Hagiographic triptych depicting the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, with scenes from their lives, 19th century

Egg tempera on panel

Height x width: 47 x 44.5 cm

a rare and exceptional example of an openable altar structure in hagiographic style (zhitie), entirely dedicated to the liturgical memory, the preachings and the martyrdom of the supreme apostles of the Church, as solemnly and explicitly declared by the dense calligraphic inscription drawn in ancient ecclesiastical Slavonic in the lower margin of the central compartment ("Житие Святых Апостолов Петра и Павла" - Life of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul). The visual architecture of the triptych develops starting from the large cuspidate central compartment, dominated by the imposing standing figures of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, portrayed facing each other with the characteristic ocher-orange and red-brown cloaks while carrying the Scriptures and the sealed scrolls in their hands, surmounted high up in the clouds by a medallion with the blessing Christ the Savior. Below this central fulcrum and along the two hinged lateral doors (also surmounted by Attic cusps which enclose scenes of hermit saints in prayer), the pictorial surface is divided into a rigorous geometric grid which has a total of fourteen peripheral and lower subsidiary panels dedicated to the hagiographic tale of their lives. The individual panels illustrate with extraordinary narrative vivacity and dogmatic rigor the main evangelical stages and the miracles of the two saints: the vocation on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, the long preaching journeys in the territories of the Roman Empire with backdrops of dense neo-Byzantine turreted architecture, the theological disputes with the pagans and heretics, the dramatic arrests and incarcerations; the story culminates dramatically in the panels of the lower register dedicated to their martyrdom in Rome, among which the lower central panel stands out for its exceptional compositional power, illustrating with crude realism the upside-down crucifixion of Saint Peter, flanked on the right by the beheading of Saint Paul carried out by Roman soldiers. From a stylistic and technical point of view, the work reveals the hand of a miniaturist of the highest level and consummate expertise, probably trained in the famous centers of excellence of Palech or within the most cultured and rigorous workshops linked to the commissioning of the Old Believers (Starovery), evident in the ability to manage dozens of micro-figures with a clean, very clear pictorial application rich in dynamic expressiveness.