The Wonders of Religious Art

 　　The classical icon painting of the Russian Orthodox Church is a wonderful work of religious art, which occupies an important and special position in the history of Russian painting. At the same time, as an image expression of sacred things or objects, icons are also "an important phenomenon of Orthodox culture, a basic part of the Orthodox tradition, and one of the important symbols that distinguish the Orthodox from Catholicism and Protestantism." Russian Orthodox icon painting and Byzantine icon painting have an inseparable connection. It originated from Byzantine icon painting, but it has its own unique development history and national characteristics. In Russia, the status of the icon in the hearts of the majority of believers is extremely important. It is not only used to decorate churches, but also hanged in homes and some public places, and carried around for prayers at any time. At home, the icon should be placed on the main hall. People pray for it to protect the safety of family members and livestock. The big and small matters in life are also inseparable from the icon, such as engagement, marriage, funeral, housewarming, etc. The water used to wash the icons should not be sprinkled indiscriminately, but should be sprinkled under the nave; worn-out icons should not be disposed of at will, but should be placed in a river or buried in a cemetery. According to folklore, any desecration of the icon is punished by the gods, such as illness, lightning strikes, or insanity. As a religious art and an important part of Eastern Orthodox culture, icon painting has rich theological significance.

　　

　　1. The origin of

　　

　　Russian Orthodox icon painting appeared in AD 988 after Grand Duke Vladimir accepted Byzantine Christianity (Orthodox Church) and made it the state religion.

　　By the second half of the 12th century, the Byzantine Empire was a powerful empire spanning Europe, Asia and Africa, with an area of ​​about 1 million square kilometers and a population of about 30 million to 35 million. In the 7th century, the main inhabitants of Byzantium were Greeks. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Byzantium became a Greco-Slavic state after conquering Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia. On the basis of common religious beliefs, an Orthodox (Orthodox) region was formed around Byzantium, which included Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria and most of Serbia. A special relationship system was formed between the Byzantine secular regime and the religious authority, that is, "the unity of state and religion". In order to limit the power and influence of the clergy who hold important positions in the country, in 726 AD, the Byzantine emperor issued a decree declaring the worship of icons as idol worship and prohibiting the worship of icons as gods. This is the famous icon destruction movement. . Imperial power was further strengthened during the iconoclasm campaign between AD 730 and 1046. The Church resolutely resisted this, and the struggle continued until the 7th Ecumenical Council in 787, which completely restored icon worship to its legal status. In the campaign against iconoclasm, St. John of Damascus actively justified icon worship in theory. In his book "An Exact Expression of the Orthodox Faith", he said that human beings cannot grasp God's beliefs through language and thinking. essence, but can approach God through experience. Icons themselves are not gods, but icon worship is worship to God. St. John of Damascus first established the icon image theory in his writings, which means that the saints can be represented in symbols and allegories; the appearance of Christ coming to earth can be depicted, but not the image of the Father; the icon painting must Used for church decoration, instead of books to make illiterate people feel God; icons are not works of art, they are the medium of communication between people and God, people's prayers to it are worship to God, so icon paintings cannot have the author's signature; icons Has the power of the image drawn on the screen.

　　Byzantine iconography originates from ancient Greek painting. During its long development over the centuries, Byzantine iconography developed its own norms while continuing the tradition of ancient Greek painting. When Christianity was banned, believers built underground cave buildings and painted murals about ancient Greek content on the walls of these buildings. Later, these paintings gradually took on new symbolic meanings. For example, the Greek goddess Psyche became the soul incarnation of Christians. The vines and grapes became symbols of the main sacraments, while bread and wine symbolized the flesh and blood of Christ. The facial drawing of the characters also follows the ancient Greek tradition, with grim expressions and large eyes, gazing across or through the viewer to a world unknown to man. These principles are most vividly embodied in Byzantine iconography. The Byzantine Church also stipulated strict rules for the drawing of icons, mainly involving the following aspects:

　　having a circular structural layout and biblical content; the body of the image has a certain proportion; the saints have common features and facial expressions; Apprentice's appearance and posture, colors, and color modulation and painting techniques.

　　After Russia accepted the Orthodox Church in 988 AD, Byzantine craftsmen were invited to Kyiv to build and decorate the Sophia Cathedral. Byzantine painters made icons to decorate the church according to traditional expression methods. The statues of Christ and the Virgin in Sofia Cathedral are drawn according to Byzantine painting techniques, such as wide eyes, serious expressions and slender bodies. In particular, the Virgin's blue tunic, red shoes and white handkerchief around her waist were the dress of the Byzantine queens. In this way, Byzantine architecture and icon painting came to Russia with religion. Of particular note here is the Byzantine painter Feofan Greck (c. 1340-1410). Feo Fan. Grek came to Russia from Byzantium at the invitation of Novgorod nobles and painted for churches in Novgorod and Moscow successively. His friendly cooperation with local folk painters enabled Russian artists to learn about the highest level of 14th-century Byzantine art. He combined Byzantine painting with native Russian painting skills, and cultivated a group of Russian painters. Since then, icon painting, which is the origin and foundation of Russian classical art, has become the most representative art form in Russia from the 11th to the 16th century.

