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Undoubtedly from their arrival in Russia
Byzantine masters trained some selected Russians to paint frescoes and icons.
Monastery chronicles confirm that churches were decorated with icons; they
speak of a monk Alimpii of Kiev Monastery of the Caves, later beatified, as the
first Russian icon painter. It is true the chronicles most often speak of
so-called "Korsun" icons, meaning "From Hersones," a name
given to all imported Byzantine icons, but nobody can deny that icons painted
by Russians must also have existed in the 12th century. Most of the native
icons painted before the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Russia show a strong
Byzantine inclination to be hastily marked out as being of Novgorod or any
other school. It is true that Russian artists never blindly copied foreign
works; even when they painted Christ, he had to be a Russian Christ. Most of
the early Russian icons were painted by monks. It is surprising to see how
little they hesitated to often paint Christ and some of their saints, as very
healthy and natural people despite those allegedly strict canonic rules. The
icons called "Spas Nerukotvornii," which could be translated as Saint
Face or Holy Face or Holy Savior may serve as an example. They depict Christ's
head in a circle with a thick cross as a background. Christ is shown as a
young, strong and determined man, and it is not surprising that just this type
of icon was chosen since medieval times for the emblem of the Russian army. It
was in front of a Holy Face icon that Russian soldiers for centuries took the
oath of allegiance. It was with this icon in mind that they attacked their
enemies, or looked for supreme protection and sign of victory. As was the case
with all other major icons, the "Holy Face" had been copied thousands
of times. Among the most outstanding is one painted in Novgorod around the
middle of the 13th century and currently in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow,
delicately painted in yellow and ochre hues with fine gold running through the
hair. An even better example from the same century is an icon that was
discovered only in 1966 in the village of Novoe, near Yaroslavl. For almost
fifty years after the revolution this masterpiece served to block a broken
window in a dilapidated village church. The unknown painter, most probably a
monk from one of the monasteries in the Rostov-Suzdal area, used his blues,
roses and dark yellows with great care to create an extraordinary portrait of
the Savior.
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