Theophan the Greek (ca. 1340–1410)
THOMAS KITSON
Only two of the master icon painter Theophan’s works in the Russian lands remain: the frescoes in Novgorod’s Transfiguration Church (1379) and the deisis row of the iconostasis in the Annunciation Cathedral of Moscow’s Kremlin (before 1405), where he worked with his student, St. Andrei Rublev. Nothing of his earlier life is certain, though he possibly came from Constantinople to Novgorod around 1370. He may have been influenced by the 14th-century hesychast controversies in Constantinople. His striking Novgorod frescoes emphasize ascetic labor with an ethereal, nearly monochromatic, reddish-brown palette, over which white, green, and blue brushstrokes create lightning-like effects. Rublev adopted but softened his highly individual treatment of faces and hands.
SEE ALSO: Hesychasm; Iconography, Styles of; Icons; Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of; St. Andrei Rublev (ca. 1360–1430)
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Hamilton, G. H. (1983) The Art and Architecture of Russia. London: Penguin.
Parry, K. (2001) “Theophan the Greek,” in K. Parry et al. (eds.) The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Oxford: Blackwell.