Archive
2012 year, issue 5 read »
«The Ethnology Notebooks» 2019 year, issue 2 read »
2012 year, issue 6 read »
The Ethnology Notebooks. 2020. # 5 (155). С. 1013–1244 DOI... read »

« 2026. № 5 (191)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 5 (191), 1556—1567

UDK 75.046.3(477.83)”15/17″:[7.072.2:159.923]

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

  • Received: 14.08.2026
  • Accepted: 01.09.2026
  • Published: ??.??.2026

LOCAL ICON-PAINTING TRADITION OF HALYCHYNA: A HISTORICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLDVIEW OF THE MASTERS OF PAINTING CENTRES (BASED ON THE ZHOVKVA AND SUDOVA VYSHNIA SCHOOLS)

LAHODYCH Mykola

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1299-0948
  • PhD in Theology, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Associate Professor at
  • the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies,
  • Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi,
  • 2, Kotsiubynskoho Str., 58002, Chernivtsi, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: m.lahodych@chnu.edu.ua

Abstract. Introduction. The icon-painting centres of historical Halychyna of the 16th–18th centuries left almost no written ego-documents, so the mental world of their masters can be approached only through the material traces of their craft: the format of the panel, the proportions of the figures, the width of the brush strokes, the iconographic deviations from the Byzantine model and the later museum and restoration history of the objects. Problem Statement. Scattered attributive, morphometric and restoration data published in recent years have not yet been brought together into a single analytical system that would allow the worldview of the craftsmen to be described in measurable terms; at the same time, the ongoing destruction of the Ukrainian sacred environment makes such systematisation urgent. Purpose. The article aims to carry out a historical and psychological reconstruction of the worldview of the masters of the Zhovkva and Sudova Vyshnia (Vyshnia) painting centres on the basis of quantitative indicators extracted from published research. Methods. Source analysis and content analysis of scholarly publications, comparative and typological analysis, morphometric measurement, statistical generalization, and historical and psychological reconstruction following the principle «from the trace of an action to its motive» were applied. Results. A corpus of fourteen articles published in «The Ethnology Notebooks» in 2022–2025 was systematized; a chronological scale of dated reference points of the two centres was built; twelve morphometric and technological parameters of the reference icon «Virgin Hodegetria» by Ivan Rutkovych were tabulated; the coincidence coefficient of handwriting features for three faces attributed to the same master reached 0.875; the scale of iconographic diffusion was estimated at fifty-six monuments of the 16th–18th centuries, divided into three gesture groups (45, 8 and 3 items). The findings were correlated with official statistics on damaged cultural heritage and with sociological data on the religiosity of the Western region of Ukraine. Conclusion. The worldview of the Halychyna icon painter appears as a three-level system of regulators – canonical and dogmatic, guild and corporate, local and communal. The third level explains most of the recorded deviations from the Byzantine prototype and turns the local icon into a document of collective self-understanding rather than a mere devotional object.

Keywords: icon painting, Halychyna, Zhovkva centre, Sudova Vyshnia (Vyshnia) painters, Ivan Rutkovych, attribution, iconography, worldview, historical psychology, sacred heritage.

