Iconic Endgame

Simon Ushakov wrote his signature on virtually all his extant icons, in stark contrast to most Eastern Orthodox icon painters who remained anonymous. The chronological development of his signature in content and placement parallels the trajectory of his career as Muscovite icon painter and bureaucrat over the second half of the seventeenth century. The representation of written words in visible space, a graphosphere in Simon Franklin’s apt terminology, provided Ushakov the context in which to record his intentional movement and elaboration of name and iconic descriptors ever more deeply into the sacred space of the Orthodox image, thereby elevating his artistry, his bureaucratic authority, and most tellingly, the profession of icon painter itself.

Byzantine Studies and History · Historical Art and Architecture Studies · Visual Culture and Art Theory