By Maria Shevelkina | Stanford University

Description

The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Ferapontovo Monastery complex is the first stone church in the Belozero (White Lake) region of Vologda, Russia, built in 1490 by stonemasons from Rostov. The monument stands on a hilltop buttressed by five other structures and surrounded by a low wall, overlooking Lake Boradayevskaya. The church and complex are now part of the world UNESCO heritage sites, and is affiliated with the Kirillov-Belozersk Monastery, which is situated approximately twenty kilometers to the south on Lake Siverskoye. Founded in 1398 by St. Ferapont, the Ferapontovo Monastery was a bastion of Russian orthodoxy in its time and for four hundred years until the diminishment of monastic authority and its official disintegration after a brief period as a convent in 1924. The Monastery was critical to the consolidation of the Principalities of Rus under the authority of the Moscow rulers at the turn of the 15th to 16th centuries. In this period of transition, the iconographer Dionisy was commissioned by the wealthy aristocratic Archbishop of Rostov Iosaf (d. 1514), in coordination with the wishes of Grand Prince Ivan III (r. 1462–1505), to decorate the interior of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God with murals and an iconostasis. The project was completed by Dionisy and his workshop, which included his son Theodosy the Iconographer, on 8 September 1502.

The interior and exterior wall decorations of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God are the only extant complete wall paintings of early-modern Rus. Considered the pinnacle of the master iconographer’s artistic production, the wall paintings stand out for their emphatically fluid compositions, elongated forms, and luminous colors. Covering the entirety of the church interior and the exterior western entrance, the wall paintings create a state of airy transparency. They mark the culmination of a period of intense visual creativity within monastic Rus during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Significance

Before working on the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Dionisy’s apogee, the artist took on numerous commissions for both iconostases and wall paintings. Dionisy studied at the Simonov Monastery, the largest spiritual center of Moscow, following the groundbreaking paths of Theophanes the Greek (ca. 1340–ca. 1410) and Andrei Rublev (ca. 1360–ca. 1430) who had worked and resided there as well. Together with his staretz, the “great elder,” Mitrofan (ca. 15th century), Dionisy decorated the Pafnuty-Borovsky Monastery. During the last quarter of the 15th century, Dionisy and his workshop traveled widely, painting monuments throughout Rus. The projects included Aristotle Fiorovanti’s newly constructed Dormition cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, and numerous other churches at the Saviour Kammeny, Volokolamsk, Chigasov, Paul Obnorsk, Kirill-Belozersky, and Saviour Priluki Monasteries. The Life of Pafnuty of Borovsk compiled by Vassian Sanin (Patrikeyev) in 1515 is the first written source that identifies Dionisy. It describes his work as “miraculous."

The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God at Ferapontovo was situated within the already developed monastic strongholds of Rus, rapidly consolidating under the single Muscovite Principality of Ivan III. Dionisy’s commissioner, Archbishop Iosaf, was heavily implicated in the controversies regarding monastic land ownership beginning in the 1490s. Several councils were convened to debate the issue, involving the participation of key figures of the monastic, hesychastic, and collective prayer movements including Joseph Volotsky (ca. 1440–1515) and Nil Sorsky (ca. 1433–1508)—both acquainted with Dionisy. The wall paintings of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God evidently reflect these contemporary issues, emphasizing the newly developed messianic theme of Moscow as the “New Jerusalem,” with scenes of the councils integrated into depictions of Old and New Testament narratives.

In the wall paintings of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Dionisy appropriated the expressive portraits characteristic of the work of Theophanes and Rublev, minutely applying the style onto individual figures within scenes of collective prayer, nuancing the characterizations of each body and face. Dionisy’s departure from his predecessors is evident through the rendering of complete scenes with detailed architectural and landscape elements, following the Byzantine tradition rather than the abstracted renderings developed in the mystical paintings of Rus. Furthermore, Dionisy collapsed time in his compositions by depicting scenes from the Old Testament to the New Testament scriptures, historical and contemporary events including the church councils, and liturgical rituals all within one space, fluidly unfolding the various narratives across the church structure. Monastic liturgical participants were enveloped in a wide variety of intimate and dynamic scenes and visions: celestial angels, hundreds of Saints and Prophets fully figured and in medallions, recognizable contemporaries, the figuration of the Akathistos hymn lauding the Theotokos, Christ in many forms, the Last Judgment on the western wall, liturgical objects such as the sacrificial chalice, and numerous ornamental motifs including the entire bottom register with completely unique circular medallions decorating the Tabernacle veil. The cacophony of figures, structures, and narratives facilitated a sense of participation in the teachings and experiences of Christian history, subsided into one time and space enacted during the liturgy.

