Dionisius (russian: Диони́сий, variously

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

as ''Dionisy'' or ''Dionysiy''; also Dionisius the Wise; c. 1440 – 1502) was acknowledged as a head of the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

school of

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The mos ...

painters at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. His style of painting is sometimes termed "the Muscovite

mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ital ...

Work

Dionisy's first important commission was a series of icons for the Cathedral of the Dormition in the

Moscow Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (R ...

, executed in 1481. The figures on his icons are famously elongated, the hands and feet are diminutive, and the faces serene and peaceful. Among his many rich and notable patrons, Joseph of Volokolamsk alone commissioned him to paint more than eighty icons, primarily for the Joseph-Volokolamsk and Pavel-Obnorsk cloisters. The most comprehensive and the best preserved work of Dionisy is the monumental

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

painting of the Virgin Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery (1495–96) in Vologda Oblast. The frescoes, depicting scenes from the life of the

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

in singularly pure and gentle colours, are permeated with a solemn and festal mood. The work at the Ferapontov was executed by Dionisy in collaboration with his sons and disciples, who continued a Dionisiesque tradition after the master's death. His son Feodosy painted the mural of "''Michael and Joshua before the battle of Jericho''" in the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Moscow Kremlin in 1508.''Biblical Military Imagery in the Political Culture of Early Modern Russia:The Blessed Host of the Heavenly Tsar'' by Daniel Rowland, ''Medieval Russian Culture'', Vol. 2, ed. Henrik Birnbaum, Michael S. Flier, Daniel Bruce Rowland, (University of California Press, 1994), 193. As his father did not take part in this important commission, it is thought that he had died shortly before that date.

References

External links

Online museum of Dionisius art
{{authority control Russian painters Russian male painters Russian icon painters 1440s births 1502 deaths 16th-century Russian painters Medieval Russian artists Medieval Russian painters