Monumental painting of Kyivan Rus’

In the Kyivan Rus' the fresco was the principal method of decorating church interiors. While Byzantine-style mosaics were limited to the central part of a church, frescoes covered all the side apses, vaults, columns and walls of the side naves, and sometimes even the arch supports, galleries, niches, and external portals. In Byzantium, mosaics were never mixed with frescoes in the same building; this is a unique practice of Ukrainian church art. Harmony between mosaic and fresco was achieved by using the same dominant colors. The most famous examples of this decorative system are Saint Sophia Cathedral (1037) and the Cathedral of Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery (mid-12th century) in Kyiv. After the middle of the 12th century frescoes almost completely replaced mosaics in the decoration of church interiors. The most complete set of frescoes from this period has been preserved in the church of Saint Cyril's Monastery in Kyiv.

ICONOGRAPHY IN KYIVAN RUS’

An image depicting a holy personage or scene in the stylized Byzantine manner, and venerated in the Eastern Christian churches. The image can be executed in different media; hence, the term ‘icon’ can be applied to mural paintings, frescoes, or mosaics, tapestries or embroideries, enamels, and low reliefs carved in marble, ivory, or stone or cast in metal.. The earliest technique of icon painting was encaustic, but the traditional and most common technique is tempera. The paint—an emulsion of mineral pigments (ochers, siennas, umbers, or green earth), egg yolk, and water—is applied with a brush to a panel prepared in a special way. The panel of well-dried linden, birch, poplar, alder, pine, or cypress is 3–4 cm thick. To prevent warping it is reinforced with two hardwood slats inserted in grooves on the reverse side. The face side is slightly hollowed to obtain a concave surface surrounded by a protective border, usually 3 cm wide and scored to provide a better gluing base. It is then covered with canvas, to which several layers of gesso (plaster or powdered alabaster mixed with fish glue) are applied. When an even, smooth surface has been produced, an outline of the painting is traced on it with charcoal or scratched into it with a needle. Gold leaf is fixed to designated areas before painting begins. The paint is applied in successive layers from dark to light tones; then the figures are outlined and, finally, certain areas are highlighted with whiting. After drying, the painting is covered with a special varnish consisting of linseed oil and crystalline resins to protect it from dust and humidity. The varnish imparts depth and richness to the pale tones of tempera but, eventually, becomes dark with dirt. Traditionally cleaned with a vinegar and ammonia solution, the varnish is now treated with chemical solutions that are capable of restoring the original brilliance and depth to the colors.

History. With the introduction of Christianity in the 10th century, Byzantine icons and icon painters began to be imported into Ukraine. No Kyivan icons from the 11th century, and only a few from the 12th, have survived to our day. The oldest surviving masterpieces of the Kyiv school include the Mother of God Great Panagia, a large icon done probably by Master Olimpii and donated by Volodymyr Monomakh to a church in Rostov; Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica, a 12th-century icon that belonged to the Dormition Church in Dmitrov; Saint Nicholas with Saints on the Borders (turn of the 12th century); The Mother of God of the Caves or The Svensk Mother of God, a late 13th-century copy of an earlier Kyivan icon done for Prince Roman Mstyslavych; and Ihor's Mother of God, a 13th-century work that disappeared from the Kyivan Cave Monastery during the Second World War. There are also a number of icons that belong to the Kyiv tradition of icon painting, but may have been produced in centers other than Kyiv. The most important of these are works that were probably produced by the Novgorod the Great school according to Kyivan models: The Ustiug Annunciation (12th century), The Archangel Gabriel or The Angel with Golden Hair (12th), and Saints Borys and Hlib (12th–13th). The famous Vyshhorod Mother of God, later known as The Vladimir Mother of God, is not a Kyivan but a Greek icon that was brought in 1134 from Constantinople to Vyshhorod, and taken to Vladimir by Andrei Bogoliubskii in 1155.