Ikony anonimowego malarza z zachodniej Łemkowszczyzny z lat 80. XVII wieku: Charakterystyka stylu .......... 29

ICONS OF AN ANONYMOUS PAINTER FROM THE WESTERN LEMKIVSHCHYNA FROM THE 1680S: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STYLE

The main purpose of the article is to characterize the style of the icon painter from Maciejowa and Królowa Ruska in the Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz (southern Poland), and to ascribe other surviving works in western Lemkivshchyna to his workshop. The research was conducted using the method of stylistic and comparative analysis, and, to a lesser degree, iconographic analysis. As a result of research conducted in this manner, it was possible to ascribe to this anonymous painter over 40 icons, exhibited in the Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz, the Parish Museum in Grybów, the Orthodox church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Berest and Saint Demetrius in Bogusza. The creator of these icons had an expressive and distinctive style. He painted using a traditional technique; with distemper on a wooden plank, with representations against a neutral painted background, or engraved with a plant pattern and gilded. He placed his icons in architectural and sculptural frames and liked closing his representations with an arch at the top. Despite the traditional distemper technique, his style is innovative and is an inherent part of the painting and three-dimensional trend which coexisted in the 17th century in Lemkivshchyna’s painting with the plane-linear trend. This affiliation is corroborated by successful attempts to show the third dimension on a plane, value modelling of solids and the predominance of painting values over graphic ones.