Revisiting Archival Documents on Russian Icons in the Matica Srpska Gallery (Novi Sad)
Keywords:
Russia, the Christian East, Serbia, Russian art, icons, archival documentsAbstract
The collection of the Matica Srpska Gallery (Novi Sad) includes three icons of Russian provenance (John the Baptist, Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Three Hierarchs), and the Velika Remeta monastery houses an image of the Mother of God. All of them date from 1687 and are signed by various isographs. These pieces of art are well known to specialists and are often mentioned as an example of Russian icons beyond the borders of the Moscow kingdom. Scholars explain the appearance of these images in the Serbian lands by Russian-Serbian contacts during the early 18th century. As follows from the published archival evidence, the hegumen of the monastery of Archangel Michael in Rakovica, Gregory, was responsible for the acquisition of the icons. In 1698 and 1699, father Gregory contributed to the contacts of the Russian envoy in Constantinople with the Turkish authorities. In the summer of 1701, Gregory arrived in Moscow, where Tsar Peter praised his achievements. The hegumen was granted a charter for his monastery whose monks were entitled to arrive in Russia for alms every seven years, as well as the above four icons. According to archival documents, they were intended for the Athos Vatopedi Monastery, but for some reason remained in Moscow. The author of this article has demonstrated the absence of documents regarding the icons ordered by the Vatopedi. Furthermore, the history of the creation of the Russian icons currently located in Serbia must be linked to the order of Patriarch Dionysius IV of Constantinople.
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