The name by which the publishing house of Dutch engravers and cartographers was known in 17th-century Europe Fisherov (Visscher).

At the origins of the family business stood the Amsterdammer Nicholas Ioannis Fischer ( Claes Jansz Visscher, 1587-1652), which provided the needs of all of Europe in maps (mainly wall maps), atlases and etchings with city views.

Piskator Sr. was a talented draftsman and engraver, but he remained in the history of art as the publisher of the "Face Bible" (lat. Theatrum Biblicum, 1650), five hundred engravings for which were made according to the drawings of the Flemish and Dutch masters of the previous generation.

After the death of the founder, the house of Piscators was headed by his only son, Nicholas I (1618-79). In 1682 a publishing patent was issued to his son Nicholas II (1649-1702). Under him, 90% of the Piscator catalog began to be engraved products.

After the death of Nicholas II, the family business was run by his widow until 1726. The lion's share of production at that time were reprints of editions of the previous century.

Front bible

The compositional solutions of the rarest iconographic plots given in the “Face Bible” fed the imagination of the murals of Kostroma, Yaroslavl and Moscow until the end of the 17th century. Hundreds of images drawn by iconographers from the Piscator Bible adorned the walls of churches throughout central Russia, from the Moscow Kremlin to the Trinity Monastery, wherever artists of the Upper Volga circle worked.

The album was republished by the Piscators six times and distributed in Russia with verse Slavonic signatures composed by Mardariy Honikov. The Piscator Bible served as a model for Vasily Koren's engravings. In addition to Russia, the "Face Bible" was also popular in other countries of Eastern Europe.

Cards

Borealiorem America 1690

1700 Orbis Terrarum Visscher mr.jpg

Orbis Terrarum 1700

Write a review on the article "Piscators"

Links

• Gamlitsky A.V.
• Galina Chinyakova.

An excerpt characterizing the Piscators

He said nothing to Pierre, only shook his hand with feeling below the shoulder. Pierre and Anna Mikhailovna went to the petit salon. [small living room.]
- II n "y a rien qui restaure, comme une tasse de cet excellent the russe apres une nuit blanche, [Nothing restores after a sleepless night like a cup of this excellent Russian tea.] - said Lorrain with an expression of restrained liveliness, sipping from a thin ", without a handle, a Chinese cup, standing in a small round drawing room in front of a table on which stood a tea set and a cold supper. Near the table, all those who were in the house of Count Bezukhy that night gathered to refresh their strength. Pierre remembered well this small round drawing room , with mirrors and small tables.During balls in the count's house, Pierre, who could not dance, liked to sit in this small mirrored room and watch how ladies in ballroom dresses, diamonds and pearls on their bare shoulders, passing through this room, looked at themselves in brightly lit mirrors, several times repeating their reflections.Now the same room was barely lit by two candles, and in the middle of the night on one small table tea set and dishes were randomly placed but, and various, non-holiday people, talking in a whisper, sat in it, showing with every movement, with every word, that no one forgets even what is being done now and has yet to be done in the bedroom. Pierre did not eat, although he really wanted to. He looked inquiringly at his leader and saw that she was tiptoeing out again into the reception room, where Prince Vasily remained with the eldest princess. Pierre believed that this was also so necessary, and, after a little hesitation, followed her. Anna Mikhailovna stood beside the princess, and both of them at the same time spoke in an excited whisper:
“Let me, princess, know what is needed and what is unnecessary,” said the princess, apparently in the same agitated state in which she was at the time she slammed the door of her room.
“But, dear princess,” Anna Mikhailovna said meekly and convincingly, stepping out of the way from the bedroom and not letting the princess in, “won’t it be too hard for the poor uncle at such moments when he needs rest? At such moments, talking about worldly things, when his soul is already prepared ...
Prince Vasily sat on an armchair, in his familiar pose, with his legs crossed high. His cheeks jumped strongly and, drooping, seemed thicker at the bottom; but he had the air of a man little occupied with the conversation between two ladies.
- Voyons, ma bonne Anna Mikhailovna, laissez faire Catiche. [Leave Katya to do what she knows.] You know how the Count loves her.
“I don’t even know what is in this paper,” the princess said, turning to Prince Vasily and pointing to the mosaic briefcase that she held in her hands. - I only know that the real will is in his bureau, and this is a forgotten paper ...
She wanted to bypass Anna Mikhaylovna, but Anna Mikhaylovna, jumping up, blocked her way again.
“I know, dear, kind princess,” said Anna Mikhailovna, clutching her briefcase with her hand and so tightly that it was clear that she would not let him go soon. “Dear princess, I beg you, I beg you, have pity on him. Je vous en conjure… [I beg you…]

One of the areas of work of scientists working in art museums is the study of the history of collections. The turbulent events of the 20th century make these studies difficult and sometimes impossible today.

Almost nothing is known to us about the collection of engravings collected by Bogdan Ivanovich and Varvara Nikolovna Khanenko- the founders of the National Museum of Art, which today bears their name.

Unfortunately, Bogdan Ivanovich himself did not leave a catalog of the collection. After the revolution, the engravings were recorded in the library inventory, but often too briefly, for example: "A folder with engravings from the Khanenko collection". It is easier to work with albums that have retained library numbers.

Among the relatively few works of graphics, which we know for sure that they come from the collection of Khanenko, the most important place is occupied by an album with sheets from the famous Piscator Bibles .

piscator- Amsterdam engraving publisher Claes Jans Vischer(1586 - 1652), who, in the fashion of his time, translated his surname into Latin (visscher - "fisherman" in Dutch, pissator - in Latin). He decided to create a huge collection of engravings on biblical subjects.

To do this, he bought old used engraving boards from many Dutch publishing houses. Since they were erased during the printing process, he made corrections, then removed the marks of previous publishers and put down his own.

His, at first glance, strange refusal to cooperate with modern masters has a logical explanation. As you know, in the middle of the 16th century, the Netherlands plunged into a bloody confrontation between Catholics and Protestants, which escalated into a war for independence from Spain.

The city of Antwerp was less than other Dutch lands involved in the struggle, even experienced an economic boom, so artists from other areas flocked to it. Then numerous Antwerp publishing houses began to order drawings from famous painters especially for subsequent translation into engraving, which was produced in small thematic series.

Among the variety of subjects, biblical ones occupied an important place, since the Reformation aroused an increased interest in religious topics and related ethical problems.

At that time, educated people carefully reread the Holy Scriptures, and, as a result, in the visual arts, new episodes that were not developed by artists of the past were often depicted, and non-canonical interpretations of long-known stories arose.

In the 17th century, during the time of Vischer, the focus of engravers' work changed somewhat: they no longer collaborated with publishers, but with artists' workshops - the era of active reproduction of paintings began.

Each work was the result of collaboration between the author of the composition, the engraver and the owner of the publishing house. Their meaning could vary depending on the level of skill and experience. This is indirectly evidenced by the inscriptions on the sheets, where almost everywhere the name of the publisher is indicated, in many cases the artist, less often the engraver.

The Piscator Bible went through six editions. The last (1674), issued after the death of Vischer thanks to his descendants, included about 500 engravings. All sheets are accompanied by corresponding biblical texts in Latin with reference to the source, or by Latin verses by Dutch authors of the 16th-17th centuries.

Probably, our album was bound not in the 17th century, but later, and this happened in Russia. Such a conclusion can be drawn by studying ink inscriptions with the corresponding biblical quotations in Russian on many engravings and numbers in Slavic numbers (Cyrillic letters).

Almost every engraving has two different numbers: under the image in the center and in the upper right corner. Most of them are three-digit, while there are only 55 sheets in the album. The inscriptions are made on the edges of the engraving, and where the edges are lost, there are no numbers - that is, they were applied before the engravings were pasted into the album.

From these facts, we can conclude that the engravings came to Russia in a much larger composition. This collection significantly decreased over time and was acquired by Khanenko already in its modern form, since at the top right there is a numbering in Arabic numerals corresponding to the available pages (the numbers are put down in ink, which is prohibited by museum rules, therefore, a private owner resorted to this).

Works from the Piscator Bible had a great influence on the art of Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries.

On the example of several sheets from the museum album, let's look at why the Piscator Bible is actually so interesting today.

Ten engravings based on the drawings of the famous Harlem master are distinguished by the originality of the compositions, numerous vital details. Martin van Geemskerk (1498 - 1574).

In engraving (ill. 1) Gemskerk refers to a plot common in art from the Acts of the Apostles (a book from the New Testament). The descent of the Holy Spirit took place on the feast of Pentecost, 50 days after the crucifixion of Christ, when all the apostles gathered together: “And suddenly there was a noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And divided tongues appeared to them like fire, and rested on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them to speak.”.

As was customary in the Middle Ages, the artist depicts the apostles and the Mother of God in a separate room. But later in the text of the Acts, it is said about the crowd, which was so amazed by the amazing behavior of the apostles that Saint Peter was forced to turn to them with explanations.

Therefore, Gemskerk uses his favorite technique: he depicts an interior with one missing wall, thanks to which he shows not only the main action taking place inside the room, but also the street.

Such a wall, transparent to the audience, was often used by his contemporaries to depict scenes in the interior. But here the wall is also missing for the people on the street, actively reacting to what is happening with the apostles. The artist finally sacrifices the plausibility of architecture when instead of the ceiling he shows clouds from which fiery tongues fall on the worshipers.

In creating such a complex composition, Gemskerk shows exceptional skill. The stormy movement of the apostles, who were delighted with the falling tongues of flame, might have seemed chaotic if it were not for the motionless figure of Mary, closing the composition on the left. On the right, St. Peter from the high porch calmly and confidently addresses the people. The variety of types in the astonished crowd in the foreground speaks of the artist's great imagination. However, this corresponds to the text: "from every nation under heaven."

This sheet was engraved by a master who was from 1560 the chief engraver of Gemskerk - Philip Galle. Obviously, the success of their joint work was given by the fact that both were formed under the influence of one outstanding personality - Dirk Folkert Cornhart- humanist, public figure, author of a manifesto against the Spaniards, translator of the Odyssey into Dutch.

Probably, the engraving "The Descent of the Holy Spirit" was included in one series with "The Prayer of the Apostles after the Liberation of Peter and John" (ill. 2). The Acts of the Apostles tells that Peter and John were arrested during a sermon and taken to the court of the Sanhedrin. The astonished judges saw the beggar healed by the apostles walking. This cripple was always begging at the temple, and everyone knew that the unfortunate one from birth could not walk. Therefore, the judges were forced to release the saints.

Gemskerk uses the transparent wall effect again. Now the action takes place on two floors of the house. On the top, the apostles and parishioners pray ecstatically. The Acts of the Apostles says: “And when they prayed, the place where they were shook, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to boldly speak the word of God.”.

The descent of the Holy Spirit, as in the previous composition, is traditionally symbolized by a dove surrounded by radiance and fiery tongues descending on the apostles.

Although the main event takes place in this part of the composition, it still occupies a smaller part of the sheet. An almost empty room is depicted below; contrary to the Dutch narrative tradition, the author does not decipher the household purpose of the room. All the few objects here have mainly allegorical meaning.

There are books on the table - a common symbol of knowledge, in the depths in an open cabinet one can see a jug on a platter, probably intended for the wine of the Eucharist. Nearby stands a man with a long beard, whose whole figure is the embodiment of sorrow. A young couple walks past him and confidently walks up.

