Lacquer miniatures from mstiora
21.04.2008 | Просмотров: 3,611Mstiora, one of the centres of modern Russian lacquer-work, is located in the Vladimir region, an area rich in historic associations, which at one time was called the Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. Mstiora is a small town lying amidst fields and meadows surrounded by mixed woods and birch groves. Through the town flows the quiet Mstiorka river covered with a green carpet of duckweed in spring and autumn and strewn with blossoming water-lilies in summer. It is to this river that the town, which before the October Revolution was called Bogoyavlenskaya Slo-boda, owes its present name.
Mstiora is a very old town, long renowned for its handicrafts. Among its inhabitants were craftsmen skilled in metalwork, enamelling, and chasing and etching on foil. Mstiora needlewomen excelled in the so-called "Vladimir colour stitch" and white satin stitch—the articles they made were considered among the best in Russia. Particularly famous, however, were the Mstiora icon-painters. Their skill was passed down from father to son, from grandfather to grandson. According to research carried out by the historian Kondakov at the turn of the twentieth century, 3,465 people in the town were engaged in icon-painting and related trades, i.e., the majority of Mstiora population.
Icon-painting in Mstiora was a branch of the famous Vladimir-Suzdal school. Icon-painting workshops appeared in the Vladimir-Suzdal region before the Mongol-Tartar invasion and survived in spite of the fact that both Vladimir and Suzdal were cruelly devastated by Batu Khan in 1237. Vladimir-Suzdal icons were remarkable for their balanced proportions, keen insight into the emotions of their subjects, popular interpretation of canonical motifs, introduction of everyday details, and colouring rich in shades and nuances. Vladimir-Suzdal painters were highly valued in Moscow. It is known that in 1674 two icon-painters from Viazniki, the town nearest to Mstiora, were invited to work in the capital. In the early nineteenth century the Vladimir-Suzdal icons aroused interest abroad: in 1814, in particular, Goethe collected information about this school of painting.