Fedak M. The Creativity of the Master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” Icon from Yabluniv and His Circle in the Context of Western Ukrainian Icon Painting of the Second Half of the 16th – Early 17th Centuries: Special Artistic and Stylistic as well as Iconographic Features.

The thesis is dedicated to the study of one of the largest stylistic groups of icons in the history of Ukrainian church painting of the period of following Byzantine traditions described as “the circle of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv”. The works following such stylistics were performed within the second half of the 16th – early 17th centuries. Because of the fact that quite many of them have been preserved (106 units), because of the time span embraced as well as different painting manners, it can be stated that this was not just one generation of masters, of different professional levels. It has been established that most pieces of such stylistics can be found in the collection of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv, some can also be found in other Ukrainian museums and private collections, but many of them also belong to the museums of Poland, and one icon has even been found in the territory of modern Slovakia. The objective of the thesis is to contextualize the creativity of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and the icon painters of his circle as an independent artistic phenomenon in the process of church painting evolution in the Western Ukrainian region in the above period. The status of modern research into Ukrainian church painting of the second half of the 16th century – early 17th century has been analyzed, and analysis has shown that this period remains understudied. A great many monuments remain unprocessed. The works of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and the monuments created by his circle, though drawing researchers’ attention to them many a time, made their attention focus on selective elements only. The object of research is the creative legacy of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and the masters of his circle. And the subject is artistic and stylistic as well as iconographic special features of the works created by the circle of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv in the context of the evolution of the Western Ukrainian icon painting in the second half of the 16th – early 17th century. All icon-painting works within the researched stylistics framework have been systematized, and this has enabled to outline five groups of icons by the conditionally identified masters. At the stage of interpretation of the artistic phenomena represented by the creativity of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and his circle, special features of the icon painting of the second half of the 16th – early 17th century were considered. This period can be characterized as the final stage in the development of the Ukrainian icon painting following Byzantine traditions. Many icons manifesting different stylistic directions have been preserved since that time. The thesis considers the main groups of icons reflecting the artistic culture of their time. The historical and cultural region for the research has been the area of origin of the monuments of the studied circle. It has been traced that the activity of masters in that area was based on creative contacts. It has been found that of importance in the icon painting of the second half of the 16th century was the creativity of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and his circle. Their activity constitutes a bright example of changes in the artistic and imagery system, the iconographic scheme of works, as well as the introduction of those painting elements that can be described as the manifestation of nationalization. A comprehensive approach and comparative analysis of the works have shown that it is the master of the “Transfiguration” icon from Yabluniv that should be considered the leading master of this center. According to his painting style, he was credited with 30 monuments dating back to the third quarter of the 16th century. The considered material of stylistically related works makes it possible to draw a conclusion that there existed one of the largest artistic centers in the history of Ukrainian church painting in Western Ukraine. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive study of the creative legacy of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv and icon painters of his circle as an independent artistic phenomenon organically connected with the Western Ukrainian iconography of its time. Keywords: the circle of the master of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” icon from Yabluniv, iconography, icon, icon painting, masters, art centers, stylistics.