Alexandra Shapovalova
State Institute of Art Studies, Russia
The present paper aims to investigate the stylistics of frescoes of the Archangel Michael church and to find their possible analogues in Eastern Christian art of the early 15th century in order to define more precisely by whom and when they were executed.
The researchers agree that the frescoes of the Skovorodka church might have been made at the edge of the 14th–15th or in the early 15th century. Specialists tend to connect their style with the art trend that developed in Moscow in the 15th century and revealed itself fully in the works by Andrei Rublev. Among the possible Russian analogues the researchers mention the icon ‘Apostle Thomas’ from the State Russian museum, Gospel from Zaraisk and frescoes of the Nativity church on the Red Field in Novgorod. In context of Eastern Christian art the Skovorodka murals are usually compared with those of the Morava school in Serbia, particularly Kalenic and Resava. The current research is an attempt to widen the circle of possible stylistic analogues for the frescoes of the Skovorodka church which can help to specify the circumstances of their creation.