Parsuna
Parsuna ( Russian Парсуна , derived from Latin persona ) are a form of portrait painting in Tsarist Russia and in the early phase of the Russian Empire . Her style is derived from icon painting and represents an intermediate step towards more realistic portraits.
Concept formation
The word parsuna was originally used in the 17th century as a synonym for secular portraits, regardless of style, pictorial technique, place and time of production. In 1851 a richly illustrated catalog of the antiquities of the Russian Empire was published by Ivan Snegirev . In Section IV of this publication, Snegirev wrote a chapter that for the first time contained a compilation of materials on the history of the Russian portrait and in which the specific term parsuna was used for the first time in a scientific context. Later parsuna was used exclusively for early Russian portraits.
Characteristic
The parsuna was painted on a wooden board like an icon. In contrast to the icon, a natural person was depicted on the parsuna. The figure was initially painted rigidly from a line perspective. Parsuna emerged in the 16th century when traditional Russian icon painting was in decline. In the 17th century, canvas was increasingly used as a painting surface instead of a wooden board.
Russian parsuna are close to the works of Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish and Lithuanian portrait painting of the 15th to 18th centuries, which are often also referred to as parsuna. In the course of the 18th century, the Russian painters adopted the Western European style of portrait painting , also thanks to the support of Tsar Peter the Great , and the Parsuna for their part disappeared.
Famous parsuna originated from Ivan the Terrible (late 16th century), his son Fyodor I (late 16th century) and Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuiski (17th century). By depicting a person through a parsuna, the social position of the person was underlined, which is why this data is often included in the pictures. In contrast to western portraits, parsuna were often made by serfs.
Ivan IV (the terrible)
Fyodor I.
Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky
Regent Sofia Alexeyevna
Tsarina Natalja Kirillovna Naryshkina
Parsuna of the young Peter I.
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literature
- Antonia Napp: Russian portraits: Gender difference in painting between 1760 and 1820. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20200-2 .
Web links
- Jennifer R. Tishler: Introduction to Russian Civilization: Portrait Painting under Elizabeth and Catherine.
- When is an Icon not an Icon? Russian parsuna.