September 17, 2025

Alexander Alexandrovich Kolchin as an Undeservedly Forgotten Church Artist of the 19th Century

Key Points

A.A. Kolchin painted 73 icons for the Sarajevo iconostasis, marking the largest known collection of his work.
His contributions include important mural paintings and church decorations that were largely forgotten until now.
Kolchin's works reflect the era of historicism, blending academic principles with medieval art ideals.
He was supported by notable patrons, including Archimandrite Ignatius, who documented his artistic achievements.

Abstract

The painter Alexander Aleksandrovich Kolchin (1836—1885) was a representative of a dynasty of Yaroslavl church masters. He graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1857 and lived a considerable part of his life under the shadow of the Holy Trinity Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius near Strelna. Until now, virtually nothing was known about the artist, and he was often confused with his father, the painter Alexander Maximovich Kolchin (1812—1866). The article for the first time introduces into the scientific turnover the basic information about A.A. Kolchin. Kolchin, drawn from his personal file stored in the Russian State Historical Archive: The biographical data of the artist is published and the characteristics of his surviving works are described: the iconostasis of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1871), the mural painting of the Church of St. John Chrysostom in the Nikolsky Monastery in Staraya Ladoga (1873) and the Church of St. Clement, Pope of Rome and St. Peter, the Archbishop of Alexandria in Novaya Ladoga (1877). The revealed documents allowed us to establish that by 1871 it was A.A. Kolchin who painted 73 icons on canvases for the Sarajevo iconostasis. This is the only known to date large collection of icons of the master, located in the original place and in honorable conditions. It has been established that A.A. Kolchin created a number of large works, the authorship of which has been forgotten. In addition, thanks to the artist’s personal file, it became clear that he painted the now-unpreserved churches of the leading monasteries in the capital: the Resurrection Cathedral and the Church of St. Savva Stratilatus of the Holy Trinity Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius, as well as the Resurrection Cathedral and the Church of the Vatoped (Athos) Icon of the Mother of God in the Novodevichy Monastery in St. Petersburg; he painted icons commissioned by the royal family and other aristocratic families (the whereabouts of these works are not yet known). For many years A.A. Kolchin was under the patronage of the most famous clergyman–archimandrite and artist Ignatius (Malyshev; 1811—1897), the abbot of the Holy Trinity Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius. The appendix to the article for the first time publishes a unique document – a certificate issued to A.A. Kolchin in 1877 by Archimandrite Ignatius to confirm the authorship of his works, in which the main works of the artist are indicated. It is shown that A.A. Kolchin’s work reflected the main features of the epoch of historicism: while remaining faithful to academic principles, the master sought a support for his artistic language in the ideals of medieval art.

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