Bezhetsk painter Mikhail Tyranov and his students: on the attribution of church wall-painting in north-east Tver region

The article introduces for the first time archival documents into scientific circulation, revealing the names of masters and customers, the exact time and circumstances of the creation of the most significant monuments of monumental church art in the North-East of the Tver region. Analysis of sources shows that church wall-painting flourished in the region in the second quarter of the 19th century is largely associated with the name of Mikhail Tyranov, an art teacher and guild master painter from the district town of Bezhetsk, Tver province. The name of this master was known far beyond the borders of his hometown, and his works were highly valued by his contemporaries. During the period from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s. The artel of M. Tyranov painted dozens of churches, not only in the Tver province, but also in the territories bordering it in the Yaroslavl province. The paintings made in the style of classicism by the artel of M. Tyranov have been preserved in the churches of the Bezhetsky district of the Tver region: church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Sukromny, church of the Epiphany in the village of Yes’ky, church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Alabuzino; church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Shablykino, Krasnokholmsky district, Tver region; church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Knyazhevo, Uglich district, Yaroslavl region. The traditions of church wall-painting during the period of transition from classicism to eclecticism (1850–1860s) were continued by the students of M. Tyranov. The most successful among them were masters from the city of Vesyegonsk, Ivan and Andrey Smirnov. Among the outstanding monuments of monumental art, the work of the Smirnov artel: church of the Transfiguration in the village of Nikola-Vysoka (Vesyegonsky district of the Tver region) and church of the Ascension in the village of Novokotovo (Molokovsky district, Tver region). The article attempts to reconstruct the creative biographies of previously unknown masters. Analysis of the continuity of art schools within the Tver province, as well as the establishment of connections between masters and Moscow and St. Petersburg, helps to deepen the understanding of the development of provincial art in the 19th century.