The Novgorodian Historic and Literary Works of the 17th Century as a Source on the History of Old Russian Art
The main goal of this article is to acquaint historians of art with some unpublished sources on Old Russian art. The Novgorod chronicles of the 17th century, as well as many other literary works of that period, remained unexplored for a long time. Only one of them, namely Novgorodskaia Tretia letopis' was published in the 19th century. Nowadays, thanks to the works of S. N. Azbelev and the author of this article it has become clear that at least six big chronicles were created in the 17th century, as well as the whole range of smaller literary works - annals of churches and monasteries, sagas, legends, etc. Novgorodskaia Tretia letopis' represents an intermediate stage of this literary tradition. The insights into Old Russian art contained in these sources are of great significance. The researchers of this topic mainly examined the printed version of Novgorodskaia Tretia letopis'. However, it is clear now that this chronicle is a derivative source and contains data that is an incorrect and incomplete reproduction of the information provided by earlier, still unpublished chronicles. The study of the rich Novgorod manuscript tradition allows us to introduce the previously unknown sources into the scholars' discourse, and review some of the established opinions regarding certain Old Russian art monuments of Novgorod such as the Mary of Egypt church (17th century), the Spas na Ilyine church (17th century), the St. George Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery (12th century), and some 13th-16th centuries icons.