Russian full-length deesis tier: copies and stemmas. St. Basil the great and the left martyr

The article focuses on the role of samples in Russian iconography. The problem of copying and the possibility of genealogical research of icon images is considered on large, diverse and widespread material of full-length Deesis icons. The action takes place on the field of ideas about total copying and the common origin of the majority of Russian growth Deesis images, which ideas exist in the art critics, and especially about the ability to build their “family tree”. The question of the role of the Deesis rank of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin as an iconographic model for other Russian Deesis through the iconostases of the Vladimir assumption Cathedral and the Trinity Cathedral of St. Sergius Lavra in the form of intermediate links is raised. The innovation of the proposed approach consists in comparison of the drawings of the contours of the picture of the icon images under consideration, which makes it possible to visualize the drawing in all details and to assess the degree of iconographic proximity and the possible “genetic” connection of these icons: the use of one as a sample for the other. The study is performed on the icons of St. Basil the Great and the martyrs.