Miracle on the Sea of Galilee

(on the occasion of the 970th anniversary of the first Chronicle about Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra)

Dear friends!

We are glad to introduce the next release of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra “Artistic Heritage” to you.

Our today’s plot is “Miracle on the Sea of Galilee”, the artwork painted by Heorhij Ivanovych Popov in 1903. By this, we continue our story about wall paintings of the Refectory Chamber adjacent to the Church of St. Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk.

The painting vividly shows the skillfulness of Lavra’s artist. It is characterized by the advantageous picturesque potential, which is coded in the landscape of the work. Quite unusual is the interpretation of water. Popov strived to depict it with maximum illusiveness and managed to do that by creating water’s ephemeral mirror image. The objects’ outlines are slightly changed in the barely noticeable oscillation of the water’s surface. Circles, diverging from the feet of Apostle Peter, create color reflexes, which are instantly broken by the water substance. The topic of reflexes and advantage of their use in the painting foreground was mentioned in the works of Delacroix as far back as the middle of the 19th century. He noted that this technique significantly enhanced the decorative effect of the painting. The foreground of the “Miracles on the Sea  of Galilee” artwork fully illustrates this thesis. Heorhij Popov also took into account “water painting” technique used by the outstanding Russian artist Oleksandr Ivanov in his painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”.

Besides, Heorhij Popov used more modern or so-called “at the turn of the century” approaches in the art of painting. They were pushed by his “plein air” activities and picturesque knowledge of nature that he was obtaining afterwards. Heorhij Popov used that knowledge through “contre-jour” technique.

The figures of the disciples pull the fish nets out of the water. Their backs are turned to the setting sun. The light falls in a narrow golden strip on the shoulders of one of the Apostles and on the back of another one. Using the interaction of light and air, the master “sculpt” Apostle’s Peter torso and arms. He applies thin and transparent glazing technique to show the silverness of Apostle’s hair. The atmosphere of humidity at the lake smoothes and scatters cape - “oasis” outlines, placed at the level of the head of Christ in the composition.

However, the figure of Jesus is not subject to the changing influence of light: the artist remains conservative and consistent in interpreting the image of the Risen Jesus, avoiding both sun glare and shadow accents.

Caption to the illustration:

1. Heorhij Popov “Miracle on the Sea of Galilee”. Paintings of the Refectory Chamber at the Church of St. Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk. 1903

The text was prepared by Olena Pitateleva, the senior research worker

Research Division for the study of the artistic heritage of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve