Features in the image of the clothes of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in the iconography of the West Siberian region: on the research of museum collections

Abstract

This article discusses the iconography of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in the West Siberian region, specifically focusing on the depiction of the saint's robes. In recent decades, Siberian icons have attracted the attention of scholars from various disciplines, including art studies, history, and museology, who have contributed to the dissemination of new iconographic monuments through scientific publications. However, it is not solely the descriptive aspect that holds significance; the analysis of the accumulated material, which is extensively represented in the museum collections of the region under scrutiny, is equally crucial. This research, outlined in the article, aims to identify groups of art monuments with similar features and formulate hypotheses about the origins of their features. The study draws upon collections from museums in the Omsk, Novosibirsk, and Tyumen Regions, documented in the State Catalogue of the Russian Museum Fund. The analysis has identified two groups of monuments featuring conventional depictions of crosses in the iconography of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the simplest plant ornament on the saint's upper garment. The majority of the monuments included in the aforementioned groups have been described by art historians as Suzun icons. The documentary material gathered by art historians and local historians in their research on the exploration and settlement of Siberia, as well as the development of the Suzun neighbourhood, has allowed for hypotheses about the origins of these features, with the first group likely influenced by northern or Ural Old Believers icons and the second group by south-western Russian icons, particularly the Vetka icon-painting tradition.