In memory of our dear friend and colleague A. S. Agumaa

The article is devoted to the problem of interpreting a scene in which one character pulls another's beard or two characters pull each other's beards. The geography of the scenes under consideration is quite wide (Western Europe, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Albania), the chronological framework is from the VI to the XII centuries. As a result of the research, it was possible to identify some images ("The Dream of Joseph", an illustration to one of the episodes of the apocryphal "Acts of John") and determine the range of their possible meanings.

Keywords: Romanesque art, Caucasus, Abkhazia, Albania, Western Europe, architectural plastic, stone reliefs, frescoes, beard, crypt, church, iconography, medieval art.

DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF ONE SUBJECT IN MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN ART (PULLING THE BEARD)

Andrey Yu. VINOGRADOV, Ekaterina Yu. ENDOLTSEVA

The article deals with the problem of interpretation of the scenes where one person pulls the beard of another one or two persons pull the beard each other. These scenes were relatively widespread throughout Western Europe, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Albania between the sixth and twelfth centuries. The authors identified some scenes as "Joseph's dream", an illustration to an apocryphal episode of "Acts of John".

Keywords: Romanesque art, Caucasus, Abkhazia, Albania, Western Europe, architectural decoration, stone reliefs, frescoes, beard, crypt, church, iconography, medieval art.

The study was funded by the Russian State Science Foundation grant No. 15-24-1201 a/m.

Andrey VINOGRADOV-Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher at the Higher School of Economics; auvinogradov@hse.ru.

Ekaterina Yuryevna ENDOLTSEVA-PhD in Art History, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ekaterina.endoltseva@gmail.com.

Andrey Yu. VINOGRADOV - PhD (in History), Assistant Associate Professor, Higher School of Economy, Moscow, Russia; auvinogradov@hse.ru.

Ekaterina Yu. ENDOLTSEVA - PhD (in History of Arts), Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; ekaterina.endoltseva@gmail.com.

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In Christian iconography, it is quite common to find plots that do not have an unambiguous interpretation. It is especially difficult to choose the most reliable of several possible interpretations in cases where the meaning of the plot itself is not completely clear. Such subjects include a scene found on some monuments of late Antique and medieval Christian art, where one person pulls the beard of another. The semantics of this action in the medieval culture of the East and West was considered in detail by Z. A. Shishkin. Jacoby (1987, p. 65). Images of people pulling or pulling someone's or each other's beards are not widely distributed. They are found almost exclusively in medieval Christian architectural plasticity, and several types of images can be distinguished among the known images.

The most studied scenes were of a secular nature, where mutual tugging on the beard serves as an expression of mutual aggression of the characters. Thus, the image of two men clinging to each other's beards is found in manuscripts and sculptural decoration of temples in Western Europe (in Ireland, England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary) since the IX century. This plot has no ancient analogs [Jacoby, 1987, p. 65-83; Volkov, 2013, p. 332]. According to V. P. Darkevich, the image of men pulling each other's beards can express anger and discord [Darkevich, 2010, p. 125]; such a scene is even considered as an allegory of sin [Jerman and Weir, 2013, p. 106-110]. However, Z. Jacobi focuses on the motif of reconciliation, which is often present in images located next to scenes of pulling the beard. She believes that this indicates the buffoonish nature of the whole plot.

The earliest examples of such a scene are the initials in a Book from Kells (c. 800) and the pedestal of a cross in Monasterboys (c. 923). Both examples are from Ireland (Jacoby, 1987, p.77; Volkov, 2013, p. 332). Among the most famous images of this type are bearded men fighting in the center of the monastic capital of the church in Anzy-le-Duc (Saône-et-Loire, France, 1090-1130) and on the capitals from the church of Saint-Hilaire in Poitiers, stored in the Saint-Croix Museum (Volkov, 2013, p. 334). In these, as in other images of the type under consideration, the fighting bearded men clearly appear as negative characters. This interpretation suggests itself due to the accompanying attributes, for example, bearded masks that show their tongue, mocking human efforts, or openly aggressive behavior of actors who swing axes at each other. Z. Jacoby believes that this motif came to Romanesque art from the Islamic world [Jacoby, 1987], but the earliest European examples occur in the Romanesque world. They are from Ireland and may be of Celtic origin (McNab, 2001, p. 168-169).