　　

　　2. The Development of Russian Orthodox Icon Painting

　　

　　Throughout ancient Russian icon painting, it can be roughly divided into three stages.

　　The first stage was before the 15th century. The painting of icons in Russia during this period was basically based on Greek-Byzantine icons. Before the battle of Kurikovo against the Mongol invasion, Russia was shrouded in pessimism and fear, and this depression of the Russians can be clearly felt in the icon paintings of this period. The figures in the icons are not Russian, but Greek, such as oblong faces and short and pointed beards.

　　The second stage is the 15th-16th century. At this time, the nation was rising, the people's hearts were cheered up, and the icon painting also quietly changed. The icons of the icons began to have Russian-style faces, thick and wide beards, and scenes of daily life of ordinary Russian families also appeared on the screen, such as those depicted in "Trinity Icons and Praying Novgorods" The scene of a citizen's family praying. 15th century famous icon painter Andre. Rublev's work brought Russian iconography to its zenith, which, freed from the Greek and Byzantine stereotypes, has become completely Russified.

　　The third period was the 17th century, a period when the norms of religious painting were challenged. In the mid-17th century, the All-Russian Art Creation Center was established in Moscow. The studio was located in the Kremlin Acropolis, where outstanding painters from all over the country were concentrated. In the process of collective creation, the previous master-apprentice relationship was broken. With the gradual strengthening of business and diplomatic exchanges between Russia and European countries, foreign painters also came to work in the creative center, and also brought new painting varieties - oil painting and new expression techniques to Russia. The representative figure of the icon painter in this period was Simon. Ushakov (1626-1686), he was a painter with high artistic accomplishment and independent opinions in the center of artistic creation. Simon Ushakov believes that painting should be close to reality and should express beauty. This view was close to the Western European art view at that time. Ushakov tried to express the beauty of "human nature" through the image of Christ in "The Icon of Christ". He has unique treatment methods for the proportions of faces, chiaroscuro, perspective, etc. of the characters, and strives to make the image of the picture more similar to the characters in life. As a traditional icon painter, Ushakov was limited by the status quo in Russia at that time, and his innovation was greatly limited, but his main achievement was to endow the biblical figures with portrait characteristics.

　　The Moscow History Museum now has a portrait of Tsar Fyodor Alexievich created by an unknown painter in the 17th century. Although it does not break through the pattern of icon painting in general, it shows that portraits of people in real life have quietly entered Russia. society.

　　

　　3. Characteristics of Russian Orthodox Icon Painting The

　　

　　Russian Orthodox icon painting has distinct characteristics, which are summarized into three aspects here.

　　1. Ideological principles

　　In ancient Russian icon paintings, everything must obey the basic idea of ​​the Holy Trinity, and the main purpose is to shape the image of asceticism. Symbolism is one of the important principles of icon painting. Iconography itself is not sacred, it is the medium of communication between mortals and God, reflecting religious revelation through symbolic means, indicating the source of the sacred. The content of the icon painting is mainly based on Christ, the Virgin, the Holy Trinity and various sacred events, so the icon is by no means a portrait in the general sense. What the icon represents is the combination of divinity and human nature - "God and Man", expressing its spiritual realm, so it cannot be drawn according to the prototype of mortals. The icon expresses the image of the god and man in another world different from the physical world through the means of symbolism, so the "similarity of dissimilarity" has become the principle of creation of the image of the icon.

　　Almost every detail in an icon painting has a symbolic meaning, including the features of the characters' faces, poses, backgrounds, and colors. For example, a high forehead signifies wisdom and discernment; large eyes signify insight into the mysteries of the gods; thin lips signify asceticism; long fingers signify spiritual nobility and purity; a slightly bowed body signifies obedience to God will. The use of colors in icons is stylized, each color has a specific symbolic meaning in icon theology, and the relationship and matching between colors are the most important. For example, white stands for life, divine light, purity, and no dust; black stands for death, sin and hell; green stands for youth, prosperity and hope; gold stands for eternity and greatness; blue stands for mystery; sky blue stands for cleanliness; red Represents sacrifice and pain; yellow represents warmth and love; purple represents victory, etc. The backgrounds of icon paintings are generally trees, mountains, rivers, etc. The background objects are often represented by parts as the whole. For example, a wave symbolizes the river, and a mountain peak symbolizes the mountains.

