The Ukrainian Icon

Icon painting, the ultimate expression of Orthodox Christian art, reached its zenith in the Ukraine between the 11th and 18th centuries. This book spans the entire period, showing the development of the style. The Ukrainian is a surprising synthesis of the traditions of eastern Byzantine art and the stylistic characteristics of Russian icon-painting. The introduction to this book explains the stages of development of icon-painting over five centuries and discusses the life and work of the masters of icon-painting. The magnificent, full-color photographs include complete iconostasises as well as individual icons painted in the Episcopal and monastic workshops. There are also icons painted in rural environments for home use, which are beautiful examples of naive art. Each painting is fully captioned with a complete description of the provenance.