An old article by L.M. Batkin, with some abridgements, is proposed here as memorial material dedicated to I.E. Danilova, despite the fact that it has already been published. This choice is not accidental. We extract from the article text that relates to one of the most informative of I.E. Danilova’s books, where her main essays concerning the art of the eastern and western Middle Ages, as well as the Renaissance, are concentrated. I.E. Danilova was consistent in studying the art of exactly the late Middle Ages, the last heyday of that artistic culture, on the border of the Middle Ages and the New Age, both in the West and in the East. Her oeuvre in the field was independent and largely innovative. L.M. Batkin commented on precisely those issues of her book. In addition, he put important emphasis on the culturological aspect of the oeuvre of I.E. Danilova, who did not work as a narrowly oriented art historian. Finally, this article is important as memorial material relating not only to I.E. Danilova herself, but also to the creative cooperation and friendship of two researchers who collaborated at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities until their death.

The heraldic composition with sphinxes and the World Tree appears in Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age (1600–1050 BC), but its reproduction by local masters is known only from the Cypro-archaic period (750–480 BC). The predominance of such images in the Еast and South-East of Cyprus provides reason to associate them with Phoenician expansion. The characteristic features of Cypriot iconography include the ascending movement of the sphinxes. In many cases they inhale the fragrance of lotus flowers, which appear as parts of the World Tree. The contrast between diurnal and nocturnal, as well as between the upper and lower worlds, expressed in the details of the Cypriot versions of the composition with sphinxes, invites examination of it in the context of Resurrection symbolism.

During the archaeological excavations of the Bosporan polis Nymphaeum (Northern Black sea area) two limestone blocks of Ionian frieze were found. The decorative floral relief, consisting of a winding branch of the acanthus with offshoots of palmettes, lilies and rosettes, is made with great skill. At least two stonemasons were involved in the work, and their stylistic manners can easily be distinguished in their rendering of details. The masters creating the common ornament of “a winding dranch” worked within one paradigm, but at the same time adapted the decor to constructive realities by extending the curves of horizontal “branches” to fit the dimensions of particular blocks of stone and their functions in the design of the frieze. They marked the location of the critical elements, of which traces preserved in the form of grooves left by the drill; where the remains of the paint layer preserved too what gives an idea of the polychrome character of the frieze survived. Thus ornamental relief was located on a blue background, the red color was present in the color of the flowers. No complete analogy to the rich and at the same time elegant composition of the plant frieze has yet been found in architecture but its main motif is widely used in various types and forms of art. Judging by the character of the individual elements execution, it is obvious that in such a form the ornament took shape by the middle of the fourth century BC. The authors are inclined to attribute the blocks of the Nymphaeum considered here to the second half of the fourth century BC.

The formation of the iconographical system in medieval Western art is associated with the variation in individual details, of the composition, including the smallest ones, what corresponds to the concept of “modules” or “formulas of motion” introduced by F. Deuchler. The present work considers probable versions for the origins of the depicting the Darkness like a shackled slave in the Langobardic fresco cycle of the 8th – 9th centuries in the so-called “Crypt of the Fall” in Matera (Basilicata) as well as the connection of those versions to early Christian and Byzantine traditions at the level of poses and gestures of characters.

In Monreale Cathedral the Christological Cycle is located on the walls of the transept. It consists of 45 scenes arranged in three groups (15 in each group), according to the stages of Christ’s life, which are situated in the three distinct parts of the transept.

The Cycle in Monreale Cathedral is one of the most extensive in Byzantine and western monumental art of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In most of the scenes the iconography is based on traditional patterns of Byzantine art, but in some scenes there are details close to the traditions of western art. The cycle also includes scenes elsewhere confined to Romanesque monumental painting and not known in Byzantine murals as three scenes related to the Appearance of Christ to the Apostles on the road to Emmaus. The artistic performance of the gospel scenes in the transept of Montreal follows the mainstream of the Byzantine art of the second half of the 12th century. However, in the scenes of the cycle, one can observe a depiction more definite than was usual in Byzantium, and a more specific one of emotion in the faces and gestures of the characters. The author associates these qualities with the influence of Romanesque art.

