Zakharova, Anna V.; Maltseva, Svetlana V. The Materials of Nikolai Okunev’s Expedition of 1917 on the Wall Paintings of Parkhali

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa177-9-69
Title The Materials of Nikolai Okunev’s Expedition of 1917 on the Wall Paintings of Parkhali
Author email s.maltseva@spbu.ru
About author Zakharova, Anna Vladimirovna — Ph. D., head lecturer. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation. zakharova@inbox.ru Mal’tseva, Svetlana Vladislavovna — Ph. D., senior researcher. Research Institute of the Theory and History of Architecture and Town Planning (branch of the Central Institute for Research and Design of the Ministry of Construction of Russian Federation). 111024 Moscow, Dushinskaia ul., 9; head lecturer. Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaia nab., 7/9, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. s.maltseva@spbu.ru
In the section Publication and Study of Sources DOI10.18688/aa177-9-69
Year 2017 Volume 7 Pages 679–688
Type of article RAR Index UDK 7.033.2; 7.033.12 Index BBK 85.14
Abstract

The paper presents a reconstruction of the iconographic program of the 10th century. Georgian murals in the church of St. John the Baptist in Parkhali (Tao-Klardjeti, nowadays Eastern Turkey). The wall paintings have been white-washed for many decades. Before that, in summer of 1917, they were examined and photographed by the expedition headed by Nikolai Okunev (1885–1949). The photographs are now kept in the archive of the Institute of History of Material Culture in St. Petersburg, they are here published for the first time.The partially damaged wall paintings were mainly preserved in the apse. There was an image of Christ in Majesty in the conch. Then followed a row of apostles with the Virgin probably flanked by archangels in the middle, and another row of prophets. In the next two tiers there were some Gospel scenes. The authors identified Annunciation, Meeting of the Virgin with St. Elizabeth, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Baptism, Transfiguration,and the Raising of Lazarus, as well as some scenes from the Passion cycle: the Last Supper, Crucifixion,Deposition from the Cross. The images of the lowest tier so far remain unidentified. In the altar window there was a half-figure in a medallion representing the Holy Zion. It was flanked by two compositions, probably Moses receiving the Law and Melchisedec before the altar. It has been suggested by other scholars that the wall paintings in Parkhali were similar to those in a neighboring Otkhta Eklesia dating to the same period. The authors make more detailed comparisons between these two ensembles and discuss them in a wider historical and artistic context.
Keywords
Reference Zakharova, Anna V.; Maltseva, Svetlana V. The Materials of Nikolai Okunev’s Expedition of 1917 on the Wall Paintings of Parkhali. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 7. Ed. S. V. Mal’tseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova, A. V. Zakharova. — St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Univ. Press, 2017, pp. 679–688. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa177-9-69
Publication Article language english
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