The Lord’s Prayer Iconography in Russian Art of the First Third of the 18th Century

This article is the first to consider the history of the Lord’s Prayer iconography in Russian art of the first third of the 18th century. It is represented by frescoes of the western porch of the Church of Elijah the Prophet (Yaroslavl, c. 1715), the southern and western walls of the Church of Our Lady Fedorovskaya (Yaroslavl, 1715—1716), the altar of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Roschene (Vologda, 1717) and the southern wall of the Church of St. John Chrysostom in Korovniki (Yaroslavl, 1732—1733). Adjoining these monuments is the Lord’s Prayer fresco in the porch of the Church of St. Nikolas the Wet (Yaroslavl), the creation of which should probably be attributed to the middle to the second half of the 18th century. An analysis of their iconography suggests that its origins are rooted in a tradition that developed as early as the 17th century. The works continued to feature images borrowed in Russian art from a series of engravings of the Pater Noster of the Piscator’s Bible, executed after drawings by the Netherlandish painter Maerten van Heemskerk (1498—1574). The frescoes of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Vologda stand somewhat apart. They are notable for their unusual arrangement and interpretation of individual compositions, somewhat similar to those on a late 17th century Russian engraving of the Lord’s Prayer attributed to Leonty Bunin. The predominant use of the Lord’s Prayer subject in mural at this stage testifies to the primacy of church wall paintings in the process of spreading compositions borrowed from foreign illuminated printed books, as well as to the deep interest in complex edifying themes in art.

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