Natalia M. Abramenko
(Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia)

Images of the First Russian Saint Princes Vladimir, Boris and Gleb in the Wall Painting during the Reign of the Tsar Ivan IV.

Images of the first Russian saint princes Vladimir, Boris and Gleb had a special place in artistic and ideological system of art of the period of the tsar Ivan IV. Figures of these saints were included in the iconographic programme of the wall painting of churches of the middle and of the second half of the 16th century, for example, in the murals of the portal and the interior of the Annunciation Cathedral in the royal court and in the murals of the loggia of the Archangel Cathedral of Moscow Kremlin, in the wall painting of the Cathedral of the Monastery of Our Savior and Transfiguration in Yaroslavl and of the Trinity (now — Intercession) church in Alexandrov sloboda. Images of the saint princes Vladimir, Boris and Gleb related to the topical ideas of the epoch — the origins of Russian state and Russian Orthodox Church, succession of the authority and charism, service and feats of the sovereign as defender of the veritable faith. The figures of the first Russian saint princes in the wall painting of this time were often compared and corresponded with the images of kings, prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament.