Alexander Maksimovich Kolchin as a Church Artist of the Classical Era

New Age church art is one of the most dynamically developing areas of contemporary Russian art history. The constant process of reconstruction and restoration of churches requires a scientific approach and documentary substantiation. The artistic merits of church art in the Classical era are highly appreciated by specialists, but biographies of masters of mural painting and iconography are rarely published and are little known. The study of biographies and works of painters who devoted themselves entirely to temple decoration is important for compiling an objective picture of Russian culture of the 19th century.

Alexander Maximovich Kolchin (1812-1866) was born and grew up in Yaroslavl, was on the staff of the bishop’s house masters, received the title of a non-class artist at the Imperial Academy of Arts (Academy of Arts) in St. Petersburg, worked in six rural and several urban churches in Yaroslavl province, renewed murals in Vologda and painted a new church in Kashin, Tver province. In this article for the first time all available information about the painter, scattered in different editions, is brought together; new archival documents are published and the artist’s work is analyzed in the context of classicism stylistics. Documents from the personal file of A.M. Kolchin from the Russian State Historical Archive are introduced into the scientific turnover, which inform that the master painted portraits from life, the whereabouts of which are still unknown. Although there are few surviving works by A.M. Kolchin, they demonstrate the high skill of the painter, which was documented by the exacting council of the Academy of Arts in 1853. A.M. Kolchin was distinguished by his knowledge of Old Russian sources of church art and full awareness of its theological and liturgical meaning; his fluent mastery of the basics of academic drawing and masterly ability to combine mural painting with architectural forms; a wide range of subject compositions and depictions of individual figures.

The article allows to expand the corpus of information about the artist and his works, and this publication will serve as a basis for further research.

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