　　"Light" is one of the important contents of Orthodox theology, and God is love and light. People should open their hearts and let the light of God shine in. Light can enlighten, save and transform the world. The ascetic spirit of the ascetic is built on this foundation. When the icon painting expresses this kind of light, it generally uses gold to render the bright background or the halo emanating from the saint, which makes people feel beautiful and happy without pain. It is no wonder that the Orthodox theologian Florensky praised gold, pointing out that gold plays a huge role in expressing "divine light": all images are produced in the golden sea of ​​divine grace, bathed in an endless source of divine light. .

　　2. Drawing standards Orthodox icon paintings transplanted

　　from Byzantium to Russia have certain drawing standards. The Church formulates these norms based not on aesthetics but on theology, not artistically but religiously interpreting them. The first is the requirement for the identity of the painter. The icon painter must be a member of the Orthodox Church, formally baptized in the Orthodox Church, and must be male. Before painting the icon, one must fast and bathe, and pray for blessings.

　　In addition to the icon and the necessary utensils, there must be no objects in the studio where the icon is painted that interferes with the artist's concentration of work. Brushes and paints are placed in orderly places and should not be placed randomly. Idlers are not allowed to enter the studio, and painters should abandon all worldly distractions and concentrate on painting behind closed doors.

　　The pigments used to paint icons generally do not use chemically synthesized pigments and should be natural materials. Pigments are generally made from various plants, mollusks and minerals. The pigments made from these substances, when dried and crystallized, can make the icon appear extra bright and rich.

　　According to Christian teachings, the supernatural is an eternal and unchanging world, so the figures of the icons should be drawn as static. The most important part of a figure in an icon painting is the face, while the body is the insignificant part hidden in the folds of the clothes. The figures of the icons are mostly slender and thin, their facial expressions are solemn and solemn, and they never open their mouths and show their teeth and smiles. The faces of the saints will not see the worldly emotions and six desires, and only a few icons can be seen. to a frown expressing sadness. The emotions of the characters in the icon and the communication between the saints are all expressed by their eyes. When they look at the eternal world, there is no tolerance for sin in their eyes, but only the desire for salvation. Therefore, there is movement in the stillness of the icon painting, and it can be said that silence is better than sound here.

　　Iconography uses a two-dimensional rather than three-dimensional space, and the figures are represented in planes without layers and shadows. The size of the figures depicted by the icons does not depend on their spatial location, but on their religious significance. For example, the image of Christ is greater than the apostles and prophets, the angels are greater than the devil, etc.

　　Icon paintings want to express the eternal essence of metaphysics, so there are some special requirements for the expression of time and space. Reverse perspective and the assumption of multiple times are unique features of iconography. When an icon painter depicts an object, he starts from several viewpoints and combines several projections. For example, a table is depicted as being viewed from above, while objects on the table are projected from the front. From the "eternal" point of view, the essence of the spiritual world is permanent and unchanging, so the chronological sequence of events is meaningless. The events in the icon painting are not depicted in chronological order, but occur simultaneously in the same scene.

　　3. drawing technique

　　Icon painting techniques are special and complex. These rules and techniques have been passed down from ancient times and must be strictly followed by generations of painters. Iconography consists of 4 main layers: the first is a wooden barrier (not a fresco); the second is a chalk coating made of white powder and adhesive as a base; the third is a painted picture; the fourth The layer is a protective layer that protects the picture from damage from external factors, it is a thin layer smeared with a clear oil made from plants.

　　Iconography is very architectural. The drawing of the icons should be adapted to the architecture of the entire church. The arrangement of the subject matter and the size of the portraits should obey the overall architectural style of the church, with particular emphasis on symmetry. The painters used changes in the scale of the figures to correct the imperfections caused by the construction. For example, figures painted high and far away are larger than other figures, and icons painted on concave walls should have their heads enlarged.

　　Colors have meanings that indicate specific people. A certain color is traditionally used for certain Christian figures. For example, the clothes of the Virgin are dark cherry red; the clothes of Saint Peter are brown; the cloak of Jesus is generally blue and so on.

　　Although the strict norms formulated by the church restricted the choice of subject matter and the shaping of characters by the icon painter, they could not restrict the painter's use of the shades and gradations of color, nor the structural form of the picture. Color can endow icons with the same theme with different ideological and emotional tendencies, so there have been many outstanding masters and schools developed due to the characteristics of different regions in the history of icon painting.

　　As the most representative art form in Russia from the 11th to the 16th century, icon painting seems rigid and rigid on the surface, but if we understand its development history and characteristics, we can understand the philosophical thought and artistic sentiment contained in it. This is also the reason why icon painting has occupied the main position of Russian painting art for 600 years, even in today's Russia.