Painting ekphrasis in ''The Idiot'' by F.M. Dostoevsky. Article 2. Five paintings

The article examines ekphrasis in ''The Idiot'' by F.M. Dostoevsky. This is the first time when special painting discourse and its general dynamics has been investigated within the novel medium. Above all, five paintings, i.e. five full ekphrases have been revealed and analysed: ''the face of a condemned man'', the portrait of Nastasya Filippovna, the portrait of Rogozhin, ''The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb'', Christ and a Child. The face of a condemned man proposed by Myshkin to Adelaida is the first example of full ekphrasis in the novel ''The Idiot''. This first painting representing ''the face of a condemned man'' determines the painting discourse of the whole novel. The second full ekphrasis in the novel is the photographic portrait of Nastasya Filippovna when her face is compared to the face of a condemned man regarded within the categories of ''Salvation'' and ''Kindness''. The portrait of Nastasya Filippovna is the example of not only full ekphrasis but also of discrete ekphrasis: the portrait is described or mentioned in the novel at least 11 times. Such a great number of references to the portrait of Nastasya Filippovna make it possible to identify a special discourse of the photographic portrait of Nastasya Filippovna within the painting discourse of the novel. The third full ekphrasis is the portrait of Semyon Parfyonovich Rogozhin, which is created basing on the principle and idea of copying. The portrait of the elder Rogozhin is the ekphrastic description of the face of Parfyon Rogozhin. All actual ekphrases traced in the novel ''The Idiot'' are associated with one painter, i.e. Hans Holbein the Younger. Therefore, it is possible to state that there is a special painting discourse referring to Hans Holbein in the novel. His painting ''The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb'' is mentioned three times in the novel (or even four times, depending on the interpretation). The ekphrasis of the painting ''The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb'' is not a simple representation of Holbein's painting. The painting itself becomes the basis, the so-called literary material or even canvas where Dostoevsky paints his own picture - the picture of Christ's crucifixion and His face as ''the face of a condemned man''. The fifth painting of the novel is the description of Jesus Christ by Nastasya Filippovna. It represents the thoughtful Jesus Christ and a child, Jesus Christ and all Christian people against the vast horizon and the setting sun, against the whole natural life. This fifth full ekphrasis crowns the entire painting discourse of ''The Idiot''. It is obvious that this final full ekphrasis embodies the answers to the questions posed by ''The Dead Christ''. Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin refer to the murder as the victim and the executioner, and each of them is associated with two paintings: Nastasya Filippovna - with her portrait and the painting about Christ, Rogozhin - with his portrait and the painting ''The Dead Christ'' which is directly named as ''Rogozhin's painting'' in the novel. The entire painting discourse flows from ''the face of a condemned man'' to the portraits of Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin and then to ''The Dead Christ'' and the image of Christ represented within the eternity of Christian life.

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