Western European iconographic sources in the works of Semyon Spiridonov of Kholmogory

This article is a continuation of the work that the author started back in the early 1980s, the conclusions of which have not lost their relevance. Moreover, in recent years, serious confirmations and new important facts have been found. The article clarifies and examines the main Western European iconographic sources that were in the field of view of one of the most gifted isographers of the second half of the XVII century, Semyon Spiridonov of Kholmogory. The characteristic of the peculiarities of his work with such popular in XVI-XVII centuries Russia pieces of art as various editions of the illuminated Bibles of Nicholas Piscator and Peter van der Borcht, illustrated by Dutch engravers of the XVI century, is given. In the works of the northerner, the principles corresponding to the general rules of the work of Russian artists with similar samples, and individual, peculiar only to Semyon of Kholmogory, are revealed. The most probable ways of the master’s acquaintance with the works of Western European art that influenced his work are also considered.