Studio: international art (66.1915)

IVall-Paintings by Victor Vasnetsov

the intricacies of his design into losing the supreme
emphasis which the figure of Christ demands, for
Vasnetsov is largely a Primitive and a poet.

In regard to h’s lesser works, the paintings on
copper of historical personages canonised by the
Greek Church are pre-eminently decorative though
strongly differentiated by
personal traits.

The redoubtable Olga of
Kiev, clad in the gemmed
and broidered robes of a
Byzantine Queen; the fiery
and despotic Vladimir (tenth
century), who caused the
death of numbers of his
subjects by forcibly baptizing
them in the ice-bound
Dnieper; the gentle-eyed
Alexander Nevski—a saintly
prince of the thirteenth cen-
tury whose name is still a
household word in Russia—
in each of these the exqui-
sitely wrought details of dress
and ornament achieve a
sumptuous effect. The
winged angels, which are a
special feature of Slavonic
religious art, have also given
him scope for rich and deli-
cate colour-schemes, of which
the Cherubim of St. Vladimir
are particularly beautiful
examples. Yet one more
word must be given to the
Christ Enthroned (see illus-
tration), in which the natural-
ness of the countenance of
the Saviour is a perfectly
legitimate development from
the primitive type, while the
figure is significant of his
sympathy with the great
Greek school of ecclesiastical
art.

Vasnetsov is, in fine, not
only an accomplished master
of form, but an archaeolo-
gist, and since wall-painting in whatever medium
requires a specialised knowledge besides foresight
and judgment, he is a craftsman as well.

The wall-paintings of St. Vladimir are prin-
cipally executed in fresco-secco, which differs in
many respects from the huoti fresco of the early
266

Italians, the artist being somewhat less restricted
by his medium than in the case of fresco proper.
The plaster is not freshly laid, but moistened, and
a mixture of lime or baryta water with the pigments
gives solidity to the colouring. The conclusion
at which one arrives after comparing his early with
his later work is that, con-
trary to the majority of
modern painters, his natural
bent is towards the fresco.
Vigour and originality are
more apparent in the prehis-
toric scenes of the Moscow
Museum than in the decora-
tive designs of St. Vladimir,
but in the latter he shows a
ripe knowledge and appre-
ciation of the limitations of
the cartoon; above all, in
being natural he never ceases
to be reverential. In dealing
with vast mural surfaces he
necessarily sacrifices what
we understand by quality,
but in its stead we find a
“ belle et sainte simplicity,”
in the words of Legros.

If certain of Vasnetsov’s
designs appear to have been
inspired by the frescoes of
the Campo Santo at Pisa
(formerly attributed to
Orcagna but now usually
ascribed to Lorenzetti), it
may be urged that Michel
Angelo did not disdain to-
borrow from the same source
for his Last Judgment;
moreover the freshness and
sincerity of the Russian
painter’s best work free it
from any hint of servile
imitation. Rather, it may
be said of him that he has
recovered and given new life
to the Slav tradition, which
was itself the outcome of a
fusion of various European
and Oriental elements.

Take his achievement all in all, it may be
summed up like that of his great forerunner,
Pietro Lorenzetti, as the triumph of a great soul
working in a noble style.

C. Hagberg Wright.

“ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKl”
WALL-PAINTING BY VICTOR VASNETSOV