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Ukrainian Baroque

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The St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv represents one of the most typical examples of Ukrainian Baroque architecture.

Ukrainian Baroque (Ukrainian: Українське бароко), also known as Cossack Baroque (Ukrainian: Козацьке бароко) or Mazepa Baroque,[1] is an artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and European Baroque.

History

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Thanks to influences from Western Europe, from the late 16th century the lands of modern Ukraine came under the influence of the secularized Baroque form of art and architecture, which was still unknown in the neighbouring Tsardom of Russia.[2] According to the historian Serhii Plokhy, Petro Mohyla, the Metropolitan of Kyiv from 1633 to 1647, was crucial in developing the style as part of his drive to reform the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and adapt the Church to the challenges of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.[3] Ukrainian Baroque reached its apogee in the time of the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa, from 1687 to 1708. Mazepa Baroque is an original synthesis of Western European Baroque architectural forms and Ukrainian national Baroque architectural traditions.

Architectural style

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See also: Baroque architecture
St. Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv

Ukrainian Baroque is distinct from the Western European Baroque in having more moderate ornamentation and simpler forms, and as such was considered more constructivist. Many Ukrainian Baroque buildings have been preserved, including several buildings in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and the Vydubychi Monastery in Kyiv. The historian Andrew Wilson has identified All Saints' Church, the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Trinity Gate within the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra as good examples of the style, along with St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv and St. Catherine's in Chernihiv.[4] The exterior of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv also underwent significant alterations in the Baroque style.[5] Another example of the style is the Church of St. Elias in Subotiv, where Bohdan Khmelnytsky buried his son Tymish in 1653 after his death in battle.[6] The church is also depicted on the ₴5 note.

Holy Trinity Church

Notable architects

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Baroque sculptor Johann Georg Pinsel, who was active during the mid-18th century in Galicia, was the subject of a special exhibition at the Louvre in Paris in 2012–2013. Pinsel, which demonstrated a unique, masterful expressiveness of form and a highly personal characterization of drapery is now recognized as a leading figure in European Baroque sculpture.[7] Italian Baroque architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who is best known for designing the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg and Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, also made contributions to the Ukrainian Baroque style, designing St. Andrew's Church and Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv.[8] The palace is now used as the official residence of the President of Ukraine. Galician architect Bernard Meretyn designed the ornate St. George's Cathedral, Lviv, used as a mother church by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[9]

Other notable Baroque archiects active in Ukraine include:

Influence

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Certain features of Ukrainian Baroque architecture influenced the Naryshkin Baroque movement in the 17th–18th century in Moscow.[10][11] Modern Ukrainian church buildings, such as Troieshchyna Cathedral, are also built in this style, but it is not typical for Ukrainian Baroque. Elements of the Ukrainian Baroque style were later adapted by the Ukrainian-Canadian community when building their own churches, adapted for the wooden church architecture more typical in Canadian-Ukrainian churches.[12]

Ukrainian Baroque art

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See also: Ivan Rutkovych
Crucifixion of Jesus on a 1699 Ukrainian Baroque icon from Pyriatyn, with a portrait of Lubny colonel Leontiy Svichka on the left.

Baroque style in Ukrainian art dominated from around 1600 until the late 18th century. Starting from the 16th century Ukrainian religious artists abandoned most elements of Byzantine art and adopted a clearer, more laconic style influenced by folk art motives and characterized by joyous features. Ukrainian icons created during that period are characterized with saturated colours and rich decorative elements. Baroque art from Ukraine influenced iconographers in the broader region and was mentioned in accounts by contemporaries, such as Paul of Aleppo.[13] The best examples of Baroque painting in Ukraine are the church paintings in the Holy Trinity Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Rapid development in engraving techniques occurred during the Ukrainian Baroque period. Advances utilized a complex system of symbolism, allegories, heraldic signs, and sumptuous ornamentation.[14]

Baroque literature in Ukraine

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See also: Ukrainian literature