The lower floor most likely symbolizes the world of the Old Testament. A mournful elder is one who did not accept the Good News and whose historical time has passed. Above is the new Christendom that emerged after the Resurrection.

In the fact that Gemskerk chose a plot that practically coincides in content with the previous one, one can see a reflection of the religious searches of that time. The Holy Spirit is central to Calvin's teachings, and it is his actions that ensure the true Christian life. Therefore, not only the first Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at the time of the emergence of the Christian church, but also its constant illumination of life becomes important.

The plot of another sheet based on the composition of Hemkerk is rarely found in the visual arts. It also comes from the Acts of the Apostles, but concerns a completely different episode in terms of content. The spouses Ananias and Sapphira (ill. 3) died due to the fact that when they entered the Christian community, they hid part of their money received from the sale of their land.

The basic moral of this story very quickly became irrelevant for Christians, because already in the first centuries the church moved away from the denial of property rights and attempts to socialize the property of the laity.

The reason for Gemskerk's appeal to this subject must be sought in the discussions of his time. One of the leaders of the Protestant movement, Calvin, preached the return of the structure of the church from the time of the first Christians. Naturally, its adherents carefully studied the rather meager evidence of the New Testament about the life and activities of the apostles.

At the same time, Calvin did not deny the legitimacy of personal property, even if it was about significant fortunes. His accusatory pathos was directed exclusively against excesses, luxury and such wealth that does not bring any benefit.

The artist chooses the final episode of the story - Sapphira's death. On the stairs at Peter's feet are scattered coins, a basket, a roll of ribbons and a huge purse - the so-called "money changer's purse", consisting of four or six bags connected with a stick-handle. Such wallets were owned by those who, by the nature of their activities, needed to use a large number of different coins.

Belts are clearly visible in the basket - one of the most valuable and luxuriously decorated items of women's wardrobe in the 16th century. They could then cost so much that they were described in detail in wills. Of course, such purses and valuable belts date back to the time of Geemskerk, and not the first Christians.

The text of the Acts of the Apostles does not indicate the amount of hidden money, since for the early Christians it was a crime to attempt to deceive as such. There is no mention of any valuable things, because with the open way of life of the members of the community, it was almost impossible for Christians to keep any property secret, and it did not make sense.

Gemskerk depicts luxury items and, according to Calvin, vanity. There are two purses in Sapphira's hand, one of which is huge, a massive bunch of keys is tied to her belt, next to it lies a case, from which two graceful handles look out. So a terrible punishment befell the spouses for their commitment to sinful, from the point of view of Calvinists, excesses.

Interesting reaction here. The text says: “And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard it”. Something similar to fear can be seen only in two characters who leaned towards Sapphira.

Quiet grief is felt in the postures of the apostles, they did not want such a dramatic turn, but they understand its regularity, because the main thing for a Christian is to perform moral deeds and unconditionally obey the Will of God. The neophytes, not at all afraid, climb the stairs, in their hands they carry their property to the church. Their appearance indicates that a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear.

We have considered only three engravings from the Piscator Bible. Other authors, among whom were well-known Dutch masters, used their techniques to tell biblical stories, searched for answers to topical religious and ethical questions, and at the same time kept for us numerous living signs of their lives.

E.D. Shostak, head of the graphics department of the National Museum of Art. Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko

One of the important sources of iconography for Russian iconographers was the Western European engraved Bibles of the 16th-17th centuries and, in particular, the famous Theatrum Biblicum, also known as Piscator Obverse Bible. It was reprinted several times during the 17th century. Interest in it does not fade away, therefore I consider it necessary to present a copy of the Piscator Bible of 1643, still unknown to a wide range of researchers, which belonged to Archbishop Simon of Vologda and Belozersky.

Fragment of an engraving from the Piscator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643.

The first owner of this copy of the famous uvrazh Simon, one of the most worthy Russian bishops, from 1660 to 1664. was hegumen of the Alexander-Svirsky monastery. On October 23, 1664, he was ordained bishop of Vologda and Belozersky with the elevation to the rank of archbishop. In 1666 Vladyka Simon was present at the bishops' council on schismatics, and in December of the same year, at the council that condemned His Holiness Patriarch Nikon. Archbishop Simon died on April 29, 1685 and was buried in the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, which he especially loved.

During the years of Bishop Simon's administration of the Vologda and Belozersky diocese, active stone construction was carried out in Vologda - temples were erected, two-story bishops' chambers surrounded by walls and towers were built. In all likelihood, Simon's personal library was located at the church in the name of the Nativity of Christ, above which the bishop's sacristy was also located.

In 1681, Archbishop Simon made a spiritual testament, in which he listed all the books he had. Two years later, by his decree, the sacristan of the Vologda Sophia Cathedral, deacon Stefan Avtomonov, compiled a list of the bishop's property, which included the book collection, which by 1683 had 80 titles. Vladyka's collection often kept two or three copies of the same publication, liturgical books predominated, preference was given to literature necessary for homiletics, ecclesiastical polemical and apologetic epistles. The library of the Vologda Archbishop was a significant cultural and historical phenomenon for its time, but has not lost its importance for study to this day. one

Healing of ten lepers (Piskator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643. L. 252.)

In 1681, Vladyka was the owner of two editions of the Front Bible of different formats. In 1683, he already owned three copies, at least two of which were published by Piscator. 2

During the first trip to the north in May-June 1901, the scientific curator of the manuscripts of the Library of the Academy of Sciences Vsevolod Izmailovich Sreznevsky visited Vologda and county towns of this province. Sreznevsky set himself the task of examining the state of manuscript collections at churches, monasteries, state and church institutions, as well as from private collections in order to acquire manuscripts for the First Department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences. As a result of this expedition, V.I. Sreznevsky brought a copy of the Piscator Bible, which belonged to Archbishop Simon, with "captured and torn edges." I.V. Evdokimov proposed to consider it as an icon-painting original for ancient Russian masters, based on traces of paints and oil stains. 3 The second copy of the engraved Bible from the collection of Bishop Simon remained in the Vologda Assumption Cathedral School.

The third copy of the Piscator Bible of 1643 edition, also owned by Simon, Archbishop of Vologda and Belozersky, ended up in the collection of I.S. Ostroukhov: the book was acquired or received as a gift by Ilya Semenovich in the second half of the 19th century. Together with the entire book collection of Ostroukhov, the engraved Bible was included on March 15, 1938 in the fund of the library of the Tretyakov Gallery. Now the uvrazh is kept in the fund of the rare book of the scientific library of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Inv. No. I 189).

The parable of the lost denarius and the lost sheep (Piskator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643. L. 273.)

It should be noted that on the Ostroukhovsky copy, as well as on the one that was acquired by V.I. Sreznevsky, there are often traces of paint on the sheets, fingerprints stained with paint and oil stains, which indicates the active use of the book by icon painters.

The famous Dutch engraved Bible of the 17th century is a folio album, which includes a number of notebooks with engraved sheets that selectively illustrate the text of the Old and New Testaments (the number of sheets in different editions varies from 450 to 470). Uvrazh published by an Amsterdam artist and engraver Nicholas Ioannis Fisher(Claes Jansz Visscher), who signed in Latin "Nicolaеs Iohannis Piskator". 4

The album of engravings is provided with brief comments in Latin (signature and reference to a specific section, chapter and verse of Holy Scripture). There are editions of 1643, 1646, 1650, the most common is 1674. It is generally accepted that the first engraved Piscator Bible was published in 1614. 5 The authors of the compositions are about forty Dutch artists and engravers of the 16th-17th centuries. The Piscator Bible could be found not only in the cells of bishops, icon painters, but also among the boyars and in the royal libraries (for example, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Tsar Feodor Alekseevich).

The parable of the log and the knot in the eye (Piskator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643. L. 274.)

A copy of the Tretyakov Gallery in sheet format (27 x 36.7 cm), stretched horizontally, includes illustrations for the Old and New Testaments, consists of 71 notebooks, 414 engraved sheets and two bindings. Each notebook contains from 4 to 35 numbered sheets, 7 sheets without numbering. The engraved sheets have 17th-century letter numbers in the lower right corners and modern numbering in Arabic numerals.

According to O.A. Belobrova, the copy of the State Tretyakov Gallery can be attributed to 1643 on several grounds. It is missing four engravings illustrating the Proverbs of Solomon; in addition, the series illustrating the plots of the Parable of those called to the feast consists of only two engravings (the same in the dated copy of the RSL and in the published list of engraved sheets of 1646); miniatures for the Apocalypse are accompanied by Latin quatrains, unlike all other editions. 6 I am deeply grateful to A.V. Gamlitsky, who drew our attention to a series of engravings relating a copy of the Piscator Bible of the State Tretyakov Gallery to 1643.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Piskator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643. L. 280.)

On engraved filigree sheets: a lily on a shield (rectangular shield with a crown above it). The filigree, as well as the composition of the engravings, suggests that the famous 17th-century engraving from the Tretyakov Gallery was published in 1643. Full-leather binding (cardboard, light brown leather) of the early 19th century. On the binding sheets - watermarks: monograms "ST" and "ZO" in a wavy circle. The block departs from the spine, which is roughly attached with a piece of dyed red leather, the sheets are yellowed, many are soiled, including, as already mentioned, stains of wax, paint, and oil stains. On separate sheets there are traces of streaks, seizures, small light yellow and large brown spots, small and significant tears along the edges of the sheets. Some of the engravings are duplicated on yellowed sheets of thin white paper. When binding, many pages are rearranged and bound incorrectly.

In the center of the lower edge of the engraved sheets (fol. 16-415) there is a pass-through owner's note in brown ink: This private book of the great lord, His Grace Simon, Archbishop of Vologda and Beloezersk.

On the upper field of the engraved sheets there is an inscription in a small half-script with elements of cursive writing, which is a prosaic translation-paraphrase of the Latin signatures under the engravings, on the lower field - a later calligraphic inscription, most likely of the late 18th or early 19th centuries, briefly commenting on the images using Arabic digital numbering. The creator of the text and the scribe remain unknown at the present time, just as in the copies of the Pushkin Museum, BAN. 7

Conversion of the publican Zacchaeus (Piskator Bible. Amsterdam, 1643. L. 296.)

Russian prose captions for Piscator's Bible engravings did not have canonical uniformity. According to the study by O.A. Belobrova, in the Russian North there was a short prose translation, the origin of which is unknown. It could have been made in Moscow or rewritten from some sample in the North. It seems to us that the publication of the text accompanying the engraved images of the Piscator Bible will complement the understanding of the history of its distribution in Russia in the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries. As an example, here are several signatures accompanying the engravings:

L. 224 (Title of the New Testament). Even Christ, even the disciples did miracles, but they were inflicted from fierce enemies of old. Not deserving of execution, nor the one seen by John in Patma, this still befits a spectacle.

L. 225. (Notebook 45.1). Since the blessed house of David, out of worthlessness, O most blessed Anno, thou hast arisen, and the womb in her is God sanctified, the womb, this is, thuyu, from nothing He was conceived without a seed, created. (St. John of Damascus. Word 2, On the Nativity of Blessed Mary).

L. 226. (Notebook 45.3). In the upper field: Thou Gabriel the future Bride of the Mother of God about Mary, without harm to virginity, sings: Blessed by the Divine, even if you dared to believe with your voice. Prosperous by the decree of anyone and from there Thy. (Luke. Ch. 1. Art. 26.) In the lower field: In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, whose name is Nazareth, to the Virgin. (Luke. Ch. 1. Art. 26.)

