Iconographer's Sketchbook, An: Drawings & Patterns Volume I - Iconography - Book

Translator: Gregory Melnick Published:1998 Size: 8.25x11 Pages: 250  Paperback + This book is one I wish I had thirty years ago. Then, it was difficult to find suitable patterns and models for icons. Here (with Volumes I and II) are almost 400 tracings of antique icons that are not the 'classics' found in all albums of Russian icons, but rather represent iconography as it was known at the end of the nineteenth century when there was a 'return to basics.' At the beginning of the twentieth century, people did not know what classic Russian icons looked like. Genuine icons were not accessible since old icons were painted over or were locked away in royal churches and chapels. Many icons were covered with elaborate jeweled covers revealing only the faces and hands. These current volumes contain patterns which have been completely redone, “translated,” if you will, to make them more useful. The originals were printed in reverse, without test or explanations, apart from the Russian Titles.