Moscow school

The Moscow school is the name given to the architectural and painting school that grew up in the 14th to 16th centuries as the Principality of Moscow rose to dominate Russia. Its architecture began from the white-stone buildings of Vladimir and Rostov, preserving a synthesis of Byzantine and Romanesque forms: the first stone church in Moscow was laid in 1326, and by the late 15th century Italian masters such as Aristotle Fioravanti were rearing the Kremlin cathedrals on Muscovite precedent. The painting ran parallel - the icon tradition of Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev and Dionysius - so that architecture and image share a vertical, heavenward emphasis, rich surface decoration and a calm, hieratic gravity. Together they defined the official art of the Russian state into the 16th century.

Defining characteristics

• White-stone and brick churches with helmet domes and tall, vertical proportions
• Byzantine and Romanesque forms fused in local variation (arcaded galleries, carved portals)
• Whole interiors covered in fresco and icon programs arranged in tiered, hieratic registers
• Luminous, flat colour and gold on the painting side, free of cast shadow
• Calm, monumental gravity serving devotion and princely prestige

Key figures

• Theophanes the Greek (c. 1340-c. 1410) — Byzantine-trained painter of Moscow's early frescoes and icons
• Andrei Rublev (c. 1360-1430) — Master icon painter of the school's classic period
• Dionysius (c. 1440-1508) — Painter of monumental icon programs and frescoes in the mature school
• Aristotle Fioravanti (c. 1415-c. 1486) — Italian engineer-architect who built the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral (1475-79) on Muscovite precedent

Example works

• Dormition Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin — Aristotle Fioravanti (1475-1479)
• Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye — Unknown architect (1532)
• Trinity — Andrei Rublev (c. 1425)

Sources

• Moscow school - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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