It was painted over with an ordinary copy of a Russian icon. Restorers have uncovered an unknown 17th-century Belarusian Baroque icon.
Specialists from the National Art Museum of Belarus have completed the restoration of an icon that for more than 60 years was considered to be a 19th-century icon of the Mother of God of Kazan. After the artwork was revealed, it became clear that a unique monument of Belarusian icon painting of the 17th century, the Hodegetria Mogilevskaya, was hidden under a later inscription. The icon comes from the same pre-war collection as the lost Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk and the icon of the Belynichi Mother of God.
This icon entered the collections of the Mogilev Regional Museum of Local Lore in 1960. For a long time, it was in the scientific support fund and was not exhibited. Over time, the condition of the artwork deteriorated, and it was decided to send it for restoration to the National Art Museum, reports the ONT TV channel.
«Of course, we made this decision, we took a risk, and the risk was justified,» said Evgeny Belousov, director of the E. R. Romanov Mogilev Regional Museum of Local Lore.
Discovery Under Layers of Time
Preliminary X-ray studies showed the presence of earlier painting under the upper layer. During the restoration process, experts removed the later layers of academic painting from the 19th century to reveal the most valuable authentic layer — 17th-century tempera painting with gilding and carving. Thanks to modern technologies, specialists were able to study all these layers, each of which was actually a separate work of art of its time, and return the ancient icon practically without losses.
«To my surprise, it was such a gift that there were practically no serious losses. They are insignificant, minor, mainly around the perimeter. When the icon was revealed, it was clear that it had been repeatedly cleaned of darkened varnish — traces of abrasion, but at the same time, the author's painting was practically not damaged,» said Sergey Shatilo, artist-restorer of the National Art Museum of Belarus.
The traces of the icon's existence have also been preserved on the board, for example, burns from the lamp, which the restorer deliberately left.
Secrets of the Reverse Side
The reverse side of the icon attracted special attention from researchers. There, a graphite inscription «Borisoglebskaya Church» was found, which allows us to associate the work with one of the two churches in the Zadubrovensky posad in Mogilev (in the literature, there is an unresolved ambiguity as to which of the churches in this place is Borisoglebsky and which is Krestovozdvizhensky. — NN).
In addition, a mark «VH No. 2» was found on the reverse side. This abbreviation stands for «Temporary Storage». This detail gave rise to a new scientific version: it is likely that the work comes from the legendary pre-war Mogilev museum collection.
It was in this collection, which has not yet been found, that such national shrines as the Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk and the original image of the Belynichi Mother of God were kept.
Historical Value
Experts note the exceptional importance of this find for Belarusian culture. There are only a few surviving monuments of icon painting of this level from the 17th century in the country. Art historians note that the closest in stylistic features to the restored shrine is the famous Hodegetria from near Slutsk, despite the fact that the Slutsk image is a century older and dates back to the 16th century.
«This is the most common iconographic version of the icon of the Mother of God with the Child. It is common to almost all of our miraculous icons: this is the Borkolabovskaya, this is the Tupichevskaya, this is the Kuteinskaya Mother of God. We have only a few works from the 16th century, not to mention the 15th century, and the 17th century is represented quite modestly. And we are glad to any work that has reappeared. This is truly a discovery of an image,» emphasized Elena Karpenko, head of the department of ancient Belarusian art at the National Art Museum of Belarus.
It is worth noting that erroneous information has already spread through local public pages and media that the icon of the Kazan Mother of God of the 17th century was discovered under the Hodegetria of Mogilev of the 19th century. But the icon, neither in the 19th century version nor in the 17th century version, belonged to it: on icons of the type of the Kazan Mother of God, the Infant Christ is always shown waist-length, while on Belarusian baroque icons He is shown in full height.
Return to the Exhibition
Soon, the restored icon will be shown to the general public in Minsk. Before that, a frame will be made for the Hodegetria — a difficult task, since the wooden base has deformed over the centuries and acquired a specific bend, which requires a special approach to design.
After the exhibition in the capital, the unique work will return to Mogilev, where it will take pride of place in the exhibition of the Museum of Ethnography. It is worth noting that the residents of Mogilev already had the opportunity to see the shrine last year during the «Night of Museums», but now it will appear before the audience in its true, historical form.
«Nasha Niva» — the bastion of Belarus
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