Peculiarities of the Design of the Gospels of the 18th Century Based on the Collection of the Moscow Theological Academy

Abstract

This article examines the features of development, changes in iconography, de­sign elements, and issues of the relationship between traditional and new artistic elements in the Gospels of the 18th century in the context of church art of the era using the book col­lection of the Moscow Theological Academy as an example. An attempt is made to reveal the evolution of ornamental and decorative styles during the 18th century in the zastavit- sy, colophons, initial letters, frames, title page and frontispiece of the engraving. The Gos­pels of the pre-Petrine, Petrine and post-Petrine periods are considered. The main styles of design elements are revealed: baroque, rococo, late baroque. The article discusses the influ­ence of printing techniques (woodcut, etching, copper engraving) on the image and quali­ty of the engraving. Much attention is paid to the study of the formation of book design us­ing Ukrainian engraving, which adopted Western stylistic and iconographic patterns. The engravers also borrowed artistic forms from the illuminated Bibles of Western Europe, tak­ing the engravings of Christoph Weigel, Nikolai Piscator and Matthias Merian as examples.