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« 2022. # 5 (167)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2022. № 5 (167), 1178—1184

UDK [7.04.03’06:27-526.62-312.47](477) 

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.05.1178

VILNIUS ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD: GENESIS AND ATTRIBUTION OF SELECTED SAMPLES

SKOP Mykhailo

Abstract. The article is devoted to the Vilnius Icon of the Mother of God and some copies.

The novelty of the topic lies in the synthesis of historical information and the results of art analysis of monuments to resolve a number of contradictions identified in previous studies. Differentiation of two iconographic types identified by researchers as Vil’na Icon of the Mother of God, attribution of known analogues and substantiation of versions about the appearance and disappearance of the icon.

The aim of the article is to investigate the artistic features and iconography of selected icons of Vil’na Icon of the Mother of God, to substantiate the version of the creation of one of the types of icons in the XVI century, and to prove that one of the known surviving copies lost in 1915.

 The following methods were used for this purpose: formal-stylistic, comparative, method of iconographic analysis, method of reconstruction, analysis of historical data, method of studying the cultural context.

The object of research is selected samples of Vil’na Icon of the Mother of God. The subject of research is artistic features, attribution and iconography.

The study found that there is no reliable data on what Vil’na Icon of the Mother of God looked like before the 17th century; the hypothesis about the origin of both types of icons is substantiated.

There is evidence that the icon preserved in the collection of the Cathedral of the Virgin of Kazan in St. Petersburg may be a lost icon of Vilniaus Dievo Motinos.

Keywords: Theotokos Hodegetria, Theotokos of Vilnius, iconography, Leontiy Tarasevych, Zhovkva School of Icon Painting, Iconostasis, Ukrainian Icon Painting, Vilniaus Dievo Motinos, Miraculous Icon.

Received 29.09.2022

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