Abstract:
In the history of old Romanian painting, the icon of Saint John the
Baptist with scenes from his life from Budești-Josani occupies a very important
place due to its exceptional artistic quality, as well as the Slavonic inscription
with the master’s signature and date. The inscription, in a very poor state of
preservation, has already been partially deciphered by acad. Marius Porumb
and is now reconstructed with the help of macro photography. The recovered
additional information completes the name of the painter, already known as
the “full sinner Gheorghe”, with the name of his place of residence, Meleni
(in Ukraine) and with the date in 7070 (=1561–1562). Also, the philological
analysis allowed the identification of some elements of Romanian and
Ruthenian orthography, which support the hypothesis that the painter knew
both languages. Elements of the iconographic and decorative structure prove
a good knowledge of the artistic environment in Moldavia. It was concluded
that the author of the icon from Budești-Josani, i.e. the “full sinner Gheorghe”,
was either a talented Ruthenian painter trained in Moldavia, or a Moldavian
painter settled among the Ruthenians, his activity also including the north of
medieval Hungary. His archaizing style, previously used as an argument for
dating the icon in the 15th century, can be a testimony of his training in the
workshops active at the time of Voivode Petru Rareș or in the company of
iconographers of the next generation.