L. 227. (Notebook 45.4). The celestials are worthy of God to bring praise and to honor the pious Lord with praise, it’s silly to eat. (Ps. 147.)

L. 228. (Notebook 45.5). On the upper field: An angel from heaven sent by a shepherd is present about God's dream to bring joyful news. (Luke. Ch. 2, Art. 8.) In the lower field: And the shepherd of God in that country, fighting and guarding the night guard over his flock. And behold the angel of the Lord was a hundred in them, and the glory of the Lord was their axis: and they were afraid with great fear. (Luke, Ch. 2, vv. 8-9.)

L. 229. (Notebook 45.6): Behold God, where a man is born from the womb of Mother, this is both always a Virgin, and He is God. (Luke, Ch. 2, v. 16.)

The issues of the existence of Western European Bibles in Russia and their influence on Russian painting and miniature in the 16th-17th centuries still remain significant, helping not only to correctly attribute certain works of icon-painting and monumental art, but also to better understand the methods of work of ancient Russian artists. The detailed narrative, entertaining, decorative Western engravings especially attracted in the 16th-17th centuries not only for their unusualness, but also for their rich opportunities for church teaching sermon, expressed in visible images.

At the same time, Russian masters were able to infuse Western innovations into the majestic ensembles of church paintings, apply Western compositional schemes in Russian icon painting, miniatures of illuminated manuscripts, while maintaining precious rigor and fidelity to the tradition of Orthodox Russian icons.

Galina Chinyakova, manager rare book sector
(Scientific Library of the Tretyakov Gallery)

The Piscator Bible and the Problem of Engraved Designs
in European art of the 16th–18th centuries

Source: http://www.prof.museum.ru/mat/docl194.htm, 2002.

The use of printed graphics as iconographic samples occupied an important place in the practice of European artists of the 16th-18th centuries. Various aspects of this problem have been repeatedly touched upon in numerous publications. 1 . Our report examines the facts of borrowing “foreign” compositional or individual motifs associated with the so-called Piscator Bible. This album includes nearly 500 biblical chisel engravings and was published in the 17th century by the Amsterdam landscape painter and publisher Claes Jansz Wiescher (1586–1652) 2 under the heading: “Theatrum biblicum ae neis exspressae… per Nicolaum Ioannis Piscatorem.” In the fashion of the time, Claes Jans Vischer literally translated his surname into Latin (Dutch "vischer"- fisherman), from which comes the conventional name of the book, adopted in domestic art history.

Today, the Piscator Bible is considered one of the most popular Western European iconographic sources used in the second half of the 17th-18th centuries. in several countries of the Slavic world at once - Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, etc. 3 This publication is a prime example of the enormous role of circulating graphics in the pan-European process of transmission of creative achievements and artistic experience, which accompanied and sometimes determined the evolution of art.

Therefore, it seems to us very interesting to identify the works that served as prototypes of the Theatrum biblicum engravings themselves, as well as cases of similar use of the latter in Western Europe. This problem has not yet become the object of a special study, although the study of the Piscator Bible in the context of a long-standing pan-European tradition of following patterns seems extremely revealing due to a number of features of the publication that are directly related to the topic of interest to us.

"Theatrum biblicum" was published and gained wide popularity in the 17th century - it was reprinted six times (1639, 1643, 1646, 1650 (twice) and 1674) 4 . However, it has long been noted that most of his engravings were created in the Netherlands in the second half of the 16th - early 17th centuries. 5 , the era of domination of Italianizing trends in the art of the country - Romanism and Mannerism. The engravings were made by the best chisel masters of that time: Philip Galle, the Viriks, Kollaert and Sadeler families, Hendrik Goltzius (19 carvers in total). These works were originally associated with the activities of the largest publishing houses of Hieronymus Cock (1507–1570), Gerard de Jode (1509/17–1591), Philip Galle (1537–1612) in Antwerp, Jacob de Hein II (1565–1629) in The Hague, etc. And Claes Vischer only used the engraved boards he had purchased.

The originals for engravings were performed by more than 20 artists representing almost all stages of the evolution of the Italianizing trend and the main artistic centers of the North and South of the Netherlands: Haarlem (M. van Heemskerk, K. van Mander), Antwerp (M. de Vos, P. Bril, etc.). ), Brussels (A. de Werdt) and Mecheln (M. Koksi). According to the figurative expression of A. G. Sakovich, the Piscator Bible was in European art of the 17th century. archaizing monument, affirming the aesthetic ideals of the Renaissance in the era of Rembrandt 6 . But, in our opinion, it was precisely the traditional character of Theatrum biblicum that contributed to its success in Western Europe, when Romanism and Mannerism had long lost their leading role.

The nature and characteristics of the perception of the ideas of the Italian Renaissance by the Dutch masters and their role in the development of national artistic culture received sufficient coverage. 7 . For us, the most important thing is that the followers of the Italianizing trend in the Netherlands elevated the borrowing and processing of compositional-plastic motifs of ancient and renaissance art to the main creative principle.

Of course, almost all Northern European artists of the XVI-XVII centuries. actively turned to the ancient and Italian heritage. Dürer copied Mantegna’s print “The Battle of the Sea Gods” (drawing of 1494 in Albertina, Vienna), Rembrandt copied Egidius Sadeler’s engraving from Raphael’s “Madonna della Sedia” (drawing in the Engraving Room, Dresden), etc. But in the practice of Dutch novelists early-mid 16th century and mannerists of the second half of the century, the use of patterns becomes the fundamental method of work. Sketches from ancient and modern sculpture, architecture, made during travels to the "Promised Land", copies of Italian paintings and, especially, engravings were not only a means of mastering the formal techniques and aesthetics of the Renaissance, but served as the most important iconographic material when creating their own works.

Piscator's Bible engravings are no exception, where these reminiscences are extremely numerous, and their detailed analysis is impossible within the framework of this article. Let us note only a few of the most interesting cases of attracting “foreign” motives. These facts are associated with different periods of development of the Italianization movement for about half a century, during which there was a partial reorientation of the followers of the direction, which also affected the range of samples used. In addition, each artist had his own individuality, experienced various influences, which determined personal preferences in the choice of borrowing sources and the dissimilarity of the principles of their interpretation.

The oldest of the masters of the Piscator Bible is the Haarlem painter and draftsman Marten van Heemskerk (1498–1574), a major figure in the mature Netherlandish Romanism. 64 illustrations based on his originals perfectly characterize all the features of the artist's graphic work, which brought him pan-European fame. Numerous engravings based on Van Heemskerk's drawings, reprinted by his regular publisher Hieronymus Cock, were very popular due to the amazing variety of subjects and the ingenuity of their implementation. They had a noticeable influence on the development of biblical and mythological iconography.

These non-traditional subjects include a series of 6 engravings by Philip Galle “The Story of King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and Naboth” ( Hol. VIII/238/70-75; like the work of D. Kornhert) 8 , published by Cock in the mid-1560s. The collection of the Courtauld Institute in London contains Van Heemskerk's preparatory sketch for the engraving "The Death of Jezebel", dated 1561 (Inv. Witt 3895. 200 x 251 mm. Pen with reddish ink, prepared with black chalk). The expressive and pathetic composition of the London drawing, its extremely intense manner of execution, skillfully conveyed in Galle's engraving, testify to the strong influence on the Dutch artist of art by Michelangelo, whose Sistine frescoes he studied in Rome.

Ancient monuments served as another source of inspiration for the Harlem master. It was Marten van Heemskerk who introduced drawing from antique statues into the widespread practice of Dutch artists, as an analogue of the nude. During the Roman period, he made many drawings of ancient sculptures and buildings, which he later often placed on paintings and graphic sheets. The spectacular horseman in the foreground of the composition “The Death of Jezebel” (commander Jehu) directly ascends to the monument to Emperor Marcus Aurelius, “dressed” by Van Heemskerk in antique knightly armor. The architecture of the background is also based on the Italian impressions of the artist.

The introduction of antique motifs into the engraving “The Death of Jezebel” reflects not only the archaeological interests of Marten van Heemskerk. In this case, he pursued the goal of strengthening the moralizing sound of the work. The fusion of the images of the biblical hero and the Roman emperor-philosopher was clearly designed to be recognized by an erudite viewer and gave the engraving an additional semantic coloring. The expressive equestrian figure of Jehu, who overthrew the cruel, greedy and dissolute queen, is pushed forward, as if triumphing over the corpse of Jezebel, who is very “appetizingly” eaten by dogs in the depths of the leaf. This emphasizes the justice of what is happening, hints at the inevitable retribution for sins, and very accurately corresponds to the last verses of chapter 9 of 2 Kings, summing up the sad end of the queen: “…such was the word of the Lord……dogs will eat the body of Jezebel; And the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung in the field…”(all biblical texts in the article are given in a modern translation).

The ideological concept of this sheet, and the entire series “The Story of Ahab and Jezebel” bears the imprint of Marten van Hemskerk’s close collaboration with the outstanding humanist philosopher, writer and engraver Dirk Folkers Kornhert (1519–1590), who was previously considered the executor of the engravings of the cycle 9 . Many of his works, especially graphics, the artist created with the participation of Kornhert, on his advice, for his cutter, literally illustrating the ideas of the thinker.

In the activities of the Harlem master, the interaction of the artistic practice of the followers of the Italianizing trend in the Netherlands with the national humanist movement found a vivid embodiment. A specific feature of the latter was an increased attention to the religious and ethical sphere, which led to a view of art as a means of promoting and educating virtue. Didactic problems occupied one of the main places in the figurative system of Romanism. To the greatest extent, this process affected engraving - the most massive form of art, where moralizing biblical texts and writings of humanists become direct examples. For example, in Van Heemskerk's allegorical compositions, engraved by Kornhert.

A place of honor among the samples of the artist from Haarlem is occupied by the works of the great masters of the High Renaissance. Michelangelo remained his ideal; Harmen Müller (Hol. VIII/246/405), apparently referring to the composition of the same name by Raphael, engraved by Marco da Ravenna 10 . As in the original, Mary is kneeling in front of a table with a book, half turning towards the Archangel. Marten van Heemskerk slightly changed only the pose of Mary, transferring even some of the minor details of the sample.

Raphael's work remained an ideal for the next generation of Dutch Italianists. The Piscator Bible contains another illustration of the Annunciation scene by an unknown carver based on a drawing by the Antwerp artist Martin de Vos (1532–1603), the author of the most solid corpus in Theatrum biblicum - about 150 sheets. His work has an almost complete resemblance to the engraving of Harmen Müller, right down to the jug with flowers in the foreground. However, this is not due to the direct impact of Van Heemskerk's composition on his younger colleague, but to the use of one sample - Raphael's "Annunciation".

The comparison of the works of the Harlem and Antwerp masters is extremely indicative of the individuality of the interpretation of the harmoniously calm Italian original. Marten van Heemskerk performed his composition in his usual expressive and tense manner. Marten de Vos' version is distinguished by the monumentality of the figures, the sculptural modeling of volumes, along with the sophistication of graphic techniques that give the sheet an elegantly decorative character. 11 .

These features are characteristic of the art of the Antwerp artist and reflect the evolution of the Italianizing trend in the Netherlands, which significantly strengthens its position by the middle of the 16th century. Marten de Vos adopted the novelistic tradition in the interpretation of the local leader of the movement, Frans de Vriendt, nicknamed Floris (1519/20–1570). Subsequently, the artist was directly influenced by Italian mannerism - he completed his studies in Venice, with the great Jacopo Tintoretto. Returning to his homeland, Marten de Vos, after the death of Pieter Brueghel (1569) and Frans Floris, became the largest artist of Antwerp at the end of the 16th century. 12

Like all his associates, Martin de Vos constantly resorted to quoting and varying elements of the compositions of ancient monuments, Italian paintings and prints. At the same time, his works reflect another interesting trend in Dutch art. The tradition of working with samples takes on more and more diverse forms in the practice of Italians in the second half of the century. The process of turning to the national artistic heritage is becoming much more active. Preference was given, of course, to the work of associates in the movement.

Engraving after the original by De Vos “Prophet Jonah being swallowed by a whale” by Jan Wierix, presumably (M.-H. I/39) 13 marked by a noticeable proximity to the relief on the pediment of the cathedral in Tournai, executed in 1572–1574 by Cornelis de Vrindt, nicknamed Floris (c. 1514–1575). His work organically combined the national tradition in architecture and plastic art and the forms of the classical Italian Renaissance (the best and most famous building of the master is the Town Hall in Antwerp. 1561–1565). Cornelis Floris held a prominent position in the artistic life of Antwerp, being closely associated with local Italianizing circles (he was the elder brother of the painter Frans). Probably, all this led to the appeal of Martin de Vos to the relief from the cathedral in Tournai.

The engraving “Prophet Jonah being swallowed up by a whale” was first published by Gerard de Jode (who also published engravings based on drawings by Cornelis Floris) in 1585 among the illustrations of a collection entitled “Thesaurus veteris testamenti…” 14 . The compositional solution of the engraving, the rhythm and direction of movement, the arrangement of figures indicate the undoubted influence of Floris's work. However, Marten de Vos deepened and expanded the spatial construction, introduced numerous decorative elements (carved ship decorations, fancy curls of sea waves), which are absent in a laconic and strict relief. Thanks to the free interpretation of the model, the engraving has acquired its own pictorial language, and in terms of quality and craftsmanship, it belongs to the best in the Piscator Bible.

Another case of Marten de Vos turning to the work of a compatriot and contemporary is associated with a little-known engraving by Julius Goltzius (c. 1550–1595) 15 "Christ the Good Shepherd and the Vision of Heavenly Jerusalem". This sheet is extremely interesting from the point of view of iconography, as it combines two biblical subjects that have been popular since the early Middle Ages. In addition, the compositional and stylistic features of the engraving are not quite typical of the work of Martin de Vos, in whose works the landscape usually plays a subordinate role in relation to the figurative part. Here, the image of Christ the Good Shepherd in the foreground occupies a small place in comparison with the carefully crafted landscape background - a perspective plan of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

This is due to the fact that Marten de Vos used the composition of a drawing by the famous landscape painter Hans Bol (1534-1593) on the same subject, dated 1575 (Courto Institute, London. Inv. Witt 1628. 203 x 304 mm. Black chalk, reddish pen ink, blue brush) 16 . The drawing belongs to the Antwerp period of Bol's activity and was reproduced twice in engraving - by Pieter van der Heyden (Hol.III/52/203) and Jan Sadeler I (Hol. XX/127/275). The work of one of them probably served as a model for the engraving by Martin de Vos, executed between the creation of the preparatory drawing by Bol and the death of Julius Goltzius.

The London Leaf is a remarkable and characteristic example of the mature graphic art of Hans Bol. Careful modeling of volumes, even in the smallest details, gives the drawing integrity and plastic clarity. At the same time, refinement and subtlety of execution create a feeling of the illusory nature of the Vision of Jerusalem, thanks to an almost imperceptible decrease in the activity of working out the forms of the background.

Despite the almost complete borrowing of the compositional and spatial construction, including minor elements of the landscape surrounding the city, Marten de Vos's variation is inferior in quality to the original. 17 . The changes made when copying - the large size of the figure of Christ, new characters (Angel and John the Theologian), not to mention the obvious errors in perspective - destroyed Bol's organic design. Apparently, in an unusual genre, Martin de Vos did not feel completely confident, although his legacy also includes quite successful works with landscape backgrounds (some of which will be discussed below).

However, Marten de Vos repeatedly resorted to borrowing the architectural motifs of this composition by Hans Bol. So, a similar layout of the Holy City is used in the engraving by Adrian Collaert “Vision of Ap. John of Heavenly Jerusalem” from the series of illustrations of Piscator’s Bible “The Creed”.

The successful image of Holy Jerusalem, found by Bol, did not leave other Dutch masters indifferent. The city, square in plan, divided into geometrically regular sectors, with a hill crowned with the figure of the Lamb in the middle, was depicted in his etching on the same plot of the Revelation of John the Theologian by Peter van der Borcht (1545–1608), a Mechelen graphic artist who worked in Antwerp. His series of 28 etchings for the Apocalypse was published in a collection of 88 biblical illustrations by the Amsterdam publisher Michel Colin in 1613. (Hol. III/99/101-188). In 1639 this album was republished by Claes Vischer 18 , who also ordered smaller copies of van der Borcht's apocalyptic engravings to be made and included in Piscator's Bible.

In the 17th-18th centuries, the solution to the appearance of the Heavenly Jerusalem, which goes back to the composition of Hans Bol, becomes a widespread iconographic scheme in Western Europe and is replicated in a number of illustrated publications. Many of them, such as the Augsburg Bible by Christoph Weigel (“Biblia Ectypa”, 1695), are also gaining popularity in Eastern Europe. 19 . Thanks to these books, such an image of Holy Jerusalem already by the middle of the 17th century. affirmed in Ukrainian and Russian art. Suffice it to recall the famous woodcut Bible of Elijah (1645), the Apocalypse of Procopius (1646–1662), copied from the Piscator Bible, and the engraved Russian Apocalypses of the 17th–19th centuries, dating back to various Western models.

The foregoing makes us turn to the sources that Hans Bol was guided by when creating his Heavenly Jerusalem. First of all, attention is drawn to the almost complete identity of the image and description of the Vision of the Holy City in the 21st chapter of the Revelation of John the Theologian: “It has a large and high wall, has 12 gates and 12 angels on them, ... From the east there are three gates, from the north three gates, from the south three gates, from the west three gates; ... The city is located in a quadrangle, and its length is the same as its width, ... each gate was made of one pearl ... I did not see a temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is his temple, and the Lamb…”(Art. 9-21). The art of Bol is closely connected with the national tradition represented by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. But, obviously, the artist also mastered the practice of using literary sources as examples, which is common among the masters of the Italianizing direction.

The general fascination in the Netherlands of the 16th century with the Italian Renaissance found concrete embodiment in the work of Hans Bol. Its organic, balanced plan of Holy Jerusalem reflects the Renaissance vision of the ideal city. Gregorio Dati's History of Florence contains the following antithesis to medieval architecture: "Inside(cities - A. G.) the streets are straight and wide, all open and have exits… the street starts from one gate and leads straight to another”20 .

Rectangular quarters and a tree-lined round hill in the center of Holy Jerusalem Bol are directly associated with the planning system of landscape gardening ensembles of that time, captured in numerous pictorial sources. First of all, it should be noted the famous print by Pieter van der Heyden in 1570 “Spring” based on a drawing by Pieter Brueghel the Elder from the series “The Four Seasons” 21 , where people plant flowerbeds of exactly the same shape. Brueghel's influence on the work of Hans Bol is well known, and it was Bol who executed the sketches for two of the four engravings in this cycle. (Hol. III/52/201-202). Close images of gardens are found in a number of graphic works of the artist (drawings of 1573 from the collection of the State Museum of Berlin and 1580 from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg) 22 . A very similar park with flower beds is also laid out in the background of the engraving of the Piscator Bible from the original by Martin de Vos “The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene”. However, the landscape background of the latter has a symbolic meaning, since Christ is represented here in the traditional for Catholic iconography image of a gardener in a wide-brimmed hat and a spade in his hand.

Illustrated guides to the arrangement of gardens and parks could serve as examples of these works. They were published throughout Europe - in Italy (Sebastiano Serlio in the IV book on architecture, 1537), England (Thomas Hill, 1536) and in the Netherlands (Hans Vredeman de Vries, 1583) and many others. others 23 Here we find projects of ideal park ensembles, probably embodied more than once in reality, and some of them exactly coincide with those depicted by Brueghel, Bol and De Vos (engraving by Philippe Galle after Hans Vredeman de Vries from the 1583 edition).

One must think that the Dutch masters, with their inherent interest in the world around them, combined work with samples and impressions from real-life gardens and parks. At the same time, the “gardening and park” motifs of the engravings by Hans Bol and Marten de Vos go back to the medieval Catholic symbolism of the park paths (in monastery, church gardens) as the way of the cross of the Savior 24 . That is, in Piscator’s illustration of the Bible “Christ the Good Shepherd with the Vision of Heavenly Jerusalem”, visual and figurative associations are intertwined, drawn from life (albeit in an indirect form), as well as from pictorial and literary-emblematic sources.

The use of patterns was practiced by the Dutch masters in both figural and landscape compositions. The decoration of the Piscator Bible is the engraving “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” (Hol III/222/80) the work of Raphael Sadeler II (1584-1632) from the original of one of the most distinctive and poetic representatives of Mannerism in the early Flemish landscape of Pauvel Breel (1554-1626). The author placed here the characters of Marten van Heemskerk from Dirk Kornhert's 1549 print. (TIB. 55/134)25 , depicting a good Samaritan carrying a wounded traveler on a horse. In contrast to this large-figure scene, Bril's small group in the center of a magnificent landscape sheet plays the role of staffing.

Along with works of national art, in the work of Dutch artists at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. continued to maintain the leading role of classical and modern Italian designs. At this time, chisel engravings and etchings by Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), a Florentine who worked at home and in Rome, gained great popularity. Masterfully executed, dynamic battle and hunting scenes brought him fame. 26 . The artist largely adopted the tradition of depicting them from his teacher Jan van der Strath (1523–1605), a Fleming who moved to Italy for permanent residence (by the way, 25 engravings of the Piscator Bible were made from his originals).

In 1608, a series of prints by Antonio Tempesta dedicated to the battles of Alexander the Great (“Alexandri Magni praecipuae…”) was published in Antwerp. Soon, he came to the attention of the engraver Nicholas Reikmans (1600-after 1622), who was then working on an 8-leaf "History of Jephthah" series. 7 drawings for her were made by Peter de Jode the Elder (c. 1570–1634), the son of the aforementioned Gerard. Composition “Battle of Jephthah with the Ammonites” (Hol. XX/199/203) is a combination of two engravings by Tempesta from the suite of Alexander the Great. From one (TIB. 35/549) the foreground group is exactly borrowed: a commander on a horse, giving orders, and a cavalry detachment, and on the other (TIB. 35/452) - a furious clash of horsemen and foot soldiers in the depths of the sheet. Such a combination of several compositions was widespread in European art of that time (the so-called “pastichio style”).

The somewhat ponderous work of Reikmans is much inferior in quality to the light, impetuous works of the Italian artist. Nevertheless, the engraving by the Antwerp master is of interest as one of the latest cases of copying the Italian sample in the Piscator Bible, with a fairly free interpretation of the plot.

Thus, "Theatrum biblicum" has absorbed the creative achievements of several eras and national schools. His illustrations reflect the search by Dutch masters for ways to restructure national art on a classical basis. Their attempts were ambiguous, like the whole Italianizing trend as a whole. Orientation to samples led both to completely independent decisions and to mechanical imitation of the original.

