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Abstract

The article examines the character of art patronage by Old Believer entrepreneurs, including their collecting of works of art. Among the Old Believers, under conditions of strict traditionalism, the prohibition on novelty in creed and rite was extended to the regulated daily life of believers. As Russian society developed from the mid-19th century, asceticism was gradually relaxed and traditionalism was transformed across all spheres of an Old Believer’s life, within a framework of „reconciliation with the surrounding world”. However, the Europeanization of their way of life and the rising educational level of major Old Believer entrepreneurs did not prevent them from retaining their religiosity and their adherence to traditional values. By the entrepreneurs’ own testimony, the most valuable objects for an Old Believer were icons of „canonical painting”, as well as early printed „reading” books and manuscripts — sacred, liturgical, Christian protreptic, hagiographic and other texts perceived as religious objects, as „holy gifts” spiritually bound to the church and to prayer. Collected books and icons were often bequeathed or donated to Old Believer communities, churches or monasteries. Some collections were so valuable that they later became essential parts of present-day museum holdings. A love of „external” art (picture galleries, theatres) was not widespread among the Old Believers. Thus, with the rarest of exceptions, the Old Believers supported art only in its religious forms.