How a German Biblical Scholar Inspired a Russian Artist
The artist Alexander Ivanov painted his watercolour biblical sketches concurrently with the main work of his life — his painting The Appearance of the Messiah, more commonly known as “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” Looking at both, it is hard to imagine that the artist was going through a deep crisis of faith during the creative process. Art historian and Rector of Saint Philaret’s Institute, Alexander Kopirovsky, spoke about the artist’s spiritual journey in his lecture “Alexander Ivanov’s ‘Biblical Sketches’—Theology Within Religious Studies”.
Seeking advice and support, Ivanov wrote to Alexander Herzen: “I have lost the religious faith that made my work and my former life easier. The peace of my soul has been shattered — find a way out for me by showing me ideals.”
Ivanov, however, found his own solution. For self-education, he turned to contemporary biblical scholarship and read the then-sensational study by German historian David Friedrich Strauss, The Life of Jesus.
“Strauss breathed new strength into Ivanov,” says Kopirovsky. “After reading the book, Ivanov was utterly delighted and travelled to meet him. Their meeting had a somewhat humorous twist. Ivanov spoke Italian and French, while Strauss spoke German and Latin. Understanding each other was difficult. Ivanov wrote that Strauss agreed with everything the artist said and wished him success in all his endeavours. ‘But it seems,’ Ivanov remarked, ‘he took me for a madman.’”
The effect the book had on the artist seems surprising, especially considering that Strauss faced severe backlash for it in his homeland.
“One reason for the scandal surrounding the book was that Strauss categorized many narratives as myths, which led to his dismissal from the University of Tübingen and earned him the nickname ‘the Antichrist of Ludwigsburg,’” noted biblical scholar Gleb Yastrebov, a Senior Lecturer at SFI and researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in his lecture “David Friedrich Strauss: The Man and His Radical Theory: A Modern Perspective”. “The concept of myth had long been applied to the Old Testament, but doing so with the New Testament was highly unusual. Traditionally, myths were sought only in epic, bygone times.”
Yet, despite accusations of political radicalism and his reputation as a sceptic, Strauss was not an opponent of Christianity, explained Yastrebov. Born into a pastor’s family, he received a church education and was a monarchist and German patriot. Strauss’s reputation contradicted his actual biography as well as the intent of his book.
“This is a rare case in which the intent is in such stark contrast with the outcome,” Yastrebov clarified. According to Yastrebov, Strauss initially planned a three-volume work: the first volume would present his theses, the second antitheses, and the third a synthesis, even an apology for Christ. But he began writing with the second volume — and that undermined his entire plan.
“When David Strauss wrote this book, he was, in his own way, still a churchman,” Yastrebov said. “The only thing he feared upon its publication was that the Gospel would be labelled a myth no longer needed. He thought he could combine his historical research with partly Hegelian and partly Orthodox Christianity, with the goal of creating a new modern theology on this basis. But it was not to be.”
So what did Ivanov see in this book, and how did it influence his work?
“On one hand, following Strauss, everything had to be depicted very naturally, even naturalistically, and without mysticism,” Kopirovsky explained. “We find such realistic depictions in Ivanov’s watercolours of Old Testament subjects.”
However, in his illustrations of the New Testament, Ivanov deviates from this principle: wherever Christ is depicted, He becomes the absolute centre of the composition. “In the sketch Christ and Pontius Pilate, Christ stands a head taller than the translucent Pilate and, in His cloak, looks like a king reprimanding his subordinate,” the art historian commented. A similar example is the scourging scene, where Christ’s tormentors barely reach His shoulders in height. “In Ivanov’s work, Christ becomes the focal point, the centre, the logical culmination of the imperfect insights of pagan Antiquity and the prophecies of the Old Testament,” Kopirovsky concluded.