However, it was precisely thanks to the noted features of the Romanistic and Mannerist movements that the artistic language of the Piscator Bible turned out to be closely connected with the system of tastes and ideas that had been characteristic of European artistic culture since the Middle Ages. Her engravings broadcast generally accepted moral and philosophical norms, embodied with the help of compositional and plastic techniques and motifs, which served as a standard for several centuries.

In turn, these works lived a very long life and gained wide popularity long before the publication by Claes Vischer. Therefore, speaking about the significance of the Piscator Bible in Western European art, we have in mind the previous editions of its engravings, which allows us to look for traces of their use as models already in the second half of the 16th century.

The versatility of printed graphics determined the variety of forms of copying and processing of engraved samples. Drawing from engravings was one of the main elements of the training of Italian Renaissance artists, successfully mastered by the Netherlands. This practice was brilliantly developed by Frans Floris. His numerous students and apprentices drew lessons in composition, anatomy, plastic arts, etc., from the works of the master himself and other masters. 27 The superbly organized workshop of Floris in many respects anticipated the organization of the work of Rubens and his assistants. The teacher's methods were also adopted by Martin de Vos, the artist's successor.

The drawing “The Apostle James with the execution scene” draws attention (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. 193 x 258 mm. Pen, brush in brown tone). It is included in an album of 24 authentic graphic sheets by Marten de Vos dating from 1581–1583, however, it is attributed to the production of the workshop 28 . The drawing bears a complete resemblance to the illustration of the Piscator Bible from the Apostles with Passions series based on sketches by De Vos, and was probably made no later than the beginning of the 17th century for educational purposes directly from an engraving or from an unknown original.

The engraving “The Apostle James” can be counted among the early works of Hendrik Goltzius, who executed several sheets of this cycle (“The Apostle Thomas” (TIB. 3/262/295 ) while studying with the Antwerp engraver Philip Galle in 1576–1578. In the 90s. 17th century it was copied by the famous Moscow carver Leonty Bunin, excluding the scene of Yakov's execution 29 .

The previously unpublished drawing “David flees from Saul’s camp” (current location unknown. 198 x 291 mm. Pen with brown ink) had an educational purpose, which was examined in 1994 at the State Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin. It was modeled on an engraving of the Piscator Bible by Hans Collaert, originally associated with Gerard de Jode's Thesaurus of 1585. 30 The copy of the drawing is evidenced both by its sketchy manner of execution and other details (the leg of the lying warrior is “cut off” by an engraving frame that does not exist in the drawing). Paper and technological features make it possible to consider the sheet as a work of a Western European master at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, but the secondary nature makes it difficult to determine the name and nationality of the author 31 .

A much greater degree of freedom in handling the original is demonstrated by the drawing “Prophet Jonah vomited by a whale” from the collection of drawings of the Louvre, Paris (Inv. 19.118. 270 x 204. Pen, bistrom brush). It reproduces very closely in mirror image the engraving "Theatrum biblicum" by Jan (?) Wierix from Marten de Vos (M.-N. I/40), also originating from the Bible of Gerard de Jode. At the same time, the vertical format and some details of the landscape significantly distinguish the drawing from the sample. The style of the Louvre drawing reveals signs of the manner not of Marten de Vos and his school, but of another outstanding representative of mannerism in the Netherlands, Dirk Barends (1534–1592), a student of Titian 32 . Solving the issue of authorship is not part of our tasks. We only note that the Parisian sheet has a noticeable compositional resemblance to the vertical print by Jan Sadeler on the same subject. (Hol. XX/101/129) based on a reliable graphic sketch by Barends, kept in the Albertina, Vienna 33 . In any case, the superior quality of the drawing from the Louvre is clear evidence of the importance that Piscator's Bible engravings had in Netherlandish art.

Among the most copied artists of the 17th century was the Haarlem graphic artist and painter Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617). We have already considered the educational drawing from his early reproduction engraving. But in his own work, Goltzius often resorted to the use of samples. It has long been noted that one of the first independent works of the master - 4 engravings of the "Stories of Ruth" (TIB. 3/12-15) arose under the strong influence of the eponymous suite of prints by Philippe Galle (Hol. VII/75/76-79) 34.

The series was performed by Goltzius in 1576-1578, and the samples were probably created shortly before that (published in the same Thesaurus of 1585, and then in the Theatrum biblicum). Preparatory drawings for the engravings of Halle, made by the Brussels artist Adrian de Werdt (1510–1590) 35 . He was a student of Parmigianino, and all his life he imitated his refined manner. The rhythmic and graceful compositions of the Brussels master turned out to be close to the young Hendrik Goltzius. The future leader of the Haarlem Academy borrowed from De Werdt the organization of space and the arrangement of figures. However, the young artist managed to create works that are quite independent in style and belong to a new era in the development of Netherlandish mannerism.

The name of Hendrik Goltzius is closely related to the early period of activity of the artist and engraver Jan Müller (1571–1628), the son of Harmen Müller mentioned above. Born in Amsterdam, Jan Müller from 1589 to 1590. was in Haarlem, where he made engravings from the works of Goltzius and his colleague at the Academy, Cornelis Cornelissen van Haarlem. During his Italian trip in 1594-1602, the Dutch master was greatly impressed by the art of Tintoretto, whose works he engraved using the chiaroscuro technique.

Not without this reason, a model for the wonderful author's print by Jan Müller "The Feast of Belshazzar" (TIB 3/144/1; Hol. XIV/105/11) The world-famous painting by Tintoretto “The Last Supper” from the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice (1592-1594) was considered 36 . Indeed, the dynamic movement deep into the engraving sheet, formed by the diagonal setting of the long table, is extremely similar to the composition of the great Venetian painter. Moreover, Muller's preparatory drawing (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) refers to the period of his stay in Italy, or shortly after returning to his homeland. 37 .

However, it has not been noticed that the work of Jan Müller is marked by a much greater proximity with the illustration of “The Feast of Belshazzar” in the Piscator Bible, quite convincingly attributed to Hans Vredeman de Vries (1526–1606) 38 , where a similar solution of the feast scene in the interior is applied. Without denying the influence of Tintoretto, we note the presence of a number of common details in the engravings of Muller and Vredemann, which are absent on the canvas from San Giorgio Maggiore - a canopy over the end of the table closest to the viewer, where Belshazzar sits in oriental robes, and musicians in a box above.

All this makes it possible to see in the engraving "Theatrum biblicum" one of the sources of Jan Muller's borrowing of the ideas and some motifs of his composition. Therefore, the question of the prototypes of Hans Vredeman de Vries's Belshazzar's Feast seems especially interesting, since it arose much earlier than Tintoretto's The Last Supper - the engraving was intended for Gerard de Jode's 1585 Bible.

The vigorously rapid break in the space of the image with the help of a table that goes deep into the depths was a favorite technique of the great Venetian, and he varied it more than once in the scenes of the last meal of the Savior (“The Washing of the Feet” in 1556 in the collection of the British National Gallery; “The Last Suppers” in the Venetian churches of San Trovaso ca 1560, San Paolo 1565–1570, San Stefano ca 1580 and San Rocco 1576–1581). At the same time, with the painting by Tintoretto "The Feast of Belshazzar" ca. 1548 (State Museum of Art History, Vienna) engravings by Dutch masters have nothing in common.

"The Feast of Belshazzar" is a fairly typical work in the legacy of Hans Vredeman de Vries. He acted as a builder and decorator, an architectural theorist (he was a co-author of K. Floris on the creation of a collection of samples of decorative design of buildings, published in 1548). Not the last place among Vredeman's talents was occupied by painting and graphic art, also associated with architecture. The only genre of his works was architectural and perspective fantasies with figurative staffing, depicting non-existent buildings in the antique and renaissance spirit. The master traveled almost all of Europe - he worked in Prague at the court of Rudolf II, several times he came to Antwerp for a long time. But Vredeman de Vries has never been to Italy, so his direct acquaintance with the works of Tintoretto is excluded. 39 , and modern engravings from them are not known to us 40 .

However, in the second half of the 16th century in the Netherlands, many picturesque and graphic images of feast scenes with a diagonal construction were created. This motif was used by Pieter Brueghel the Elder in his famous “Peasant Wedding”, written before 1569 (State Museum of the History of Art, Vienna). But such a decision is especially often found in the works of Italianizing masters who brought it from trips to the “promised land”. In Antwerp, where Vredeman de Vries worked on Belshazzar's Feast, the “banquet” tradition of Tintoretto was developed by his student Marten de Vos (engraving by Crispein de Passe I “Feast in Nineveh” 1584–1585). (Hol. XV/131/31), an engraving by an unknown master “Marriage at Cana” from the Piscator Bible, etc.). Finally, the author’s print by Hendrik Goltzius “Feast in the House of Tarquinius” is noted for special closeness to the compositions of Müller and Vredemann. (TIB. 3/104/104), also performed in Antwerp around 1578

Thus, both Hans Vredemann de Vries and later Jan Müller could use several samples. The same compositional scheme of their works refers precisely to those traditional iconographic motifs that ensured the popularity of Piscator's Bible engravings, regardless of artistic level. Brilliant in conception and virtuoso in execution, Jan Müller's engraving far exceeds Vredemann's prudently built, dryish perspective. Nevertheless, a number of elements of the latter significantly enriched one of the best monuments of early Dutch graphics 41 .

The use of Piscator's Bible engravings in the 16th–18th centuries. was not limited to the Northern and Southern Netherlands. Appeal to them acquired an active character in the English art of this period. As you know, acquaintance with the aesthetic ideals and artistic principles of the Renaissance here took place through the mediation of visiting Flemish and German masters, whose synthetic perception of the Italian Renaissance turned out to be closer to the late medieval culture of England than the original source. 42 .

The most important field of activity of Northern European artists in England was the creation of stained-glass windows - an indispensable element of the decoration of Catholic religious buildings. In connection with the iconoclastic movements of the Reformation, the national tradition in this form of art did not receive independent development. Naturally, in their work, the visiting masters were guided, first of all, by the well-known examples of the art of their countries, the most convenient of which were printed sheets.

The number of stained-glass windows and painted windows in English churches dating back to Northern European engravings is extremely large. These monuments are described and analyzed in detail in W. Coyle's fundamental illustrated catalog of 1993 (hereinafter - Cole)43 . Using the observations of the English scholar, we can say that the illustrations of the Piscator Bible (in previous editions) occupied an honorable place among the samples of both visiting Flemish painters and local English stained glass artists.

The earliest monument copying the engraving "Theatrum biblicum" in painted glass dates back to the first half of the 16th century. This is an anonymous composition “Joseph interprets dreams in prison”, one of the publications of which took place in the Antwerp Bible by Gerard de Joda of 1585. 44 It is reproduced verbatim in a stained-glass window by an unknown Flemish master that adorns Dining Hall, a building of the Christian College, Cambridge, dated c. 1525 (Cole 39/335).

In the second half of the 16th - early 17th century. there is a whole series of works performed by visiting Dutch painters based on engravings by various masters from the Piscator Bible. All of them almost literally follow the original. Moreover, often copyists clearly could not cope with the transfer of the artistic merits of the sample. Stained glass window of St. Mary's Church in Acton "Cain kills Abel" (Cole 3/20) made in the 17th century. from an engraving by Jan Sadeler 1576 (Hol XXI/49) after a drawing by the Mechelen painter Michel Coxey (1499–1592). However, the anatomically ideal figures of the characters of Coxsey, nicknamed the “Flemish Raphael”, in the interpretation of an unknown follower of Jan de Cume (stained glass from Leuven, work 1607–1659) seem clumsy and deformed.

