Study of the paint layer and ground of icons of the central iconostasis of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Monastery

The article presents the results of the study of painting technological features of the central iconostasis of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Monastery - one of the significant, but little-studied icon painting ensembles of the late 16th century. In the course of the work the chemical composition of microsamples of the author's and repaint’s layers of twenty five icons was investigated. Among them 19 icons belong to the Forefather, the Prophetical, the Deisis and the Festival rows and represent a single complex; five icons from the Sovereign row, which сonsist of different works of Old Russian icon painting, which have their own technological features. For the first time, the icon of the Last Supper from the top of Holy Gates was examined, for which the time of creation, as well as the technique of painting were determined and specified. The analysis of artistic materials was carried out using a set of physicochemical and optical methods, such as polarization microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis, Raman microspectroscopy, infrared microspectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence analysis and microchemical analysis. Using cross-sections, it was possible to investigate the layer-by-layer structure of the paint layers. As a result, we obtained information about the technological features of painting icons of different times, the pigment composition of the author's paint layers and repaint’s layers preserved in some areas, as well as revealed the causes of color changes in a number of icons.