IMG 3205 Panorama

D.N. Martynov (1826-1889) "The sorceress of Endor summons the shadow of the prophet Samuel" (1857) This picture is a wonderful example of academic art in our collection, a competition work that received a large gold medal from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The plot proposed by the artist was taken from the Bible (First Book of Kingdoms of the Old Testament). According to biblical tradition, the Jewish king Saul, who had stained himself with many crimes, on the eve of the decisive battle, went to the sorceress living in the Endor cave. She summoned the shadow of his ancestor, the prophet Samuel, and he predicted the death of the king. The plot about Saul included the theme of fate, prophecy, beloved by romantics. Night, a dark cave, a formidable shadow of a prophet, a dark silhouette of a sorceress - everything creates an atmosphere of horror. The pronounced shock of Saul and the fear of his companions reflect the doom of the king and the triumph of higher, punishing powers. That is, the theme of fate, in the face of which a person is powerless, is the main emotional content of the program. The work of Dmitry Nikiforovich Martynov is distinguished by the dominance of the classical scheme, built on the geometry of regular figures, the clarity of the delimitation of plans and the perfection of the drawing.