Icons of Ivan Ivanovich Belsky for the Nativity Church on Peski in St Petersburg. Not earlier 1789 – not later 1792

Abstract

In February – March 2020 in the Russian Museum an exhibition was opened, called “The Belsky Artists”, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Ivan Ivanovich Belsky (January 6, 1719 – January 13, 1799) and the 290th anniversary of his younger brothers – Alexey Ivanovich (1729 – May 21, 1796) and Efim Ivanovich (1730 – November 28, 1778) Belsky. The exhibition was one of the first attempts to deal with the works of almost forgotten artists of the 18th century. The exhibition for the first time presented images executed by Ivan Belsky for the Church of the Nativity of Christ on Peski (on Sands) in St Petersburg. Preparing for the event, the researchers discovered that allowed to recreate the history of all three iconostases of the Nativity Church, to prove the authorship of Ivan Belsky in creating the iconostasis of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Nativity (Rozhdestvensky) main iconostasis, as well as to reveal the history of the existence of images after the reconstruction of the Church of the Nativity in the middle of the 19th century. Almost all of Ivan Belsky’s oeuvres from the collection of the Russian Museum were fully restored by the leading specialist Natalia Romanova, which undoubtedly helped to develop a more precise understanding of the painter’s artistic manner.