Simon (Pimen) Fyodorovich Ushakov (; – 25 June 1686) was a Russian icon painter. Together with Fyodor Zubov and Fyodor Rozhnov, he is associated with the comprehensive reform of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

undertaken by Patriarch Nikon. Ushakov is also credited with popularizing the genre of secular portrait painting in Russia, known as ''parsuna''.

Life

Almost nothing about the early years of Simon Ushakov is known. His birth date is deduced from his inscription on one of the icons: "In the year 7166 painted this icon Simon Ushakov son, being 32 years of age". At the age of 22, he became a paid artist of the Silver Chamber, affiliated with the armory ''

prikaz A prikaz (; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive bureaucracy , office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia from the 15th ...

''. The bright, fresh colours and exquisite, curving lines of his proto-

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

icons caught the eye of Patriarch Nikon, who introduced Simon to the tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. He became a great favourite with the royal family and was eventually in 1664 assigned to the Kremlin Armoury, run by an educated

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

called Bogdan Khitrovo. Ushakov had a lot of pupils and associates and even published a short treatise on icon-painting entitle
''A Word to Loving-Meticulous Icon Painting''
in 1664. Some of the more conservative Russian priests, such as archpriest

Avvakum Avvakum Petrov (; 20 November 1620/1621 – 14 April 1682; also spelled Awakum) was a Russian Old Believer and protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church. H ...

, regarded his icons as "lascivious works of devil", for they were too Western for their tastes. Avvakum, in particular, alleged that Ushakov painted his "fleshly saints" after his own portly appearance. Later scholars in the 19th-century regarded Ushakov as starting the "decline" of icon painting. Ushakov also executed secular commissions and produced engravings for book illustrations. In other words, he was one of the first secular painters in Russia. Some of his icons, transported to Western Europe, were instrumental in fomenting interest for nascent Russian painting. He is regarded as a pioneer of Western influence in portrait painting and engravings for books. He died on 25 June 1686 in Moscow.

Selected works

File:Ushakov Great Archierey.jpg, ''Christ, the Great Hierarch'',

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum () of Russia is a museum of History of Russia, Russian history located between Red Square and Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, Manege Square in Moscow. The museum's exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that li ...

(1658) File:Simon Ushakov Mary Tree.jpg, ''Our Lady of Vladimir, Tree of the Muscovite State'', State Tretyakov Gallery (1668) File:SimonUshakov OurLadyOfEleus.jpg, '' Our Lady of Eleus'', State Tretyakov Gallery (1668) File:Simon Ushakov Archangel Mikhail and Devil.JPG, ''Archangel Michael Trampling the Devil Underfoot'', State Tretyakov Gallery (1676) File:Ushakov Christ Emmanuel.jpg, ''Christ Emmanuel'', State Russian Museum (1668)

References

Sources

Chapter on Ushakov and his school from Igor Grabar's ''History of Russian Art''
*V. N. Alexandrov, ''History of Russian Art'', Minsk, 2004,

External links

– in Russian

– in Russian {{DEFAULTSORT:Ushakov, Simon 17th-century Russian painters Russian male painters Russian icon painters 1626 births 1686 deaths