The Program of Monumental Painting in St. Savva’s Chapel of the Nativity Cathedral at the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery

Abstract

The article is devoted to the general analysis of the monumental painting program of 1649–1650 in St. Savva’s Chapel of the Nativity Cathedral at the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod. The article studies the murals and iconography of some compositions for the first time, considers the reasons for the appearance of different themes in the program, and reconstructs the conception of the whole program. Despite the original murals being covered with the late 19th century painting, it is highly probable that the existing layer closely follows the 17th century program based on earlier traditions. This is confirmed by the presence of the image of Saint Gury of Kazan, whose image of which has been known since the beginning of the 17th century, the vita cycle of Saint Savva, the structure and content of which are similar to the monuments of the second half of the 16th — middle of the 17th century, and also composition “The Appearance of the Virgin to Apostle Peter of the breaking of bread”, also known in monumental painting since the beginning of the 17th century.

Keywords

• monumental painting program
• monumental painting
• iconography
• st. savva’s chapel
• vita cycle of st. savva
• savvino-storozhevsky monastery