Petr Ershov
Russian Institute of Art History, Russia
It is not very common for the Russian medieval art to be investigated in the terms of some stylistic trends which have their certain distinct set of special features. This approach was often neglected because of the existing idea of Russian medieval art as of very special phenomenon developed separately from the Western European tradition. The latter was usually studied in the connection with stylistic differentiation which was not taken seriously for the medieval Russian art. Still different periods of the national art history have been studied as the consequent stages that could be described in connection with some general trends both in painting and in architecture. In this respect one should point to the works by G. Vagner (“Canon and Style in Old Russian Art”) and by A. Nekrasov (“Essays on History of Old Russian Architecture of the 11th–17th Centuries”).
Undoubtedly the closest contacts with the Western artistic tradition especially concerning architecture were taking place in the end of the 15th century and in the first quarter of the 16th century. It was the time when Italian architects were invited by Ivan III and Vassiliy III to rebuild the Moscow Kremlin and to construct cathedrals and churches in various Russian lands. Still the researchers have not yet worked out an appropriate idea how to define this architecture in the context of the stylistic analysis, which was noted by G. Vagner. The report deals with ideas and concepts of the authors mentioned as well as with revealing and explaining of the difficulties associated with formation of the consistent comprehensive definition for the architecture of the late 15th century and up to the 1530s as a very important period of the Russian architectural history.