COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BELZ AND DROHOBYCH DEESIS ICONS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

Abstract

Abstract. The research focused on a group of fifteenth century Deesis icons from Belz and Drohobych (today’s Lviv region of Ukraine). There are nine icons preserved: the icon of St. John the Baptist (from the Church of Transfiguration in Belz), the icons of Ss. apostles Peter and Paul (from the Belz Church of St. Paraskevi), images of Ss. Nicholas, John Chrysostom, Peter and Paul, John the Baptist, Archangel Michael (these icons were kept in the Drohobych church of Elevation of the Holly Cross). Both fragments of the Deesis Row show high stylistic similarity and are attributed to the legacy of common workshop. Six images from the mentioned group combine three pairs united by iconographical base and almost identical dimensions. An iconographic and artistic-stylistic comparison of three pairs of Deesis icons from Belz and Drohobych (images of Ss. Peter, Paul and John the Baptist) were executed. Iconographic, stylistic recalls and differences were discovered and analysed. As the result of comparison two stylistic painting-lines of the investigated icons were pointed out: the «harmonious» one (the icons of St. Peter from Belz, Ss. Paul, John the Baptist from Drohobych) and the «expressive» line (icons of St. Paul from Belz and St. Peter from Drohobych). It has been also suggested that the author of the Drohobych icon of St. Peter could have been a less skilled apprentice of the master of St. Paul’s icon from Belz. The author of Drohobych icons of Ss. Paul and John the Baptist could have been a follower of the Belz master of St. Peter. Drawings of three pairs of the Belz and Drohobych icons were compared. The common prototype was noted not only in connection with general iconography, but also with proportional replays. Drawings of the Drogobych icons of Ss. Peter and Paul were studied in infrared light. The result was a conclusion about the absence of authors’ changings in the drawing of two mentioned images. Finally, a hypothesis about the use of common trace drawings for the Belz and Drohobych icons was proposed.