicity.
According to legend, the first image of the Savior was an image not made by hands. Once Christ washed his face and wiped it with a clean towel, His face was miraculously imprinted on the fabric. In the West, the legend about the payment of St. Veronica was spread, which depicted the image of the suffering Lord: a compassionate woman wiped His face with her handkerchief when Christ carried the cross to Calvary. But in both cases the Face, which appeared miraculously on the fabric, symbolized for the Church the mystery of the Incarnation. It is no accident that the defenders of the veneration of icons referred to this miracle, who affirmed the icon as a visible proof of faith in God, who became a Man for our salvation.
The miraculous image has always been one of the most revered and popular. He was depicted both on fabric, and on lace (tiles), and on a gold background. They painted on icons and temple walls, on sacred vessels and on battle flags, painted with paints, laid out in mosaics, carved on stone and wood, embroidered on shroud and cast in bronze. Many images of the Face Not Made by Hands were considered miraculous.
Moreover, no one usually looked for a portrait resemblance to the Savior Himself in icons. Medieval art was symbolic and its language was deeply conventional. But in the 17th century, a craving for realism appeared in church art, and the conventionality of traditional icon painting no longer satisfied the iconographers. One of those who began to push the boundaries of the iconographic canon and look for new means of expression was Simon Ushakov (1626-1686), master of the Tsar's Armory.
One of his favorite images was just the "Savior Not Made by Hands", as the Russian tradition called the Not Made by Hands Image of the Savior. We can say that in the work of Ushakov, this image became programmatic. The master repeated it many times with various modifications, adding certain details and inscriptions. Ushakov wanted to convey the image left on the trim by the Lord Himself as accurately as possible. He uses a pictorial language that is significantly different from the Old Russian icon painting, but close to the Western tradition, which in the 17th century Russian iconographers began to equal.
The image of the Savior, performed by Simon Ushakov in 1658, is extremely concrete. The plate on which the Face appears is written with an illusory tactility: voluminous folds, knots in the corners, an ornament on the fabric - everything is carefully written out. On the fabric there is an inscription in Greek: "Agios Mandylion" and below: "Saint Ubrus" (other Russian plat). The golden halo exactly repeats the contour of Christ's head, as if emphasizing the natural glow. Hair, carefully combed and slightly fluffed, lies in soft strands symmetrically - two on each side. The face is written in volume, with cut-off modeling, in accordance with the laws of lighting, as if light falls on the face from the outside. Ushakov enhances the anatomically correct structure of the Face with carefully drawn eyes, with eyelashes, dark pupils and highlights in the corners of the eyes, which creates the effect of moisture. The look is calm, a little detached, Christ looks not directly, but slightly to the side.
The Savior on the icon of Ushakov is very human, He is not formidable, but merciful, in His wise calm gaze inner strength is felt.
Simon Ushakov was a supporter of the so-called "liveliness", from the words "to write as if alive." But he used the laws of realistic painting not for the "beauty" of the depicted, but in order to enhance the internal, emotional impact of the image of Christ on the believer. Supporters of traditional icon painting, mostly Old Believers, subjected Simon Ushakov to harsh criticism for imitating the heretical West.
Archpriest Avvakum, passionately defending the old "paternal" faith from "alien German customs", believed that Ushakov blasphemed, depicting Christ in such a concrete human form. “It is not proper for a faithful to look a lot, not just bow down to such inappropriate images,” exclaimed Avvakum. The Old Believers themselves painted icons from ancient samples, on which the faces were extremely conventional and far from earthly human beauty. In addition, the ancient icons were by this time very darkened, and sometimes completely black, since drying oil has a habit of darkening from time, soot and dust.
And Simon Ushakov strove to create a clear, light painting, for he remembered that God is Light, and the icon is a window into the world of God's Kingdom, in which there is no despondency and sadness. The framework of the canon seemed to him tight, and he created his own style. At the same time, behind the human image of Christ, he sees His divine hypostasis, and therefore places in the nimbus of Christ the Greek letters ωN, which means “I am” (designation in the iconography of Consubstantial Son and Father).
It's just that in the turning point of the 17th century, Russian culture faced the question: "What is a person?" and the best minds, to which Simon Ushakov undoubtedly belonged, sought the answer to this question, looking closely at the face of Christ.
