The Poetics of N. S. Leskov’s Story “The Sealed Angel” in the Light of 19th-Century Icon Painting Scholarship (I. P. Sakharov, D. A. Rovinsky, F. I. Buslaev)

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Golubinskaya, Yu. A. “The Poetics of N. S. Leskov’s Story ‘The Sealed Angel’ in the Light of 19th-Century Icon Painting Scholarship (I. P. Sakharov, D. A. Rovinsky, F. I. Buslaev).” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 8, no. 2, 2026, pp. 234–257. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-2-234-257
Abstract:
It is well established in Leskov scholarship that N. S. Leskov knew the works of his time devoted to the study of Russian icon painting. Among the main works of that period are “Research on Russian Icon Painting” (1849) by I. P. Sakharov, “Review of Icon Painting in Russia until the End of the 17th Century” (1856) by D. A. Rovinsky and “General Principles of Russian Icon Painting” (1866) by F. I. Buslaev. However, no study has yet examined how exactly the theories of these authors influenced the poetics of the story “The Sealed Angel” (1873). For the first time, Leskov’s story (by the “literary icon painter,” in the words of A. L. Volynsky) is comprehensively compared with the works of Sakharov, Buslaev, and Rovinsky. The article demonstrates that Buslaev’s observations about the convergence of “artistic material with literary material” in the icon, as well as Sakharov’s analytical and synthetic method of studying the iconographic podlinnik (manual), shaped the intertextuality of the angel’s image and the story as a whole. The comparison with Rovinsky’s work reveals the relevance of the details of the technical execution of icons for Leskov’s poetics. Leskov’s story thus reveals the specifics of the aesthetics of the icon, which had been little studied in 19th-century scholarship.
Keywords: N. S. Leskov, “The Sealed Angel”, icon, image, I. P. Sakharov, D. A. Rovinsky, F. I. Buslaev, icon painting
Author: Yuliya A. Golubinskaya
Information about the author:
Yuliya A. Golubinskaya, Postgraduate Student, Herzen State Pedagogical University, 48 Moika River Emb., 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8324-1843

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: October 13, 2025
Approved after reviewing: February 11, 2026
Published: June 25, 2026
Issue: 2026 Volume 8 No. 2
Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
Pages: 234-257
DOI: Visit Website
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/UXEOLG
UDK: 821.161.1.09"/19"
Publication Type: Research Article

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