An Icon to Remember

An Icon to Remember

During the Late Byzantium Period a new burst of creative energy grasped the Russian artists. More artists emerged as Russians became increasingly interested in art. Earlier in the Byzantium Period “art that had to do with religious worship, like statues and any religious imagery throughout the empire, was destroyed under Leo III in iconoclasm” (Kleiner and Mamiya 326). This era lasted nearly one hundred years. During this period icon painting became very popular. “These paintings are small portable paintings depicting Christ, the Virgin, or Saints” (Kleiner and Mamiya 342). One of the most famous and influential icon artists to come about during this time was Audrei Rublev. In ca.1410 he designed his masterpiece, the Old Testament Trinity (Figure 1), one of the most beautiful and popular icon paintings in Russia. Rublev’s Old Testament Trinity was a very spiritual and an important icon painting during the fifteenth century.

Audrei Rublev was born in ca.1360 and was known as a Russian painter and monk (“Rublev” 304). He was so spectacular that his work had a profound influence on the development of Russian art overall. His paintings usually attributed to a more linear quality (“Rublev” 304-305). “Rublev worked beside Theophanes the Greek and Prokhor from Gorodets, whom may have been his teachers, in painting the Cathedral of the Annunciation and also with the icon painter Daniil Chorny” (Hamilton 93). Although there is very little background known of his life, his first appearance was in 1405(Hamilton 93). Audrei Rublev passed most of the remainder of his life in the Andronikov Monastery, where he is now buried (“Rublev” 304). He lived to be seventy and died in ca.1430. Audrei Rublev was one of the greatest icon painters for Russia during the Middle Ages.

“The Old Testament Trinity was dedicated to Saint Sergius Radonezhsky c.1411” (“Rublev” 305). It was found in 1918 in a storeroom near the Cathedral of the Dormition. Although having severe and irreparable damage enough remains. “The painting depicts three angels that are in silent communication with each other, seated around an altar table with a chalice that indicates the subject of their contemplation is self-sacrifice” (Art Treasures in Russia 61). The central figure, God the Father, is further back then his companions, God the Son on the left and the Holy Spirit on the right.