Sergei Zotov
Sergei holds a BA and MA in German, Literature, and Translation, and an MA in Cultural Studies from the Russian Anthropological School at RSUH Moscow. His Erasmus experience was at UA Barcelona. After this, Sergei worked as a researcher on two projects on alchemical images and medieval book history at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel. He also held fellowships in Wolfenbüttel, Gotha, and Berlin. As a PhD candidate at the University of Warwick’s Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, funded by the Chancellor’s International Scholarship, Sergei conducted research that connects Renaissance manuscript iconography with the history of alchemy. He also has authored two and coauthored three monographs on history and art history, including two award-winning works.
Supervisors: Ingrid De Smet, Michael Bycroft, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Irina Protopopova, and Vadim Mikhailin
Supervisors: Ingrid De Smet, Michael Bycroft, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Irina Protopopova, and Vadim Mikhailin
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Abstract (DE): In vielen illustrierten alchemischen Manuskripten finden sich Bilder von Öfen. Ab dem 16. Jahrhundert werden sie – wie auch Phiolen, Destillierkolben und andere Laborutensilien – häufig allegorisch dargestellt. Öfen wurden mitunter durch Figuren symbolisiert, die mit Feuer verbunden wurden: Höllenmund, Dämon oder Drache. In anderen Fällen wurden alchemische Öfen aufgrund ihrer ähnlichen Form als Gebäude dargestellt. Auch der Baum war ein Symbol für den alchemischen Ofen. Doch all diesen Typen allegorischer Ofendarstellungen gemein ist, dass sie Alchemie auf der Bildebene mit anderen lebensweltlich oder kulturell bedeutenden Phänomenen wie Technologie, Religion oder Mythologie verbanden. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass diese allegorischen Bilder wohl durch Handbücher der Militärtechnologie wie Bellifortis oder De re militari inspiriert wurden.
In this paper, I would like to visualise this evolution on example of images created by Matthäus Merian the Elder, who actively used motifs from older alchemical works, mainly manuscripts, and whose new motifs became iconic in the later tradition of alchemical illumination. Firstly, I will consider the two oldest European alchemical treatises with allegorical images, namely a French alchemical miscellany and the work of Gratheus. This is necessary because there is almost no research on these works’ iconography which is of crucial importance for the entire later tradition. Secondly, I will examine the main types of allegories that appeared in these works and will then show how Merian re-used them in his printed works (Atalanta fugiens and the Book of Lambspring). Finally, I will also demonstrate how the motifs created by Merian and the ancient motifs already known were amalgamated into allegories in the later illuminated treatises.
Poganska Drugost u kršćanskoj Crkvi: ikonografija antičkih filozofa i mislilaca u Rusiji i na Balkanu Ruska pravoslavna ikonografija antičkih filozofa i mislilaca dugo je u fokusu zanimanja zapadnih i ruskih istraživača. Grčki i rimski filozofi prikazani u slikama u ruskim crkvama i drugim vizualnim medijima nemaju gotovo ništa zajedničko sa stvarnim povijesnim filozofima: njihovi su se prikazi temeljili na bizantskim apokrifima, u kojima su filozofi bili predstavljeni kao pravedni pogani, naviještajući Kristov dolazak mnogo prije njegova rođenja. Autor u ovome radu uvodi tri nova izvora za istraživanje teme: slike u temperi iz 18. stoljeća s prikazima Hermesa i Afrodite, te freske iz 17. stoljeća skinute sa zidova moskovskog Novospaskog samostana s prikazima Aristotela, Solona, Plutarha i Anarhasisa, čuvaju se u Državnom povijesnom muzeju u Moskvi, dok se jedna ilustrirana zbirka aforizama helenskih mudraca iz 17. stoljeća (Melissa) nalazi u zbirci Ruske nacionalne knjižnice u Sankt Peterburgu. Autor u tekstu uspostavlja tipologiju antičkih filozofa (kako su ih nazivali u izvorima) koji se nalaze u ruskoj pravoslavnoj ikonografiji, dijeleći ih u četiri skupine: povijesni filozofi, povijesni mislioci, sibile i božanstva. Potom se u tekstu analizira značenje vizualnih oznaka Drugosti u primjerima proučavanog ikonografskoga niza. Pretpostavlja se da su ovi vizualni markeri gledatelju prikazivali helenske mudrace kao Druge. Antički filozofi i mislioci predstavljeni su kao pogani s Istoka, jer ih je bilo potrebno vizualno odvojiti od pravih svetaca prihvaćenih od Pravoslavne Crkve. Iako se svima njima priznaje zasluga u proricanju uspona kršćanstva, primarna je uloga korištenih atributa bila vizualna diferencijacija poganskih filozofa od pravoslavnih svetaca.