But rather high-quality monuments are also being created, despite their replica nature. These include two extraordinarily curious stained-glass windows from St. Mary's Church in Preston-upon-Stour (Cole 201/1647, 202/1648), written in the 17th century from engravings by Jan (?) Wieriks from the series “The Story of the Prophet Jonah” based on drawings by Marten de Vos: “Jonah being swallowed by a whale” (M.-N. 39) and “The Appearance of Jonah of Hosts” (M.-N. 41)45 .

The suite was made around 1585 for Gerard de Jode's Thesaurus. We have already referred to this cycle twice, since the leaf (M.-N. 39) goes back to the relief of Cornelis Floris, and the engraving “Jonah, spewing a whale” (M.-N. 40) served as a model for a drawing in the Louvre collection.

The last two compositions of Marten de Vos attracted the attention of Russian artists as well. In the 80s of the XVII century. frescoes of the Resurrection Cathedral in Romanov-Borisoglebsk (Tutaev) were painted on them. Obviously, dynamic, skillfully conveying the drama of the moment, saturated with many colorful and unusual details (figurative decorations of the ship in the form of elephant heads, the image of a rare animal - a whale), the engravings of the “Stories of the Prophet Jonah” aroused interest both in England, torn by religious contradictions, and in Petrine reforms in Russia.

The existence of common examples of Western European and Russian art could be considered a historical curiosity. Dating back to the same original, the works of the Dutch and Russian masters belong to different artistic, cultural and confessional traditions. Moreover, stained-glass windows from the Church of St. Mary and Tutaev's frescoes demonstrate a different degree of freedom in dealing with the source. The former, distinguished by their high quality of execution, are nevertheless directly dependent on the engraving, even the technique of execution (black and white painting on glass) imitates the graphic language of the sample. At the same time, in the murals of the Resurrection Cathedral, the mannerist aesthetics of the original were reinterpreted in the spirit of national art, and the rich coloring and free interpretation of the composition gave the frescoes a completely different sound.

All this is not surprising. English stained glass windows remain the work of foreign masters who worked in their usual Italianizing manner. The work of the visiting Flemings lay aside from the main line of development of English art, exerting only an indirect influence on it. 46 . The appeal of Russian artists to Western European models was dictated by the internal logic of the evolution of Russian artistic culture. This trend in Russia originates in the 16th century. 47 and became widespread in the second half of the 17th century.

However, it is impossible not to notice that the emergence of interest in foreign samples both in England and in Russia occurs during the period of transition from the culture of the Middle Ages to the culture of the New Age. National art was faced with the task of overcoming medieval artistic and aesthetic principles. The process of perestroika took place at different times, was due to many national characteristics (political, cultural, confessional), which was reflected in the nature and directions of creative searches. However, one of the symptoms of the change was the attraction of the Renaissance heritage in its interpretation by the Netherlandish novelists and mannerists.

Of course, we are far from the idea of ​​making the use of Western originals by Russian masters the character of a conscious attempt to assimilate the formal and aesthetic ideals of the Renaissance. The choice of iconographic sources was influenced by many reasons, sometimes purely random, and their reproduction was almost always combined with processing in accordance with traditional icon painting requirements. But our observations testify that Piscator's Bible, which came to the attention of our artists, was a reflection of a powerful trend in Western European art and was quite natural.

Notes

1 This problem has been the subject of numerous books, articles and exhibitions. See, for example: “Dialogue”. Kopie, Variation und Metamorphose alter Kunst in Graphik und Zeichnung vom 15. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. Kupferstich-kabinett der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 1970. W. Schmidt u. a.; creative copies. exh. cat. by W. Stechov. Art Institute of Chicago. 1970; Copies as original. Translations in Media and Techniques. exh. cat. by. A. Goffin et al. The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1974; Original-Kopie-Replik-Paraphrase. exh. cat. by H. Hutter. Akademie der bildender Kunst, Viena, 1980. Haverkamp-Begemann E. creative copies. Interpretative Drawings from Michelangelo to Picasso. New York, 1988; From the latest domestic publications, we note the fundamental article by Ch. A. Mezentseva “On the influence of graphics on the art of plaquettes” // Western European Graphics XIV–XX. State Hermitage. Collection of scientific papers. Part II. SPb., 1996. S. 85–195.

2 See about him: Vipper B.R. The emergence of realism in Dutch painting of the 17th century. M., 1957. S. 116; Simon M. Claes Jaensz. Visscher. Dissertation. University in Freiburg, 1958.

3 For national bibliography, see: Belobrova O. A. The Piscator Bible in the collection of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR // Materials and messages on the funds of the Department of Manuscript and Rare Books of the BAN USSR. 1985. L., 1987. S. 184–216. See also: Popov P. Materials to the glossary of Ukrainian engravings. Kiev, 1927; Genova E. Ignorance of Tom Vishanov - Molera and Modernization in Orthodox Painting // Problems in Artwork. Sofia, 1995. T. XXVIII; Stosic L. La Gravure occidentale comme Modile dans la Peinture Serbe du XVIIIe sícle. Beograd, 1992. I thank O. R. Khromov, who gave me the opportunity to get acquainted with this monograph.

4 Gamlitsky A.V. Piskator's Bible, its editions and iconographic sources // "Filyovskiye readings". Conference abstracts. M., 1995. S. 19–25.

5 Sachavets-Fedorovich E. P. Yaroslavl Murals and the Piscator Bible // Russian Art of the 17th Century: Collection of Articles on the History of Russian Art of the Pre-Petrine Period. L., 1929. S. 96.

6 Sakovich A. G. Folk engraved book by Vasily Koren. 1692–1695 M., 1983. S. 14–15.

7 Philippo P. Flemish paintings and Italian Renaissance. N.Y., 1970; Markova N. Yu. Netherlandish novelists and antiquity // Problems of the history of antiquity and the Middle Ages. M., 1981.

9 Halle's authorship is established in the publication: W.Stechow. Hemskerck. The Old Testament and Goethe // Art Journal, II, 1964, p. 37, no. 6, pl. 30. For more details on the influence of Kornhert's philosophical views on the work of Van Hemskerk, in particular the cycle “The Story of Ahab and Jezebel”, see: Veldman I.M. Marten van Heemskerk and Dutsh humanism in the sixteenth century. Amsterdam-Maarssen, 1977. P. 56ff; Saunders E.A. A commentary on iconolasm in several print series by Maarten van Heemskerck // Simiolus 10, 1978–1979. R. 59–83.

10 This work by Raphael was a favorite example of European artists. Close enough its iconography repeats the composition of the Roman artist Barnardo Passeri, engraved c. 1593 by one of the Viriks brothers as an illustration of the so-called Gospel of Natalis - one of the popular sources of Russian painting of the 17th-18th centuries. - see: Buseva-Davydova I. L. New iconographic sources in Russian painting of the 17th century. // Russian art of the late Middle Ages. image and meaning. M., 1993. S. 191–192.

11 The calm and elegant “Annunciation” by M. de Vos firmly entered the circle of samples of Russian icon painters of the 17th–18th centuries, making significant adjustments to the ancient Russian tradition of depicting this plot - the Archangel approaches Mary not from the left, but from the right (the icon of the New Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery ). - cm.: Buseva-Davydova I. L. Decree. op. S. 196, approx. 23.

12 Zweite A. Marten de Vos als Maler. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Antwerpener Malerei in der zweiten Halfte des 16 Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1980; Reinsch A. Die Zeischningen des Marten de Vos. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Tubingen, 1967.

14 Various masters (about 20 people), including Marten de Vos, took part in the creation of the engravings of the “Bible de Yode”. According to our observations, more than half of Piscator's Bible engravings come from this edition. For the de Yoda Bible, see: Mielke H. Antwerpener Graphik in der 2 Halfte des 16 Jahrhunderts. Der Thesaurus des Gerard de Jode // Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte. bd. 38. 1975. Heft 1. S. 29–83.

15 Julius Goltzius is the son of the artist, engraver, publisher, historian Hubert Goltzius (Goltz) and the daughter of the outstanding painter P. Cook van Aelst. Julius was the uncle of the famous artist and engraver Hendrik Goltzius (the latter comes from another son of Hubert, Jan Goltzius) - see: C. van Mander. Book about artists. M.-L. 1940. S. 203.

16 Franz F.C. Hans Bol als Landschaftzeichner // Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Institut der Universitet Graz. 1, 1965. P. 21, n. 97.

17 In its original state (which we do not know), the engraving by J. Goltzius had an even greater resemblance to Bol's composition. When the Piscator Bible was published, changes were made to the engraved plaque. The depiction of Sabaoth in human form, inherent in Catholic iconography, as in Bol (although he belonged to the Protestant church, and De Vos was a Catholic), is replaced by a conditional circle with the Name of God in Hebrew. This was done, probably at the request of Claes Vischer, who combined creative and commercial activities with the performance of the duties of a deacon of the reformist community. Similar corrections were made to other illustrations, which can be seen, in particular, from a comparison of the engraving of the Piskator Bible by Jan (?) Wierix after M. de Vos “The Appearance of Sabaoth to the Prophet Jonah” and its earlier state in “Thesaurus” by G. de Yoda 1585 (M.-N. I/41).

18 A copy of this publication is kept in the OR of the RSL (F. 178. No. 3274). It has been established that the illustrations of the Borcht-Piskator Bible became one of the most popular in Russia in the 17th–18th centuries. iconographic samples - murals of the Moscow Trinity Church in Nikitniki and others - see: Buseva-Davydova I. L. Decree. op. pp. 192–194.

19 Popov P. Decree. op. P. 13. No. XIII; Genova E. Op. cit. No. 2.; Stosic L. Op. cit. S. 38–58; Buseva-Davydova I. L. Decree. op. S. 195.

20 Dati Gregorio. L'istoria di Firenze. 1422–1425 Cit. by book: Danilova I. E. Brunelleschi and Florence. M., 1991. S. 38.

21 Lebeer L. Catalog raisonné des Estampes de Pierre Breugel l'ancien. Brussels, 1969. No. 77. Brueghel's preparatory drawing of 1565 is in the Albertina, Vienna. - Munz L. Breugel Drawings. London, No. 151.

22 Franz F. Op. cit. No. 73, 101a.

23 The illustration of plants & gardens. 1500–1850 Exh. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 1982; "Gardens an paper". Prints and drawings. 1200–1900. Exh. cat. by Clayton V. T. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1990.

24 Harsman W. Garten Kunst der Renaissence und des Barock. Köln, 1983, pp. 21–22.

26 Note the fact of copying a series of battle engravings by Tempesta on the plots of the Old Testament (TIB. 35/235-259) in the so-called “Matthäus Merian Bible” (Frankfurt am Main, 1625-27), which also appears among the iconographic sources of Russian art. - cm.: Buseva-Davydova I. L. Decree. op. pp. 192–193. This edition was also used by Polish masters. - cm.: Vyueva N. A. Icons from the Church of the Crucifixion of the Grand Kremlin Palace // “Filyovskiye Readings”. Materials of scientific conference. 1993. Issue. VII. M., 1994. S. 33, illustration.

27 Van de Velde C. Frans Floris (1519/20) leven en werken. Bruxelles, 1975, pp. 88–95.

28 Stampfle F., Kraemer R., Shoaf T. Netherlandish Drawings of the 15 and 16 centuries and Flemish Drawing of the 17 and 19 centuries in the Pierpont Morgan library. P. 108, No. 238, f. nineteen.

29 Bunin copied three sheets from this series - the Apostles of James, Thomas and Jacob Alfeev. The only copies of prints known to date are kept in the Fine Arts Department of the Russian State Library (No. 3324-57, 3325-57, 3326-57). I thank O. R. Khromov for pointing out these engravings and M. E. Ermakova, who made it possible to get acquainted with them.

30 H. Milke attributes the creation of the composition of this engraving to the Antwerp artist Ambrosius Franken (1544–1618). - cm.: Mielke H. Op. cit. S. 80, No. 20.

31 I express my gratitude to M. I. Maiskaya, who informed me about this.

32 Lugt F. Musée du Louvre. Inventaire General des dessins des ecole du Nord. Paris, 1968. No. 262. Here the drawing is published as anonymous. Due to the inaccessibility of the latest research on the work of Dirk Barends, it is not possible to decide whether the drawing from the Louvre belongs to the artist himself or to any other person.

33 Benesch O. Die Zeischnungen des niederlanischen Schulen des XV and XVI Jahrhunderts. Wien, 1928. Bd. II, No. 138, taf. 39.

34 Reznicek E. Die Zeichnungen von Hendrick Goltzius. Utrecht, 1961. Bd. I. pp. 139–140; Miedema H. Karel van Mander. Het leven van Hendrick Goltzius met parafrase en commentaar // Goltzius Stidies. Netherlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek. 1993. P. 48–49, afb. 8–9.

35 Now kept in the Albertina, Vienna. - cm.: Benesch O. Op. cit. Nos. 134–137.

36 Reznicek E. Jan Harmenz. Muller als Tekenaar // Netherlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek. No. 7. 1956. P. 101.

37 Schapelhouman M. Nederlandse Tekeningen omstreeks 1600 in het Rijksmuseum. Vol. III. Amsterdam, 1987. P. 104, No. 64.

38 Mielke H. Op. cit. S. 69–70, abb. 65.

39 Mielke H. Hans Vredeman de Vries. Phil. Diss. Berlin, 1967.

40 The exception is the engraving of Egidius Sadeler from the "Last Supper" from the church of San Trovaso (Hol. XXI/16/43). However, it was already completed ca. 1593, when the master was in Italy. In addition, the compositions of this work by Tintoretto have little in common with the engravings of Muller and Vredemann de Vries.

41 Engraving by Jan Müller, in turn, became a popular model among the masters of various European schools. A copy from it in oil on a board by a Flemish master early. 17th century kept in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. - cm.: Czobor A. Remarques sur une composition de Jan Muller // Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux Arts. No. 6. Budapest, 1955. P. 34–39, f. 23. Copy drawing by a German artist of the 18th century. Andreas Goeding is in the Engraving Cabinet of Dresden. The Museum of Fine Arts in Riga holds an anonymous reproduction of the same oil engraving on copper plate. For pointing out the last two works, I sincerely thank V. A. Sadkov.

42 Voronina T. S. The Art of England of the Renaissance. M. 1990. S. 10–11, 41–42.

43 Cole W. A Cataloque of Netherland and North European Roundels in Britain. Oxford, 1993.

44 Mielke H. Antwerpener Graphik in der 2 Halfte des 16 Jahrhunderts. Der Thesaurus des Gerard de Jode. S. 76, abb. 79.

45 A preparatory drawing by Martin de Vos, dated 1585, for the engraving “The Appearance of Jonah of Hosts” is in the collection of drawings of the Louvre. Inv. 20.596. 187 x 257 mm. Feather, brush bistrom. - cm.: Lugt F. Op. cit. No. 401. Judging by the fact that Sabaoth is depicted in human form on the stained-glass window, the original state of the engraving from the edition of 1585 served as a model for it (see note 17).

46 It should be noted that the tradition of using the works of Italianizing Dutch masters in England retained its positions for a long time. For example, a stained glass window from the Bodleian Library in Oxford from an engraving by the student of F. Floris Frans Menthon in 1585 “Lot with daughters” (Hol. XIV/8/4) performed by the English master D. Pearson already in the 18th century ( Cole. 177/1442).

47 Valuable observations on the use in Russian miniature and icon painting of the 16th century. Western engravings (M. Volgemuth, A. Dürer, G. Pentz, etc.) were made by Yu. A. Nevolin in the article “The influence of the idea of ​​“Moscow - the Third Rome” on the tradition of ancient Russian fine arts” // Art of the Christian World. Sat. articles. Issue 1. Orthodox St. Tikhon Institute. M., 1996. S. 71–84.

22 pp. 6 woodcuts on one sheet: all illustrations; folio (41 cm). Elijah is a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, an engraver who worked from 1636 to 1663, one of the most prolific Ukrainian artists. His engravings were widely known and influenced the masters of the Moscow Printing House. In 1645-1649. Elijah carved 132 boards depicting various scenes from the "Old Testament". Almost all engravings have the signature of the master and the year of manufacture. Their prototype was engravings on copper from the Bible by the Dutch publisher and engraver N. Piscator-Fischer. Piscators (lat. piscator - fisherman) - a translated Latin name, under which the publishing house of Dutch engravers and cartographers Visscher was known in Europe in the 17th century. At the origins of the family business was Nicholas Ioannis Fischer (Claes Jansz Visscher, 1587-1652), who provided the needs of all of Europe in maps (mainly wall), atlases and etchings with city views. Piskator Sr. was a talented draftsman and engraver, but he remained in the history of art as the publisher of the "Face Bible" (lat. Theatrum Biblicum, 1650), five hundred engravings for which were made according to the drawings of the Flemish and Dutch masters of the previous generation. Elijah, copying N. Piscator-Fischer's engravings on wood, reduced, modified them, sometimes combined two engravings into one. Separate boards from the biblical suite were used to illustrate Kiev editions, starting from the 40s. 17th century All boards were printed on separate numbered sheets of 6 engravings in a block, judging by the wear of the boards, only at the end of the 17th century. known about 5 copies"Bibles" of Elijah, and only one of them, located in the RGADA, has been preserved uncut. D.A. Rovinsky in the "Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers" (Vol. I, pp. 409-426)describes such an uncut copy of 133 pictures, embossed on paper in the fourth part of the sheet. Paper signs - the famous "clown's head". In the RSL - 1 copy. from the collection of V. M. Undolsky, but it is cut into blocks. Extreme rarity!

Bibliographic sources:

1. GBL Book Treasures. Issue 1. Books of the Cyrillic press of the XV-XVIII centuries. Catalogue, Moscow. 1979, No. 48

2. 400 years of Russian printing. Moscow, 1964, p. 95

3. Rovinsky D.A. "Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers of the 16th-19th Centuries". In 2 tons. Volume I. St. Petersburg., 1895. s.s. 409-426

Master Elijah. Hail and thunder (Exodus, ch. 9)

Master Elijah. The appearance of God to Abraham (Genesis, ch.15)

Master Elijah. The passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea (Exodus, ch.13)

Master Elijah. The fourth day of creation (Genesis, ch.1)

Master Elijah. Quail (Exodus, ch. 16)

Master Elijah. Moses talks with God (Exodus, ch.19)

Master Elijah. Darkness (Exodus, ch.10)

Master Elijah. King David (2 Kings, ch.2)

Master Elijah. Transfer of the vine branch (Numbers, ch.13)

Transfer of the vine branch. Piscator's Bible sheet.

Amsterdam, 1630s. Cutting engraving.

Vasily Koren. Second day of creation.

Leaf from the Bible. Russia, 1696. Woodcut.

Among the Russian and Ukrainian artists of the 17th century, there are many unknown or forgotten ones. One of them is the master Elijah, whose work is unfamiliar to modern art lovers, although the range of his works is known. Meanwhile, Elijah is an extraordinary person. The purpose of this article is to recreate the image of this artist, peering into the pages of the Bible he illustrated, and to determine his place in the Ukrainian art of engraving of the 17th century. Engraving in Russia in the 16th - the first half of the 17th century is a religious art in terms of plots and attitude. It is characterized by the idea of ​​the world and man as a perfect creation of God, complete, harmonious, unchanging. Russian and Ukrainian engraving, as well as architecture and applied art of that time, was supposed to bring peace of mind to a person, create a festive mood, and delight in the contemplation of the ideal. Striving for this, Moscow engravers - book masters - made a book of architectural structure, a book-cathedral, a book-terem, in which engravings played the role of overhead decorations (platbands or friezes). Kiev masters built engravings according to the compositional canons of the icon, often interpreting them freely, in a folklore, apocryphal spirit. They also made full use of the ornamental possibilities of carved wooden boards. Imitating icon painting and applied art, Russian and Ukrainian engraving of the 16th - the first half of the 17th century had not yet found its own graphic language and occupied a subordinate, dependent place in the art of Eastern Europe. Coming into contact with Polish, German and Dutch book illustrations of the 16th and 17th centuries and with the great art of Dürer and Rembrandt, engraving in Ukraine gradually became illustrative, narrative, everyday. She gave the world the largest artist - Iliya, who was the first and only Ukrainian engraver of the 17th century who contributed to this kind of art in Ukraine has a new attitude and has found for it an independent artistic language, different from Russian, Ukrainian and European engravings of that time. Elijah, a monk of the Lvov Onufrievsky Monastery, and then the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, began his work as an engraver in Lvov, but was soon invited by Peter Mohyla to Kyiv, where in 1630-1650 he worked for Kiev and Lvov publications. His most significant works are engravings for the Kiev-Pechersk Paterikon, published in 1661 after the death of the engraver, and illustrations for the Bible, known as the "Bible of Elijah" (1645 - 1649). Elijah's Bible was never finished, was never published, and is known only in five copies of prints of the late 17th - early 18th century. Its boards burned down in 1718. It was the first block book in Russia. The appearance of the obverse Bible, that is, the Bible in pictures for the illiterate, in the Ukrainian engraving of the mid-17th century is not accidental. At this time, the teachings of Copernicus penetrated Ukraine, and the question of the structure of the universe, the place of the Earth and man in it, became the burning polemical question of the era. It was quite natural to answer it in engraving, which played a huge role in Ukraine in the 17th century, connecting like-minded people. However, Elijah's answer to this question was so contrary to the whole structure of Orthodox religious thought that his illustrations to the Bible not only could not be published, understood and accepted in their time, but, obviously, were rejected and condemned as a heretical work. Elijah is an artist-philosopher of passionate temperament and indefatigable imagination, who is given an amazing sense of strength and immediacy of the elements of nature in all its manifestations in heaven and on earth, a sense of the sky, behind which the cosmos is hidden, a sense of light and darkness. The art of Elijah expresses the infinity of the unknown universe and the feelings of a person coming before her face - the surprise of discovery, delight, stellar horror:

The abyss has opened, full of stars.

The stars have no number, the abyss of the bottom.

M.V. Lomonosov. Evening reflection on God's majesty

in case of Northern Lights.

