The Stylistic Peculiarities of the Illuminated Manuscript

Images of the Last Judgement in the eschatological writing Sermon of Palladii the Monk attracted the interest of Old Believer scribes as a visual proof of the truth of their faith. In the epoch when the Last Judgement was intensively anticipated (the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries), illuminated Old Believer manuscripts were especially popular and significant. In different regional centres of Old Belief, rules for decorating such manuscripts were developed. The means of formulating and spreading visual information were distinct in terms of colour, the way in which narrative details were drawn, and the general composition. Using the illuminated manuscript Sermon of Palladii the Monk as an example, one can trace these stylistic distinctions. As a result of a comparative analysis with fifteen other illuminated manuscripts, it is possible to define four sustained styles used in the creation of this artefact. The “Northern Letters” style (present among the priestless Old Believers of the Russian North, the Urals, Siberia, and Central Russia) is distinguished by the particular combination of colours (the combination of bright red, green and their shades) and the templates used to paint the pictures. The “Volga” style (which united different regions of the Volga, such as Irgiz, Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets, Kerzhenets, Saratov, and others) stands out due to the richness and variety of the colours, which ranged from light and airy to bright and catchy, like purple and violet. Developing at the beginning of the 19th century in the Urals, the “Shartash” style includes decorative elements from the artistic schools of Pomor’e, Vetka, and Guslitsa. Often, these miniatures resemble lubki in terms of their narratives, fragmentation of the plot, and numerous explanations. Among the priestless Old Believers, the so-called “Baroque Rocaille” style was widespread: this contained elements from the art of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries (such as Baroque and Rococo). These reflected the desires of scribes and artists to take into account modern developments, thereby keeping up with the times. Examining in parallel several different manuscripts and their characteristic features allows us to see the repeatability of individual stable forms of composition, as well as the breadth of the colour choices and the artistic qualities of the manuscripts. As the size of the study base increases, new information on the characteristic iconographic attributes of Sermon of Palladii the Monk will become available.

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