The most outstanding feature of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God is the wall paintings’ color scheme, consistent from the Pantokrator in the dome to the bottom register veil and the western exterior façade. Considering the sheer number of figures and scenes (at least 300), Dionisy masterfully unites the surface of the structure through color, creating a softened holistic unity. Mixed with limestone, the pigments of the wall paintings are transformed into hazy, lightened versions of themselves: golden ochre, mossy-green, gray-blue, lilac-pink, and white fade into one another producing an airy, hazy result. This is especially contrasting to the original iconostasis panels, also painted by Dionisy but no longer extant in full nor in-situ at the church, emphatically brilliant in their intense jewel-like colors. The wall paintings were thereby rendered not only for liturgical contemplation, but also facilitated a state of transcendence as they fused together into a shimmering lightness. Scholars of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God wall paintings have long noted the wall paintings’ unique and experimental forms and colors, contextualized by late 15th-century Rus. The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God is one of the last monuments exhibiting this sense of freedom and dynamism, fettered by Church codifications and the rise in prosecutions unleashed by the intense authoritarian centralization of the following century.

Further Reading

Drevnerysskoe i postvizantiyskoe iskusstvo. Vtoraiya polovina XV – nachalo XVI beka. K 500 letiu rospisi sobora Rozhdestva Bogoroditsi Ferapontova Monastirya: Sbornik statiey [Ancient Russian and Post Byzantine Art. Second half 15th – beginning 16th century. 500 years from the wall-paintings of the Nativity of the Mother of God church at Ferapontovo Monastery: compendium of articles], edited by L. I. Lifshits. Moscow: Severniy Polomnik, 2005.

This tome contains thirty-three articles discussing a wide range of topics related to the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. Providing a grouping of the most recent scholarship on the monument, this book discusses issues from iconography, architecture, and contextualizing discussions including the period’s social and political states, as well as other comparative monuments.

Lifshits, L. I and G. V. Popov. Dionisii [Dionisy]. Moscow: Severniy Polomnik, 2006.

This monograph offers a useful overview of Dionisy’s works, including his wall paintings, panel icons, and miniatures. Illustrated in full color, the book contains the largest number of images in a single publication to date.

Sarabianov, V. D. Istoria Arhitekturnih i Hudozhestvenix Pamiatnikov Ferapontovo Monastirya [History of Architectural and Artistic Monuments: Ferapontovo Monastery]. Moscow: Indrik, 2014.

This book-length study traverses the structural and administrative history of the Ferapontovo Monastery including each of its five monuments as well as the wall paintings and icons housed therein, beginning in the 14th century through to the restoration projects in the 20th century.

Sohranenie Rospisi Dionisia 1502 Goda v Sobore Rozhdestva Bogoroditsi Ferapontovo Monastirya: Materiali Mezhdynarodnoy Naychno-Metodicheskoy Konferensii (13-15 Sentabria 2011 Goda, Kirillov-Ferapontovo) [Conservation of Dionisy’s Wall-Paintings of 1502 in the Nativity of the Mother of God Church of Ferapontovo Monastery: Materials from the International Scientific Conference (13-15 September 2011, Kirillov-Ferapontovo]. Moscow: Indrik, 2012.

The articles compiled in this volume address the extensive history and processes of restoration of the wall paintings at the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, with in-depth analyses of structures, pigments, and the processes of Dionisy’s workshop and the conservators/restorers coming thereafter.

This contribution was sponsored by the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross.