08 Works, Today, July 15th, is Saint Vladimir Sviatoslavich's day, his story in art #196

Unknown artist

Saint Vladimir the Great

Tempera, gold leaf, solid wood, varnish

30cm x 20cm x 2cm (11.81″ x 7.87″ x 0.79″)

Private collection

Vladimir Sviatoslavich (c. 958 – 15 July 1015), called the Great, was Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, and ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015.

Unknown artist

Saint Olga

Orthodox Icon on Wood with 22k Gold Leaves

Private collection

Though his grandmother, Queen Olga, had been a Christian, his father Svyatoslav reverted to paganism, and Prince Vladimir spent the early part of his life believing and living the beliefs of the pagan Russian people. 

Anton Losenko, (1737–1773)

Vladimir and Rogneda, c. 1770

Oil on canvas

Height: 2,115 mm (83.2 in) Width: 1,775 mm (69.8 in)

Russian Museum,  Saint Petersburg

Anton Pavlovich Losenko (10 August 1737 — 4 December 1773) was a Russian neoclassical painter and academician who lived in Imperial Russia and who specialized in historical subjects and portraits. He was one of the founders of the Imperial Russian historical movement in painting.

Anton Losenko became an orphan and at the age of seven was sent to a Court Choir in Saint Petersburg. In 1753, as he had lost his voice but had shown talent for painting. After five and a half years of apprenticeship, he was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1759. In 1760, the Academy sent him to Paris to study art. In 1766-1769 Losenko worked in Rome, studying Italian art, especially the paintings of Raphael. 

In 1769, Losenko returned to Saint-Petersburg. He received an offer to present a historical painting as a way of receiving Academician status in the Imperial Academy of Arts. From an episode of Kievan Rus' history, he painted his classical canvas of Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. This painting not only brought him the title of Academician but also a professorship position at the Imperial Academy, an adjunct-professor, but from 1772 a full professor and director of the Academy. While in this position Losenko wrote a text book called "Short Explanation of the Human Proportions" that served a few generations of painters in the Russian Empire. He worked as the Director of the Academy until his death in 1773. More on Anton Pavlovich Losenko

Rogneda of Polotsk (962–1002), was a Princess consort of Rus'. She was the daughter of Ragnvald who came from Scandinavia and established himself at Polatsk in the mid-10th century.

According to the Novgorod Fourth Chronicle, in or about 980, Vladimir the Great, on learning that Rogneda was betrothed to his half-brother Yaropolk I of Kiev, took Polotsk and forced Rogneda to marry him. Having raped Rogneda in the presence of her parents, he ordered them to be killed, along with two of Rogneda's brothers. 

But Vladimir sought for something more, and sent emissaries to study the faiths of the Jews, the Muslims, the Western Christians and the Orthodox. 

Melchior Lorichs

Detail of Hagia Sophia, c. 1559 

Constantinople

Melchior Loricks, or Lorck , (1526/27 – after 1583 in Copenhagen) was a painter and publisher of Danish and German descent. He was born in Germany and became known for his splendid engravings which show images of the Ottoman empire in the 16th century. He worked in Rome (and Augsburg for the Habsburg royal family. In 1551, during the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent, he joined Ferdinand I of Germany's embassy to the Sublime Porte.

Lorichs stayed in Istanbul for approximately four years, in the caravanserai in which the German embassy was obliged to live in confinement. He drew monuments of the city, human types and their costumes, and scenes from Ottoman military life.

He returned to Western Europe in 1559 and stayed in Vienna until 1566 where he published several of his drawings, among which the celebrated panoramic view of Istanbul (11.45 x 0, 45 metres) in 21 leaves in black and brown ink, in which buildings and monuments of the city are rendered in great detail.

In 1562 Lorichs published the portrait of Suleiman I the Magnificent. He continued to receive patronage and was a renowned engraver in the courts of Europe. He participated in political and military events of his time, and drew a map of river Elbe which remains significant until today. He lived and worked in Hamburg and Antwerp. He worked on the preparation of an edition with numerous wood engravings related to society, life and traditions in the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with a promise he had made to Suleiman.

Very little is known about the fate of Lorich and his works after 1583. Only some of the engravings were published (1619, 1626). However, his works inspired the artists of his time, and illustrations of Ottomans became very sought after thanks to Lorich's works.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou

After attending services in Agia Sophia in Constantinople, they told him 'We knew not if we were on earth or in heaven,' and Prince Vladimir determined to embrace the Christian faith.