The conference held at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel intended to cover these issues. 15 conference-speakers and about 30 colleagues of various academic backgrounds from all over the world gathered to exchange knowledge of the connections between alchemy and university in analyzing selected cases of the 16th to 18th centuries.
The most important person who was in touch with the religious changes and transformed them into theological debate was Stefan Yavorsky. He took a very favorable view of the Inquisition and the Pope. As a Catholic (Uniate), he studied at famous scholastic Catholic schools but later returned to Russian Orthodoxy in 1689. He followed the “Catholic” line by vigorously opposing Lutheran influences in the Russian Church. In his sermons, Yavorsky spoke in allegories about Peter I’s military victories and in vague terms about royal permissiveness and the depressing position of the Church in the Russian Empire. In the end, Yavorsky was forbidden to preach, but some of his books were published after the death of the Emperor and his own. In 1728, his famous anti-Protestant treatise Stone of Faith was published and ignited fierce debate. Russian Protestants, including people who were close to the Imperial Court, became dissatisfied with Yavorsky’s works. A subsequent anonymous pamphlet directed against the Stone of Faith, entitled Hammer on the Rock of Faith, appeared in 1731 and was probably written by friends of the next head of the synod, Theophan Prokopovich.
This paper explores the possibility that the iconographic program of the Peter and Paul Cathedral pulpit, which was decorated with strange images in the time of debates between the two worlds of the Catholic and Protestant parties in the Russian Church, was an encrypted and visualized dispute between Yavorsky and Prokopovich. Indeed, the pulpit of the Peter and Paul Cathedral displays the image of a divine hand with a hammer beating on the stone, which can refer to the pamphlet against Yavorsky’s Hammer on the Rock of Faith as well as to Jeremiah 23:29. At stake, of course, is the definition of the faith meant to colonize and Christianize the entire world.
Since the Middle Ages, many Christian churches have been filled with wax legs and arms, silver eyes, iron cows, baby figurines, old shackles, and armor. Nearby paintings depicted sick people lying in their beds, ships fighting the high waves, or travelers being attacked by robbers. Such items are called ex-voto, or votives. These are gifts to God and the saints that believers brought and still bring to enlist their help or thank them for a miracle.
Votives, from the handicrafts of peasants to the luxurious gifts of sovereigns, are important witnesses of history. They speak of illnesses, troubles, or hopes of specific people and at the same time allow us to trace large-scale shifts in the history of religion, art, and medicine.
Abstract (DE): In vielen illustrierten alchemischen Manuskripten finden sich Bilder von Öfen. Ab dem 16. Jahrhundert werden sie – wie auch Phiolen, Destillierkolben und andere Laborutensilien – häufig allegorisch dargestellt. Öfen wurden mitunter durch Figuren symbolisiert, die mit Feuer verbunden wurden: Höllenmund, Dämon oder Drache. In anderen Fällen wurden alchemische Öfen aufgrund ihrer ähnlichen Form als Gebäude dargestellt. Auch der Baum war ein Symbol für den alchemischen Ofen. Doch all diesen Typen allegorischer Ofendarstellungen gemein ist, dass sie Alchemie auf der Bildebene mit anderen lebensweltlich oder kulturell bedeutenden Phänomenen wie Technologie, Religion oder Mythologie verbanden. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass diese allegorischen Bilder wohl durch Handbücher der Militärtechnologie wie Bellifortis oder De re militari inspiriert wurden.
In this paper, I would like to visualise this evolution on example of images created by Matthäus Merian the Elder, who actively used motifs from older alchemical works, mainly manuscripts, and whose new motifs became iconic in the later tradition of alchemical illumination. Firstly, I will consider the two oldest European alchemical treatises with allegorical images, namely a French alchemical miscellany and the work of Gratheus. This is necessary because there is almost no research on these works’ iconography which is of crucial importance for the entire later tradition. Secondly, I will examine the main types of allegories that appeared in these works and will then show how Merian re-used them in his printed works (Atalanta fugiens and the Book of Lambspring). Finally, I will also demonstrate how the motifs created by Merian and the ancient motifs already known were amalgamated into allegories in the later illuminated treatises.
