The flames of conflict are being stoked once again between the Russian Orthodox Church and the art community. The Church asked the Tretyakov Gallery to loan it Andrei Rublyov’s iconic masterpiece The Trinity (right), for a religious service to be held in Sergiyev Posad. The Tretyakov has yet to agree.
The request was first made by Patriarch Alexy II in September 2008, and went largely unnoticed. The Patriarch sought to include the icon in the Church’s Trinity celebration at Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, the monastery. The request was widely reported here in late November, following a Tretyakov meeting to discuss the subject.
Museum specialists were horrified, saying the icon is an extremely fragile piece of wood riddled with cracks. Ancient Russian art specialist Gerold Vzdornov told Gazeta that the icon cannot be moved under any circumstances – the trip and several days of candle-lit services would be catastrophic for the 15th century masterpiece, he said, which is the only icon authenticated as wholly created by Rublyov.
But the incident also sparked the long-standing controversy over who owns religious art. “They would want to have the icon for the service, then would hold it for longer than arranged, then demand that it remain in the church forever, establishing a catastrophic precedent for future requests,” Vzdornov said. The Church regards icons as its rightful property, which should be displayed in a religious environment. For their part, art specialists do not want to part with works of art that have been in state museums for decades.
At present the revered Trinity icon is moved from its place in the gallery once a year to the Tretyakov Gallery’s adjacent chapel, where it can be worshiped.
“Museum workers are, in essence, guarding booty,” said Church spokesman Father Vladimir Vigilyansky. “Where were these people and their teachers when churches were sacked and icons were used as firewood?”
Ironically, it was people like Igor Grabar, Tretyakov Gallery director, who saved many religious artifacts from the fire of the revolution. In 1917, Grabar used newspaper articles to encourage Russians to protect “the wonderful articles that fill estate homes.” Grabar was the first specialist to restore the Trinity and called it the most perfect work of Russian medieval art.
Tretyakov officials appear to be looking for a compromise. If you don’t let the Church have their way this time, the officials argued at the meeting of museum employees, they will take the icon away forever. The account was offered by art specialist Levon Nersesyan, who broke the story on his LiveJournal blog.
Another blogger compared the situation to the Old Testament parable about two women who claimed the same child. King Solomon’s advice was to cut the child in half. He then identified the true mother to be the woman who understood that the child should be let go rather than split.
– maria antonova
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