Joseph Vladimirov (up. 1642-1666)

Vladimirov JOSEPH (Osip), years of life are unknown - Russian painter and flag bearers Armory, a native of Yaroslavl, a participant of large paintings and works in Moscow stenopisnyh 40 - 60 years of the XVII century. (Paintings of the Assumption and the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki), a friend and associate of Simon Ushakov , Russian author of the first treatise on art compiled in the form of a letter - "The Message of a izugrafa Joseph to Tsarev izugrafu wisest and painter Simon Fedorovich."
 This work - a rare example of Russian theoretical thought XVII century in the humanitarian field. It opens with an address to the Ushakov and consists of two parts. The first, consisting of 36 chapters, a summary statement about the art of the ancient authors.
second is devoted to the controversy VI Serb Archdeacon John Pleshkovichem - apologist for conservative views on art. The essence of this debate is to attempt to VI reconcile traditional aesthetic values ​​with innovative methods of creative thinking, actively penetrates the XVII-th century to Russia from the West. Conformism VI manifested in the division of their ancient tradition of true and false: that is not all ancient traditions bequeathed by God, there are those that invented by people, and therefore can be wrong and harmful. For example, "in staropisanii many are gained rave from unskilful painters."

Adherents of the old manner of writing (like Avvakum) argued that it is necessary to depict saints with dark faces and emaciated bodies. VI mind: not all "kind of humanity united guises created," and not all "holy swarthy and scanty" was made flesh. Nor were all the old icons initially dark in color, on the contrary - they were bright and "Lightbringer - this time has left its mark on them. Many saints in life was "good-looking", even if he was a gaunt face and dark, after the death of "enlightened his face than the sun," and indeed this is the need to portray it. After all, the beauty of the Virgin Mary and the saints people need to see the original beauty of man, which was granted to him by God, and he lost in the Fall.

Treatise VI, because it contained the arguments of the beautiful, can be called the first in the Russian science art history research. Here for the first time as a major in the evaluation of works of art extends the criterion of artistry. A truly fine art image executed, noble, spirited, sense-perceived beauty - the so-VI formulates the aesthetic ideal of the time, consisting in the unity of beauty, truth and holiness. Beauty for VI is inseparable from the "zhivopodobiya", which is a necessary quality of the work, because they were different the first image, the "true likeness" of Christ (Veronica Platt, see The Holy Face) and Our Lady ("portrait", written by St. Luke from nature).

 Favorable perception proclaimed Western artists of the Renaissance aesthetic ideal as a combination of beauty and lifelike also meant the adoption of Western art as a role model. VI, in contrast to their opponents, those who curse "Latin heresy", speaks with admiration of the elegance and professionalism of Western painting.