Poganska Drugost u kršćanskoj Crkvi: ikonografija antičkih filozofa i mislilaca u Rusiji i na Balkanu Ruska pravoslavna ikonografija antičkih filozofa i mislilaca dugo je u fokusu zanimanja zapadnih i ruskih istraživača. Grčki i rimski filozofi prikazani u slikama u ruskim crkvama i drugim vizualnim medijima nemaju gotovo ništa zajedničko sa stvarnim povijesnim filozofima: njihovi su se prikazi temeljili na bizantskim apokrifima, u kojima su filozofi bili predstavljeni kao pravedni pogani, naviještajući Kristov dolazak mnogo prije njegova rođenja. Autor u ovome radu uvodi tri nova izvora za istraživanje teme: slike u temperi iz 18. stoljeća s prikazima Hermesa i Afrodite, te freske iz 17. stoljeća skinute sa zidova moskovskog Novospaskog samostana s prikazima Aristotela, Solona, Plutarha i Anarhasisa, čuvaju se u Državnom povijesnom muzeju u Moskvi, dok se jedna ilustrirana zbirka aforizama helenskih mudraca iz 17. stoljeća (Melissa) nalazi u zbirci Ruske nacionalne knjižnice u Sankt Peterburgu. Autor u tekstu uspostavlja tipologiju antičkih filozofa (kako su ih nazivali u izvorima) koji se nalaze u ruskoj pravoslavnoj ikonografiji, dijeleći ih u četiri skupine: povijesni filozofi, povijesni mislioci, sibile i božanstva. Potom se u tekstu analizira značenje vizualnih oznaka Drugosti u primjerima proučavanog ikonografskoga niza. Pretpostavlja se da su ovi vizualni markeri gledatelju prikazivali helenske mudrace kao Druge. Antički filozofi i mislioci predstavljeni su kao pogani s Istoka, jer ih je bilo potrebno vizualno odvojiti od pravih svetaca prihvaćenih od Pravoslavne Crkve. Iako se svima njima priznaje zasluga u proricanju uspona kršćanstva, primarna je uloga korištenih atributa bila vizualna diferencijacija poganskih filozofa od pravoslavnih svetaca.
The conference held at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel intended to cover these issues. 15 conference-speakers and about 30 colleagues of various academic backgrounds from all over the world gathered to exchange knowledge of the connections between alchemy and university in analyzing selected cases of the 16th to 18th centuries.
The most important person who was in touch with the religious changes and transformed them into theological debate was Stefan Yavorsky. He took a very favorable view of the Inquisition and the Pope. As a Catholic (Uniate), he studied at famous scholastic Catholic schools but later returned to Russian Orthodoxy in 1689. He followed the “Catholic” line by vigorously opposing Lutheran influences in the Russian Church. In his sermons, Yavorsky spoke in allegories about Peter I’s military victories and in vague terms about royal permissiveness and the depressing position of the Church in the Russian Empire. In the end, Yavorsky was forbidden to preach, but some of his books were published after the death of the Emperor and his own. In 1728, his famous anti-Protestant treatise Stone of Faith was published and ignited fierce debate. Russian Protestants, including people who were close to the Imperial Court, became dissatisfied with Yavorsky’s works. A subsequent anonymous pamphlet directed against the Stone of Faith, entitled Hammer on the Rock of Faith, appeared in 1731 and was probably written by friends of the next head of the synod, Theophan Prokopovich.
This paper explores the possibility that the iconographic program of the Peter and Paul Cathedral pulpit, which was decorated with strange images in the time of debates between the two worlds of the Catholic and Protestant parties in the Russian Church, was an encrypted and visualized dispute between Yavorsky and Prokopovich. Indeed, the pulpit of the Peter and Paul Cathedral displays the image of a divine hand with a hammer beating on the stone, which can refer to the pamphlet against Yavorsky’s Hammer on the Rock of Faith as well as to Jeremiah 23:29. At stake, of course, is the definition of the faith meant to colonize and Christianize the entire world.
Since the Middle Ages, many Christian churches have been filled with wax legs and arms, silver eyes, iron cows, baby figurines, old shackles, and armor. Nearby paintings depicted sick people lying in their beds, ships fighting the high waves, or travelers being attacked by robbers. Such items are called ex-voto, or votives. These are gifts to God and the saints that believers brought and still bring to enlist their help or thank them for a miracle.
Votives, from the handicrafts of peasants to the luxurious gifts of sovereigns, are important witnesses of history. They speak of illnesses, troubles, or hopes of specific people and at the same time allow us to trace large-scale shifts in the history of religion, art, and medicine.