RICONTRANS HANDS-ON WORKSHOP [Abstracts] V. Dautović, Secular Luxuries in Sacral Use: Transformation and Migration of Artistic Objects from imperial Russia, pp.12. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Current Analytical Chemistry, 2010
In Romania and especially in Transylvania the process of creating icons implied the use of different supports, mainly wood and glass. Samples have been collected from various areas of these religious artefacts. The aim of this research is to apply a combination of FTIR spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry techniques in order to identify and characterize the composition of the pigments, binders and varnishes used by Transylvanian icon's artisans. The information obtained through these procedures is part of the identification elements of the icons' period and school, and in the end it contributes to the technical expertise of these artefacts. Besides knowing the materials, the technology, the state of preservation and the patrimonial value of the artworks, the main goal is to better understand all the practical aspects of the active preservation and restoration procedures.
Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2017
The results of a comparative study performed by complementary contact-less, non-invasive spectroscopic methods applied to two orthodox wooden icons are presented and discussed. An 18th century post-Brancovan icon crafted in a Valcea (Walachia) workshop and a 19th century one from Sibiu (Transylvania) were investigated by digital radiography, UV photography, X-ray fluorescence, Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy. The experimental results were used to identify the mineral pigments, the type of primer, the binder, as well as various other details pertaining to the structure or to subsequent interventions. Except for stylistic ones, there were no major differences found between the two icons, which is indicative of the use of similar pigments as well as of some shared painting techniques between these two geographical regions.
With the theoretical premise of stylistic interferences as a starting point, the present study wishes to answer the following question: Why and how did Renaissance art influence the icons of Transylvania and the Land of Maramureú in the 16-18 th centuries? Analyzing the icons of this period I shall demonstrate that the reception of Renaissance art was manifest in the field of decorations, due to the nature and characteristics of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine painting. I shall also indicate the models and sources of inspiration coming from different directions. Studying thoroughly the reception phenomenon, I tried to explain how the Renaissance plastic repertoire was assimilated by the religious painting of these regions. The elements taken over were reformulated according to local necessities, and in time these elements became traditional, being preserved also in the 18 th century icons.
A Transylvanian Diptych Wooden Icon: Wooden Support and Painting Materials Investigations
Revista De Chimie Bucharest Original Edition, 2013
In order to preserve a wooden icon belonging to the Transylvanian Ethnographic Museum collection the scientific expertise of the wooden support and of the picture materials (ground, pigments, binder and varnish) used for the "Virgin Mary with the Child" and "Diptych" diptych icons (8228 inventory number) was performed by FTIR spectroscopy, EI-MS spectrometry and DSC thermal analysis. FTIR spectroscopy and DSC methods offer information about the wooden support whereas EI MS and FTIR methods were employed for binder, varnish and pigments structural characterization. These structural data can be correlated with the artistic, theological and historical analysis of this religious patrimony object.
Characterization of an Eighteenth-Century Wooden Icon from the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania
Analytical Letters, 2016
ABSTRACT Here is reported the characterization of a religious art object from Transylvania. The object is a wooden icon named Circumcision and represents scenes from the Old Testament and is from the Rebrişoara wooden church, Bistriţa County. It was painted in the eighteenth century by unknown artists. The object has some degradation, and the wooden background has some fungal and/or xylophagous damage. The wood was determined to be lime, and its condition was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The presence of oxalate was caused by wood decay. The paint was characterized by X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy to include gypsum, aliphatic, an egg yolk degradation product, lead carbonate, and lead-minium. The binder was characterized by direct introduction-mass spectrometry to contain paraffin, fatty acids, and cholesteryl ester.