But the pathos of the Bible of Elijah is not the unbridled chaos of the elements, but the overcoming of chaos, the creation of the world, which he thinks as a struggle between light and darkness. Elijah's universe reveals itself all in the turbulent development of the first days of creation. Day by day, she takes on an increasingly finished look. The darkness, torn apart by a flash of light, gradually dissipates, flies away, the world is enlightened. The sky becomes a source of light. Light permeates and binds the whole world together. So from the complete darkness of primordial chaos through rare flashes - glare of light - the world comes to a soft, calm radiance. Passion is replaced by harmony. But the universe of Elijah remains a constant main and equal actor throughout his Bible. She behaves like a living being, dominates a person, participates in all his earthly affairs, does not disappear from her eyes for a minute. The engravings of Elijah are full of the struggle of dense heavy black matter and incorporeal light, are permeated with the lines of force of the swept up elements, the formidable power of divine speech. They are opposed by a giant man, like Joshua, who stops the sun, who humbles, pushes back, obscures them with his greatness. A huge man against the backdrop of a stormy or clear sky, a repeatedly repeated diverse man, a hero standing on an equal footing with the elements, who, as it were, seeks to outweigh the fear of chaos and the power of God in our perception. God in the illustrations of Elijah is visible only in the first days of creation, but does not have a human appearance. It is a divine verb and light, which further dissolves into everything. However, the victory of light over darkness during the creation of the world turns out to be fragile. The universe of Elijah is so active, endless and unknown, so sudden in its explosions and intrusions into human life, that you do not believe in the strength of the universe. Natural disasters that God sends to people are still natural disasters for them. We cannot forget about the global flood, about the primeval chaos. We are not gods or giants. We are at the mercy of the elements. And the anxiety doesn't subside. In this dual contradictory perception of the world lies the essence of Elijah's creativity. He loves the world and life to infinity. This immense joy of fellowship and love is fully expressed in his Bible. But at the same time, he seems to feel both the beginning and the end of the world, and chaos, and harmony, he believes and does not believe in God. The main thing is that the world started moving, and there was no trace left of the habitual appearance of the universe. The new attitude of the artist is expressed in the Bible of Elijah in a new system of graphic means. The fantastic harmonious world of the icon closed in itself has disappeared. The carved wooden board, a work of applied art, has disappeared. The engraving became a receptacle for the destinies of peoples and cosmic events, and the viewer became an accomplice of what is happening in the engraving. Together with the breadth of coverage of reality, the engravings of Elijah acquired a horizontal structure, completely breaking with the vertical structure of the icon directed upwards. To do this, Elijah laid a board on the side of the longitudinal cut, which used to stand vertically in the engraving, and the stroke in it began to echo its horizontal format. The compositions of the engraving began to be built differently. They have lost their symmetry. Elijah's compositions are governed by the law of impermanence and movement. They are open and have the character of a frame captured by the eye. The space contained in the board goes deep and wide beyond the borders of the engraving, which almost always cuts, cuts off some object. This creates a feeling of the boundlessness of the universe, the ubiquity and continuity of movement in the world and the intensity of historical events. Previously, the viewer did not have to think anything outside the frame of the sheet. Together with a breakthrough into space, the compositions of Elijah absorb the fluidity of time, and the movement in them violates the strict and symmetrical architectonics of the icon, brings confusion to the sheet and is often directed diagonally from corner to corner of the board, sometimes towards each other or obliquely, as it were, from the inside of the engraving on viewer. But in the engravings of Elijah there is always some detail (a tree, a figure of a man or a layered black spot) that straightens, levels the plane of the board and emphasizes its wooden layered texture. The conflict of space, time, movement and plane is brought into balance in his Bible, the basis of which is the feeling of material, the feeling of a wooden board. In addition, Elijah makes the woodcut emotionally expressive. He makes black and white become active forces. Almost abandoning the contour, Elijah widely uses black and white spots, boldly uses the aesthetic properties of a paper sheet, asserting the power of white color in engraving. Before Elijah, woodcuts were sometimes painted in imitation of an icon, completely excluding the white color of paper from the engraving or forcing it to play an inexpressive role of a background, contrasting with the color spots of the coloring, like a miniature of a handwritten book. The Bible of Elijah is unthinkable in coloring. Black and white in Elijah's engravings have equal power and coexist in opposition, interaction and unity. White in Elijah's engravings - a symbol of light and wholeness - exists in a very simple and pure form, which corresponds to the whole simplicity of white, in which the eye does not distinguish the spectrum, and the simplicity of paper texture. Black is a symbol of darkness and evil, with the help of which Elijah embodies purely graphically the idea of ​​the creation of the world, as a struggle between God and the devil. It is also the color that activates the white color of the paper, causing it to turn into light. It is, finally, the carrier of motion and matter, the matter of the universe and the matter of the wooden board. The main artistic technique of Elijah in white engraving - a black spot - never forms the surface of a continuous bay. It is built from a series of pressed parallel strokes that convey the structure of wood, and in a white engraving it resembles a brush stroke. Such a black spot on white is straightforward, abrupt, dynamic and at the same time stable. Most often, it echoes the horizontal format of the sheets and the longitudinal cut of the tree. But Elijah created not only a white engraving constructed from paper. He also created a black engraving, made from a board, an engraving, which, as it were, is made up of a thickened and overgrown black stroke and a white spot. This is the originality of the black engraving of Elijah. There is no white stroke, no solid black spot in it. In black and white, the difference between materials - wood and paper, the difference between a calm, elusive white light and heavy moving black matter is sacredly observed. In the black engravings of Elijah, the stroke often moves along the board in different directions, diversifying the solid impenetrable blackness of the board, introducing into it the chaotic movement and the heterogeneity of the forms and masses of the matter of the universe. Sometimes at the same time the stroke loses its straightness and abruptness, typical for white engraving, bends and rounds on the inversions of the form. It happens that Elijah in a black engraving uses a cross stroke, reminiscent of a cut engraving on metal. But he does this extremely rarely and very delicately. Usually the cross stroke in the engravings of Elijah is neutralized, suppressed by the purely woodcut technique of the stroke going along the fiber. However, the richly developed texture of black matter from a distance still looks like a spot and reveals its diversity only when closely examined close up or at high magnification. The restlessness, the multidirectional stroke of Elijah in the black engraving, expressing the mobility and inconstancy of the appearance of the universe, its swarming mass, teeming with dark forces, is visually overlapped by the intensity of the contrast of black and white. Elijah's engravings act directly on our senses, excite the eye and soul with a confused rhythm and a sharp combination of black and white spots, or soothe them with the soft glow of a white sheet of paper. Color and rhythm in the Bible have such an independence of language that allows them to take on the entire emotional charge of the sheet. Expression, expressed by graphic means, prevails over the plot in the Bible of Elijah. The language of his engravings gives the sheet a light or dark color, a calm or tense rhythm, fills us with a sense of chaos or harmony, makes us capture the essence of the sheet, no matter what happens in it. The activity of the universe, the activity of the artist's perception of the world, expressed by the activity of all means of engraving. However, the expressive nature of Elijah's engravings does not deprive them of decorativeness. But now it is built not on the traditional play of ornamental lines, but on a strict and festive contrast of black and white. Elijah discovers in engraving a new cosmic world and new opportunities for woodcutting as an engraving skill, but he holds in his hands all the possibilities of woodcut technology. Such a sense of balance and material, what is it? Fear of parting with the old? Or a sign of the genius of the artist? Or just an artist ahead of his time? Obviously the latter is true. And the most surprising thing is that Elijah managed to bring this duality of the art of the transitional time not to tragedy, not to eclecticism, but to harmony. Obviously, the reason for this is the deep folk pagan roots of Elijah's worldview, his fusion with the earth, like Svyatogor the Bogatyr or Elijah the Prophet, whose name he bears and, like him, "commands the elements." The same folk peasant roots of his art determine a certain "uncouth" roughness of Elijah's engraving manner, a kind of "carpentry", "plank", "clumsiness" of his style, where novelty merges with primordial. The Bible of Elijah is a breakthrough in the fine arts of Ukraine and Russia of the 17th century, which had no continuation. This is a breakthrough even in the art of Elijah himself, since he failed to complete the Bible, and the Kiev Caves Patericon, following it, is again made in the old way and is known even in coloring. The echo of Elijah's Bible sounded only in the work of his student Procopius, who, almost simultaneously with him, began to engrave the Apocalypse (1646 - 1662), the first Ukrainian block book in the full sense of the word. It was conceived, obviously, as a continuation of the Bible. In the Apocalypse of Procopius, the tragic impotence of man before God, the ruler of all the elements, sounds in full measure, and the theme of the universe acquires an almost modern scope and swept up the mobility of the collapsed universe. The Apocalypse of Procopius is a world of darkness and chaos, the end of the world in the literal sense of the word. Like the Elijah Bible, it was not published. It is generally accepted that the Elijah Bible is "copied" from Piscator's Dutch Bible. It is hardly worth calling the connection between Elijah and Piscator such a word. Elijah undeniably knew the Piscator Bible and other European Bible, sometimes used their compositional schemes, but this does not make it similar to them, just as the icons of ancient Russian masters, made according to one canon, are unlike each other. Ilya obviously combined the new worldview with the old, medieval method of working according to the canon, and European engraving was perceived by him as a new compositional canon, without which he could not (was not used to), and use the canon at that time in Ukraine, and In Russia, it was considered proper, not reprehensible. However, in terms of philosophical depth, graphic originality and skill, the Elijah Bible is much superior to the Piscator Bible and is much closer to the original source (the text of the Bible). Compilatory, verbose, petty in plot and language, the Piscator Bible, engraved on copper, has the completeness of the style of ordinary illustrative art. The Bible of Elijah, despite the small size of the engravings (11 X 13 cm), four times smaller than the size of the Piscator Bible, in its monumentality matches the text of the Bible. And the woodcut technique chosen by Elijah to embody the history of the beginning of the world, alone could express its epic character with a sufficient measure of generalization. Therefore, not only borrowing, but even comparing the Bible of Elijah and the engravings of various masters published by Piscator is out of the question. Elijah should by right take the first place in this rivalry. The originality of Elijah's art stands out especially clearly when compared with the first Russian block book - the Bible of Vasily Koren (1692 - 1696), which consists only of the Book of Genesis and the Apocalypse. The root does not move the worlds, and the fate of the peoples does not interest him. In his Bible, light does not fight darkness, the world is created easily and simply, obeying God's word: "Let there be light!" The universe, full of light, immediately takes the form of the universe set once and for all by God, and God in the guise of an Angel of Light does not leave a person for a minute, paternally takes care of him until the murder of Abel. The root justifies Adam and Eve, who were created in the image and likeness of God and repented of their crime; curses the apostate Cain, who defiled the earth with envy, murder and lies, and condemns the cities built by the son of Cain. All this is told simply, calmly, clearly, ornamentally and cheerfully in colors, in the style of a fresco. The active white surface of the paper, the cheerfully playing contour line, the decorative stroke and the fantastic color have the character of a specific fairy-tale language in Koren's Bible. Root's Bible is a fairy tale that transforms and beautifies the world, and Root himself is an artist-magic who is given a wonderful ease of action for his affectionate kindness to all living things. The Bible of Elijah and the Bible of Root oppose each other as an intelligent Bible, as the Ukrainian Bible and the Russian Bible, and, finally, as books created by artists not only of different personalities and temperaments, but by artists of different creative systems and even, as it were, different eras. Koren's Bible fits perfectly into the framework of Russian art of the 17th century. Therefore, Koren created a school in his time, became the founder of the Russian secular popular print. The Bible of Elijah in the art of Russia of the 17th century is "the voice of one crying in the wilderness". Threads stretch from his Bible to the art of the 20th century. Article author: A. Sakovich. 1983