The abundance of artistic techniques possessed by Byzantine mosaicists of the Early Palaeologan period included different ways of rendering faces. Alongside the finest tonal modeling (Deesis in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, ca. 1261), there exists an archaic, flat, almost monochrome interpretation of faces (as in the mosaics in the church of Porta Panagia near Trikala, Thessaly, ca. 1283–1289). Volumetric “sculptural” modelling with a “shadow frame” (Kariye Camii, 1316–1321) is found side by side with a dynamic, expressionist rendering of faces (e.g., in the church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki, 1310–1314).

It is noteworthy that the same methods of rendering are used both in large monumental images and in miniature icons. Therefore choice is to be attributed not to the scale of the image, but in the first place to the artistic preference and professional training of the craftsman. Comparison of these techniques can assist in the attribution of portable mosaic icons, whose place and time of origin, as a rule, are obscure, owing to the absence of historical accounts.

This study is focused on the iconographic program as well as the probable origins and date of an Ethiopian triptych from the collection of the Museum of Russian Icons (Moscow). Basically, the pictorial program of the icon follows the long-established tradition of Ethiopian icon painting of the 17th –18th centuries. At the same time, the strong influence of the iconographic conventions of the Gondarine scriptoria is also very conspicuous. The narrative character of the Healing of the Blinds episode and the rendering of architectural details and of clothing can easily be traced back to the tradition of illuminated manuscripts. On one hand, in terms of style, the triptych shows some typical features attributed to the so-called First Gondarine style that dominated Northern Ethiopia from the second half of the seventeenth through the first third of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the icon’s style evinces some very unusual details. This leads to the suggestion that the triptych was painted at the very end of the First Gondarine style. Thus it seems reasonable to suggest the end of the first or the beginning of the second third of the eighteenth century as the most likely date of the icon.

Starting from the assumption that monks of mendicant orders were the primary and pre-eminent audience of early Italian polyptychs, the author considers them within the context of contemplative practices of those congregations, revealing parallels between texts of the 13th century, such as Meditations on the Life of Christ by Pseudo-Bonaventura, De modo orandi by St.Dominic and The Treatises on Preaching by Humbert of Romans on the one hand and specific images of polyptychs and their visual structure on the other hand. Based on these correspondences the paper attempts to extend understanding in the meanings and functions of early Italian altarpieces.

The Santa Fina Chapel in the Collegiata of San Gimignano is an outstanding example of the Quattrocento synthesis of arts outside of Florence. It was built by Giuliano da Maiano and decorated with sculpted altar-tomb by Benedetto da Maiano and frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio. In this article the monument is considered as an integral ensemble, a kind of model of the universe. All parts of that ensemble are semantically and artistically linked to each other and to the chapel’s surroundings. They are imbued with a common idea and subordinated to a certain hierarchy. The measure of sacredness of the images on the walls of the chapel increases as the eye moves from bottom up and from the entrance to the altarpiece. The chapel of Santa Fina invites a multi-level reading. Its creation was associated with the hopes of citizens of San Gimignano that the canonization of the local Saint would lead to the granting of greater political and religious independence to the city. The themes of the Eucharist and of Salvation are especially important in the decorative program of the chapel. Questions of the interpenetration of the real and represented worlds and of spectator perception are considered. The article shows how the elements of the chapel’s decoration are reflected in its frescoes, and how the blessing of the depicted saints extends from Fina to the visitors of the chapel.

The article is concerned to the study of how theoretical heritage of A. Dürer was interpreted by the authors of the German Baroque era in the 17th –18th cc. It reviews three characteristic sources for that epoch: the first in the 17th century re-issue of Dürer’s works; an essay about the master’s heritage, written by a prominent German Baroque theoretician Joachim von Sandrart; the mention of Dürer in the work of Johann Jacob Schübler, a master of mature German baroque of the 18th c. Those aspects of the work of the German Renaissance master that were relevant in the context of theoretical searches of the Baroque are revealed, in particular, questions of the transfer of volume and lighting, so important for both painting and sculpture of their time. The clarification of the reasons for the relevance of the ideas of Dürer for the Baroque era confirms the hypothesis that in the 17th –18th cc. the theoretical heritage of that master was of practical importance, was actively used – both by artists in terms of iconography, and by theoreticians who noted important for the culture of the Baroque effects, which could be achieved through following the teachings of Dürer. First of all, it is worth to raise the question of the image alikeness, as well as an understanding of the relativity of human beauty, which depends on the opinion of the majority of viewers. Those aspects of Dürer’s theory and its interpretation had a great influence, for example, on Baroque sculpture, which as an independent object quite rarely appears in the theoretical works of the Baroque.