From 18 February to 19 April at the Museum of Private Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin exhibition will be held «Masterpieces of Russian Icon Painting XIV - XVI centuries from private collections»

From 18 February to 19 April at the Museum of Private Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin exhibition will be held «Masterpieces of Russian Icon Painting XIV - XVI centuries from private collections», devoted to 100 anniversary of the opening of Russian icon art.

The exhibition will be presented over a hundred highly artistic works, mostly XV - XVI centuries, from 23 private collections. These icons from many different corners of Russia - Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pskov, Tver, Vologda, Novgorod, Onezhya, Rostov-Suzdal lands and Arkhangelsk. Each icon - has its own story. And its beauty. Most of the icons will be displayed before the public for the first time.

The initiator of the exhibition is a private museum of Russian icons, but the reason has become a very important date: the centenary of the time when Russian society has realized that the icon - this is a remarkable monument of Russian culture.

At the end of XIX century, all Russian icons XIII - XVI centuries looked quite different than today. Because of the old varnish painting seemed dark, often several layers of it covered more recent recordings. Thus, even scholars of the time genuinely believed that the icon - a monument to the spiritual life of the people only, but now the art began in Russia only in the XVIII century.

But in 1913, on the occasion of 300 years of Romanov's house, an exhibition of Russian icons, peeled restorers from all layers and darkened varnish. The visitors were shocked. Many do not even believe that this ancient icon is so bright, beautiful, shining was an ancient painting.

Unfortunately, after 1917, many churches were blown up or turned into warehouses. The icons used for household needs: a bridge to the floor, slaughter box, or simply burned as firewood. For years, members of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Museum and the Museum of Andrei Rublev, as well as private collectors went to the villages and saved from the destruction of what still could be saved. Had they not done so, Russia would be lost forever, one of the most beautiful seams of its national culture. It Museums, collectors and enthusiasts, we are obliged to the fact that Russian icons survived until today, through all the wars and revolutions, the natural and social disasters.

Source: rusiskusstvo.ru