In Ukrainian lands Baroque literature flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries and was dominated by religious and spiritual topics, as most of its authors were clergymen. According to Dmytro Chyzhevsky, the first Ukrainian writer to use elements of Baroque style in his works was Ivan Vyshenskyi; Baroque aesthetics are also characteristic for some parts of the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. Pivotal events in the development of Baroque literature in Ukraine were the foundation of Kyiv Brotherhood School (later known as Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) in 1615 and the restoration of Eastern Orthodox hierarchy in 1620. Main representatives of Baroque culture in Ukrainian lands during that time were Orthodox clergymen and professors of Kyiv Academy. Baroque poetry was a subject taught in Ukrainian higher schools until the end of the 18th century, producing a number of prominent authors creating in that style. The majority of Baroque authors in Ukraine created their works in the Church Slavonic language, but also included many elements from common Ukrainian speech of that time, as well as from Polish and Russian languages.[15] The flowering of Baroque literature in Ukraine helped lay the foundations for Russian secular literature.[16]

Notable Baroque authors from Ukraine

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"Not equal equality" - a drawing by Hryhorii Skovoroda used by him to explain his philosophical views
An example of Ukrainian Baroque handwriting from Baturyn, 1681

Graphic design

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See also: Ukrainian skoropys

A Baroque-influenced type of Cyrillic handwriting script was used in documents of the Cossack Hetmanate in Ukraine during the 16-18th centuries.

Baroque music in Ukraine

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See also: Ukrainian music

During the Baroque era znamenny chant in Ukrainian music was replaced with part song. One of the most important musical theorists in Ukraine during that time was Mykola Dyletsky, a composer from Kyiv. Among other Ukrainian Baroque composers were Symeon Pekalytsky, Ivan Domaratsky and Herman Levytsky. Music was included in the curriculum of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, whose alumni popularized Baroque musical genres such as vertep and cant song [uk].

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Ukrainian Baroque architecture

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Ukrainian Baroque art

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  • Hetman Mazepa's coat of arms from the facade of Chernihiv Collegium
    Hetman Mazepa's coat of arms from the facade of Chernihiv Collegium
  • Engraving by Ivan Shchyrskyi honouring P. Kalachynskyi, rector of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, 1698
    Engraving by Ivan Shchyrskyi honouring P. Kalachynskyi, rector of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, 1698
  • 17th-century portrait of metropolitan Petro Mohyla
    17th-century portrait of metropolitan Petro Mohyla
  • Front page of Petro Mohyla's Euchologion, 1646
    Front page of Petro Mohyla's Euchologion, 1646
  • Portrait of Don Cossack ataman Danilo Efremov, created by artists from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, before 1760
    Portrait of Don Cossack ataman Danilo Efremov, created by artists from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, before 1760

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kollmann, Nancy Shields (2017). The Russian Empire 1450-1801. Oxford University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-19-928051-3.
  2. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2015). The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (4th ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-300-21725-4.
  3. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe. New York: Basic Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.
  4. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2015). The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (4th ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-300-21725-4.
  5. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe. New York: Basic Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.
  6. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe. New York: Basic Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.
  7. ^ Scherf, Guilhem. "Johann Georg Pinsel, A Baroque Sculptor in 18th-Century Ukraine". Musée du Louvre. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  8. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2015). The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (4th ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-300-21725-4.
  9. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2015). The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (4th ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-300-21725-4.
  10. ^ Власов В. Г. Большой энциклопедический словарь изобразительного искусства В 8т. Нарышкинский стиль
  11. ^ "The Meaning of the Domes in Orthodox Church Architecture". Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (OCA). 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  12. ^ Thomas Kordan, Diana (1988). "Tradition in a New World:Ukrainian-Canadian Churches in Alberta" (PDF). Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada Bulletin. 1 (13): 3. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  13. ^ "ІКОНОТВОРЧІСТЬ ТА УКРАЇНСЬКЕ ІКОНОМАЛЯРСТВО". Енциклопедія історії України (in Ukrainian). 2005. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  14. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe. New York: Basic Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.
  15. ^ Чижевський Дмитро (2003). Українське літературне бароко. Київ: Обереги. pp. 268–330. ISBN 966513051X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  16. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe. New York: Basic Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.

Further reading

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