The calendar for 2017 is a joint project of the Museum of Volyn Icon and Volyn Regional Printing House, aimed to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Yov Kondzelevych and promote his artistic heritage. Volyn authorities adopted a program of celebrating the famous icon painter’s anniversary, which involves publishing an album entitled Yov Kondzelevych and Volyn, holding a scholarly conference at the Museum of Volyn Icon, lectures, quizzes, creative competitions in schools, and more. The Volyn Local History Museum has submitted proposals to the National Bank of Ukraine and Ukrposhta for minting a commemorative coin and releasing a commemorative stamp to honor Kondzelevych.
Kondzelevych, who was born c. 1667 and died between 1740-1748, was a monk of the Bilostok Monastery near the town of Torchyn, an Orthodox church leader in Volyn, and an icon painter. He is recognized as the most prominent figure in the history of Ukrainian painting at the turn of the 18th century. He led an icon-painting studio which created iconostases in Zahoriv, Lokachi, and Bohorodchany as well as individual icons not only in Volyn, but elsewhere as well. The largest set of artworks representing creative heritage of Kondzelevych and artists of his circle is now on display at the Museum of Volyn Icon.
The calendar presents 11 icons from the collection of the Museum of Volyn Icon which were painted by Kondzelevych and artists of his circle in the 17th and early 18th centuries as well as early-18th-century icons Baptism and Intercession of the Mother of God from a Volyn church. They depict Christ Almighty, St. George the Dragon-Slayer, Prophets, Saints Cosmas and Damian, and John the Evangelist. Multi-figure compositions are interesting as well; they include The Lamentation of Jesus Christ, The Annunciation, and The Temptation of Jesus Christ.
ICON MOTHER OF GOD WITH ANTHONY AND THEODOSIUS OF THE CAVES MONASTERY / ALL SAINTS. THE FRAGMENT DEPICTING THE MOTHER OF GOD AND DIVINE INFANT IS FEATURED ON THE CALENDAR’S COVER / Photo replica courtesy of the author
The front cover of the calendar features the icon Mother of God with Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves Monastery, also known as All Saints, which has a special story of its own. It is a khorugv (church banner) done in oil on canvas for Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery in Zahoriv in 1722, probably by Kondzelevych. It was then transferred to St. Michael’s Church in the village of Velyky Okorsk, Lokachi raion. The icon has been attributed to Kondzelevych by governor of the Museum of Volyn Icon Tetiana Yelisieieva, who told us that the godless Communist-era authorities had closed down the shrine and intended to use the icons as exhibits at… the atheism museum in Lokachi. They were kept in unsuitable premises and suffered a lot from the elements. Restorers have concluded that the icon Mother of God with Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves Monastery / All Saints, which now graces the new calendar’s front cover, was created in the 17th century, and its masterful technique, style used to paint holy faces, modeling of clothes’ folds “originate in the works of such masters as Kondzelevych.”
The calendar will be a good keepsake purchase for tourists and Volynians themselves.