REFERENCES

  • Helytovych, M. (2022). Icons of the early 17th century from the festive row of the iconostasis of St. Paraskeva Church in Malniv. The Ethnology Notebooks, 4 (166), 910—917. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.04.910 [in Ukrainian].
  • Helytovych, M. (2025). The work of an anonymous master of icons of the last quarter of the 16th century from the village of Vovche. The Ethnology Notebooks, 2 (182), 281—294. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2025-2-5/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Kosiv, R. (2022). The icon «The Passion of Christ» of 1675 from St. Nicholas Church in Kamianka-Buzka, Lviv region: iconography and attribution. The Ethnology Notebooks, 4 (166), 897—909. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2022-4-15/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Druziuk, H., & Skop, M. (2022). Icon of Ivan Rutkovych «Virgin Hodegetria» from Kamianka-Buzka district: artistic features, attribution and iconography. The Ethnology Notebooks, 1 (163), 36—49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.01.036 [in Ukrainian].
  • Pelekh, M. (2022). Stylistic changes in the artistic expression of iconostases and altars of Halychyna churches after the Synod of Zamosc. The Ethnology Notebooks, 3 (165), 536—548. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.03.536 [in Ukrainian].
  • Syvak, V. (2023). Eucharistic iconography in Ukrainian art of the 17th–18th centuries. The state of scientific development of the problem. The Ethnology Notebooks, 3 (171), 697—718. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2023.03.697 [in Ukrainian].
  • Komarnytskyi, A. (2025). The significance of the works of V. A. Ovsiichuk in the formation of national views on the genesis of the sacred tradition of Rus-Ukraine. The Ethnology Notebooks, 1 (181), 110—118. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2025-1-12/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Komarnytskyi, A. (2024). Formation of Sophian and Theotokos consciousness in the Kyiv centralized state under the first Christian princes of the 11th century. The Ethnology Notebooks, 2 (176), 456—461. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2024-2-22/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Stotskyi, Ya. (2024). The influence of religious (confessional) identity on modern Ukrainian society: psychological and political science context. The Ethnology Notebooks, 3 (177), 510—517. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2024-3-5/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Diakiv, V. (2025). From the Protection of the Mother of God to the Presentation: the specificity of the folk religiosity of Ukrainians in the context of the pre-Christmas period. The Ethnology Notebooks, 1 (181), 84—94. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2025-1-10/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Babii, N. (2024). Tactile icon painting — practical application in the popularization of museum collections. The Ethnology Notebooks, 2 (176), 390—397. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2024-2-14/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Skop, M. (2022). Sacred visual plastics in the public space of Lviv at the beginning of the 21st century: comparison and substantiation of terminology. The Ethnology Notebooks, 4 (166), 949—960. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2022-4-21/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Odrekhivskyi, R. (2025). Reflection of the national revival in the art of Halychyna of the late 19th – early 20th century. The Ethnology Notebooks, 1 (181), 119—125. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2025-1-13/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Razinkova, L. (2025). The 1935 work «The Most Holy Eucharist» from the Church of the Archangel Michael in Pidhirtsi, Lviv region: from the experience of conservation and restoration works. The Ethnology Notebooks, 1 (181), 220—224. Retrieved from: https://nz.lviv.ua/2025-1-24/ [in Ukrainian].
  • Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv: the official page of the museum on the portal «Museum Fund of Ukraine» of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine. Retrieved from: https://museum.mincult.gov.ua/museums/natsionalnyy-muzey-u-lvovi-imeni-andreya-sheptytskogo [in Ukrainian].
Our authors
Herus Lyudmyla. Doctor of Sciences in History,... read »
Ivashkiv Halyna. Doctor of Sciences in Art Criticism,... read »
Ulana Movna. Senior Research Fellow, Ph.D. in History. read »
Stepan Pavluk. Prof., full member of NAS of Ukraine,... read »
Maternity ritualism by volhynians in publications of the second half XIX to the early XXI cc.
In the article have been considered some basic landmarks for fixing and publication of ethnographic materials on the maternity rites of Volhynia with analytical study in ritual elements, their kinds and territories of origin. The article has also raised a problem of gaps in studies of maternity rites of Ukrainian historio-ethnographic Volhynia.
Read »

Daily bread baking of ukrainians in the south-western ethnographical region at the late XIX to early XXI cc.
The paper has dealt with analytic study in prescriptions, signs, customs, methods, ways of selection, procurement and some peculiarities in usage of subsidiary means — water, firewood and leaves in bread baking. The final aim of the mentioned actions had been (and still is) selection of the means and ingredients fit, by their characteristics, for the backing of bread. The paper has demonstrated dependence of bread backing subsi­diary means criteria from the folk nutritional standards and world outlook stereotypes as well as from regional social and economic, natural and geographical factors and peculiarities of material culture.
Read »

Traditional folk clothes of velikobychkovsky hutsuly of XIX — the first half of XX century
In the study based upon numerous field materials, literature sources as well as ethnographic, historio-cultural and regional museum collections has been performed complex analysis in traditional folk clothes by Hutzul population of Velyky Bychkiv village in Transcarpathian region. Detailed descriptions of femi­nine and masculine clothing complexes of the mentioned area have been presented. In characterizing of those main attention has been paid to the detail of cut in separate components of dress; cut of feminine shirt has been added as an illustration.
Read »

Wax candle as ukrainian Christmas and epiphany ritualistic text
For the first time in native ethnology the article has brought some results of special study in sign functionality of a wax candle under the context of Ukrainian Christmas and Epiphany ritualistic text (ritualism of Christmas Eve, New Year, Epiphany Eve and Feast of Epiphany). The study has stated extremely high semiotic position of a wax candle as projection of Sun, mediator between the spheres of sacral and prophane elements, symbolic analogue of human existence, apotropy, cultural symbol re-establishing borders of acculturated space.
Read »