Confirmation of the common autorship of two Novgorod icons of the second half of the thirteenth century. Results of technique and technology research

In 2021 – 2022, the State Tretyakov gallery carried out a comprehensive study of the icon Christ the Saviour Enthroned, with the Saints from the village Kresttsy of Novgorod region. Dated back to the last quarter of the 13th century and belonging to the group of icons with the red background, this icon has been firmly believed to have a close similarity to another one, Saint John Climacus, Saint George and Saint Blaise, which has the same provenance but more challenging past and is kept in Russian Museum in St Petersburg nowadays. Different versions of these two icons’ correlation were assumed — they could have been created by the same painter or by the painters of the same workshop or artistic association. However, the assumptions, based on the resemblance of the painting style, used to have no certain evidence. To compare the painters’ manners, the technique and technology research of these two pieces of art was undertaken. In the course of it, many important features were found out, that enabled us to compare all the stages of these two icons’ creation process, from the wooden panel to the final details of the painting technique. The results of the study ensure that both pieces were painted not only in the same workshop but by the same hand. Some existent differences are not fundamental and could have been caused by the artist’s dynamic manner of drawing and painting. These results enhance our knowledge of the painters and artistic associations of that age and therefore make more profound our understanding of the 13th-century Novgorod style formation.