Icons on Trial. Negociations between Moscow and Moldavia over some 17th century icons
Museikon, 2021
En 1629, une ambassade dirigée par l’archimandrite Varlaam est arrivée à la cour du tsar Mikhaïl Féodorovitch Romanov, demandant la permission de passer une commande aux peintres moscovites, afin de peindre deux icônes pour le prince Miron Barnovschi. Les sources documentaires nous renseignent sur la dédicace des icônes et sur le fait qu’elles appartenaient à la typologie des icônes hagiographiques, avec des portraits de saints au milieu et des scènes narratives de leur vie sur les bords. Bien qu’achevées et payées intégralement par le prince moldave, les icônes ne sont jamais parvenues à leur commanditaire. Le patriarche Philarète Nikititch les a retenues à Moscou sous prétexte qu’elles étaient ‘inconvenablement’ peintes. Sept ans plus tard, alors que Varlaam occupait le poste de métropolite de Moldavie, le prince Vasile Lupu envoya une autre ambassade à la cour de Moscou, pour tenter de les récupérer. Le tsar organisa une enquête, les peintres furent interrogés sur les modèles suivis, mais le résultat resta le même : les icônes avaient été peintes de manière non canonique et ne pouvaient pas être remises aux messagers moldaves. L’enquête sur cet intéressant ‘échec’ diplomatique fait l’objet de la présente étude. En suivant André Grabar, qui soulevait pour la première fois la question du prétendu manque de canonicité de ces icônes, l’article reprend toute la question des causes possibles du refus inhabituel des autorités moscovites de les remettre à leurs commanditaires. En corroborant les informations documentaires avec l’analyse des sources visuelles disponibles, dans le contexte plus large de la commande des icônes et de l’évolution du culte de saint Jean le Nouveau à l’époque, l’étude suggère qu’une raison possible de ce rejet pourrait être la représentation du martyr de Suceava – et ce, non pas parce qu’il s’agissait d’un saint inconnu en Russie à l’époque (cf. A. Grabar); mais surtout à cause de l’utilisation d’un certain modèle iconographique employé dans l’entourage du métropolitain Anastasie Crimca. Ce modèle était sans doute susceptible d’avoir déplu au patriarche Philarète Nikititch. Varlaam connaissait bien ce type de représentation et avait probablement donné des instructions précises aux peintres moscovites, qui les ont sans doute suivies à la lettre. En effet, à la suite de cet épisode, Varlaam enverra également au tsar une hagiographie et une icône de saint Jean le Nouveau, qui semblent avoir dynamisé le culte et les représentations iconographiques dédiées au martyr de Suceava en Russie à la même époque. mots-clés : icônes ; Miron Barnovschi ; le métropolitain Varlaam ; saint Jean le Nouveau ; Moldavie ; Moscou.
Studying Russian Icons in the Balkans
ISTORIYA, 2021
The Russian religious artefacts-icons, liturgical utensils, veils, vestments and books and objects of private piety, held in museums and church or monastery collections in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean constitute a body of valuable art objects, and important material evidences related to the historical development of the relations between Russia and large region of SouthEastern Europe. This piety objects comes continually to the region for a long period through official, unofficial and private donations, or by pilgrimage and trade. Applying the cultural transfer approach in combination with the recent theoretically challenging openings of art history into visual studies and social anthropology RICONTRANS studies them not simply as religious or artistic artefacts, but as mediums of cultural transfer and political and ideological influence, which interacted with and were appropriated by receiving societies. Their transfer and reception is a significant and poorly studied component of the larger cultural process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. In this dynamic transfer, piety, propaganda and visual culture appear intertwined in historically unexplored and theoretically provoking ways.
NEW RESEARCH ON MATERIALS USED IN THE PAINTING OF ICONS ON GLASS IN TRANSYLVANIA IN THE XIX CENTURY
In Transylvania, glass icon is, by excellence, the art of peasants’ artists. The painting of icons on glass has used the following types of materials: glass as support, pigments and dyes, organic binders, other additives, gold leaf and several species of wood for frames and for the back of icon. In the practice of Transylvanian art of glass icon the iconographic model have a Byzantine origin. The gilding technique using gold leafs is common for all glass-paintings workshops of Transylvania and cannot be found in other parts of the Central European glass paintings. Preparation of color and the application of local tones were made by the more experienced members of the family, and the most skilled made the drawings, writing and application of bright spots. Retouching and application of the gold leaf were made only by the head of the workshop. Our research focuses on the binders used in applying gold and silver leaf for either the icon‘s background, the halos, the golden thrones, the ornamentation of garments or to highlight a symbol - the cross, chalice, the earth globe kept by Jesus Pantocrator. A set of tests was developed to establish the presence of chemical elements that give us information about pictorial materials used by icons painters from the late nineteenth century.