New composition types of the Russian vita icons in Yaroslavl and Kostroma painting of the second part of the 17th century

Abstract

In this article we take up the problem of the new composition types of the Russian vita icons appeared in the second part of the XVIIth century. Since this problem has been little studied, we also search for the relevant methodological tools to analyze such icons. Such vita icons differ from the traditional type due to their composition structure: there is no division into central part (russ. Средник) with a saint’s portrait and little segments (russ. Клейма) with saint’s life events placed on the edge of the panel. The scenes of the saint’s life are placed in these new types in the center of the icon in a specific compositional order, it is not a linear placement like a schema in a traditional type. Thus this new composition can be interpreted in a different way than a traditional vita icon; it leads to a new way of reading and perception. The earliest examples of such vita icons are found in the painting of the Volga region: they are the icons from iconostasis veneration tier (russ. Местный ряд) in the church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl (early 1660s). In this article we propose the classification of such vita icons and analyze their composition to reveal their specificity.