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, (1848–1926)

Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, c. 1890

Oil on canvas

State Museum of Russian Art, Kiev

Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (May 15 (N.S.), 1848 – July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered the co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalistic painting, and a key figure in the Russian revivalist movement.

Vasnetsov's father Mikhail Vasilievich Vasnetsov, known to be philosophically inclined, was a member of priesthood, and of scholarly dictation in the natural sciences and astronomy. His grandfather was an icon painter. It was in Lopyal that Viktor started to paint, mostly landscapes and scenes of village life. 

In the late 1870s Vasnetsov concentrated on illustrating Russian fairy tales and the epic narrative poem Bylinas, executing some of his best known pieces

These works were not appreciated at the time they appeared. Many radical critics dismissed them as undermining the realist principles of the Peredvizhniki. The vogue for Vasnetsov's paintings would spread in the 1880s, when he turned to religious subjects and executed a series of icons for Abramtsevo estate of his patron Savva Mamontov.

In 1884-1889 Vasnetsov was commissioned to paint frescos in the St Vladimir's Cathedral of Kiev. This was a challenging work which ran contrary to both Russian and Western traditions of religious paintings. 

While living in Kiev, Vasnetsov made friends with Mikhail Vrubel, who was also involved in the cathedral's decoration. While they worked together, Vasnetsov taught the younger artist a great deal. It was in Kiev that Vasnetsov finally finished Ivan Tsarevich Riding a Grey Wolf and started his most famous painting, the Bogatyrs.


He died in Moscow in 1926. More on Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov


He was baptised in Cherson in 988, receiving the name Basil. "He came forth from the font not only healed of a blindness lately afflicting him, but also from being passionate and warlike, he became meek, peaceable, and exceedingly godly." (Great Horologion). 

After Vladimir converted to Christianity he had to divorce all his previous wives, including Rogneda. After that, she entered the convent and took the name Anastasia.

Unknown artist

Anna Porphyrogenita, Princess of Kiev and the Christianization of Rus

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

He married Princess Anna, sister of the Emperor, and returned home with a retinue of priests from Constantinople. He immediately set about building a Christian nation: casting down the idols, baptizing the people, and establishing a Christian government. 

Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov

Baptism of Russia, c.  1896

Preparatory composition for painting the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev,

Oil on canvas

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, see above.

His legislation for his recently barbarian nation was modeled on the Gospel, and in its conformity to Christ's commandments exceeded even the other Christian nations of the time. He reposed in peace in 1015, leaving behind a kingdom that grew to be the largest Orthodox nation in the world.

 Ilya Glazunov

Eternal Russia

 Moscow State Art Gallery

Ilya Glazunov (10 June 1930 – 9 July 2017) was a Russian artist from Saint Petersburg. He was the founder of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow where he also served as a rector up until his death. He held the title of People's Artist of Russia.


Ilya Glazunov's paintings have mostly historic or religious themes.

As a child, Glazunov attended a children's school of arts, and later a secondary art school in the historical district of Petrogradskaya Storona.

During the Great Patriotic War he survived the Siege of Leningrad. In 1942 the then-eleven-year-old was transported from besieged Leningrad along the Road of Life. In 1944 he returned to Leningrad and studied in the Leningrad Secondary Art School. From 1951 to 1957 he studied art at the I. Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

IGlazunov's success at the International Competition of Young Artists in Prague prompted the opening of his first single exhibition in Moscow in 1957. Soon after in the 1960s, he traveled to Italy for the first time to paint the portraits of many famous actors and actress, including Gina Lollobrigida and Anita Ekberg. He also painted portraits of many political leaders. In 1978, Glazunov started teaching in the Moscow University of Art. In 1987 he founded the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

During the 1970s he stood against the general plan for restoration of Moscow that threatened to ruin part of the historic center of Moscow. The project was made public, then heavily criticized and, as a result, was cancelled. This also led to the creation of the civil committee that monitored other reconstruction plans. Glazunov was one of the co-founders of the All-Russian Society for Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments.


Glazunov died from heart failure on 9 July 2017 at the age of 87. More on Ilya Glazunov

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