Kiev School
 You'll
find some of these icons attributed to the Novgorodian, Yaroslav,
or Rostov-Suzdal School of icon painting. The confusion stems
from mixing two approaches, chronological and geographical,
in placing the works within a specific school. If one assumes
a purely chronological approach, as we do here, then the earliest
Russian icons, no matter in what city they were created, should
be attributed to the Kievan School. This school was active
from the end of the 10th century, the time of Christianization
of Russia, until Kiev was sacked and burned by the Mongols
in 1240. And even though there might have been some icon painting
in Kiev after the fall of of the capital, the center of icon
painting moved to the north, to Novgorod.
The first icons were brought to Russia
from the Byzantine Empire and from Bulgaria, which became
an intermediary between Constantinople and Kiev, supplying
the newly Christianized state with books, icons, and liturgical
objects necessary for the celebration of the mass. We may
suspect that the first painters in Kiev were also Greeks or
Byzantinized South Slavs. They became teachers of the first
Russian painters and gave them a sound training in the Byzantine
style and tradition. Since Russians were always exceedingly
adept not only at blind mimicking but at taking a step forward,
they quickly learned how to extend the Byzantine style and
tradition and make it their own. The early Russian (Kievan)
style was still quite dependent on the Byzantine. The compositions
were monumental, uncluttered, and simple. Some icons exhibited
close affinities with the art of classical antiquity. Most
Kievan School icons were painted in darker, more somber tones
and were often large in dimensions because they were hand
hewn with an axe from a large piece of wood. However, the
Russians very quickly abandoned the Byzantine tradition of
portraying Christ Pantokrator as a severe and strict judge
and started developing a more "humane," understanding,
and forgiving image of Christ, the Savior and the Redeemer.
This tendency led later, in the Novgorodian and Moscow traditions
to the development of a Savior type best known from the work
of Andrei Rublev,
and to the appearance of the "Russian" variants
of many saints, particularly St. Nicholas and St. George.
[S.H. and A.B.]
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