A type of image similar to the first one, in which two characters are aggressive towards each other, but only one pulls the other's beard, is known as in Romanesque art [McNab, 2001, fig. 9, 11, 17, 20], and on the southern facade of the Church of the Holy Cross (915-921) on the island of Akhtamar what's on the lake. Van in Turkey, where it is included in the frieze with a braided vine. Here are two belted men in knee-length shirts. One of them grabs the other by the beard, and the latter holds a club in his hands and swings it. At their feet is depicted a grinning animal, similar to a dog. This plot has received contradictory interpretations in science. Z. Jacobi and B. Freisitzer see traces of Islamic influence in it and compare it with other scenes of struggle and torment [McNab, 2001, p. 78; Freisitzer, 2007, p. 89-90]. S. Der Nersesian in his study of the temple on Akhtamar Island simply mentions it, not mentions it. giving interpretations [Der Nersessian, 1965, p. 16].

However, Z. G. Solakyan [Solakan, 2010, pp. 624-626, fig. 1337] suggests an Armenian subtext in this plot and considers it an illustration of the ending of the story from the Armenian epic about Artashes ' curse of his son Artavazd. Its essence is briefly as follows: "The theme of this last branch of the epic is the relationship between the father and the son and the power of the father

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curses, which people still believe today. The epic first tells about the construction activities of Artashes, for which the country loves him, then about the illness, death and solemn funeral. Artavazd envies his father's glory and says bitterly to his father: "You have gone away and taken all our land with you, how can I reign over the ruins? "His father curses him, saying:" If you go hunting on Azat, on Masis, you will be captured by the Kaji, dragged to Azat, on Masis; you'll stay there and never see the light again." The curse was fulfilled. He was caught by Kajas while hunting..." [Abegyan, 1975, pp. 41-42]. Z. G. Solakyan believes that the facade of the Church of the Holy Cross shows the final episode of the drama, when kaj (a chthonic being, a spirit living in the mountains) drags Artavazd by the beard into the bowels of Mount Masis (Ararat) to fulfill the curse of his father).

In the two versions of the plot described above, its characters are mostly negative in nature and, more importantly, are pronounced secular figures. Images of the same scene (pulling the beard) belong to a completely different type, where both characters have a positive character and even, strange as it may seem, are saints. There is also a transitional type, which can be attributed to the scene where the father of the Ecumenical Council pulls the beard of a heretic - as a punishment and reproach. Such a scene is found twice in Late Byzantine paintings of the Balkans (in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Veliki Tarnovo and in Kozia) [Walter, 1970, p. 258, fig. 37]. So, in the image in Tarnovo, the heretic patriarch stands at the head of a group of like-minded people located on the left; he is pulled by the beard by the holy bishop, who is sitting on the left in a group of holy fathers, whose faces are turned to the emperor sitting on the right on the throne.

A different type of beard-tugging plot is shown in a relief preserved in the collections of the Abkhazian State Museum, which has an unclear origin.

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The scene carved on it has not been identified, and the date has not been determined. The massive limestone block, which is close to a square in shape, with a rectangular chink in the upper-left corner, depicts a dynamic scene in composition. It is bordered on three sides by a kind of frame obtained by thickening the edges of the plate, and the image field in the center of the plate is somewhat deepened in relation to its edges. The relief of the carving is convex, which makes the figures look quite voluminous.

Three characters are dressed in long antique tunics with expressive pleats. The central figure is shown at three-quarters of the height. Regular facial features are discernible: large eyes, a thin straight nose. Her wavy hair is caught in a tiara on her forehead. All three figures are facing the viewer. The central figure's tunic with its tiara flutters as if in flight. With his left hand, this character holds the pointed beard of the second hero of the scene, and with his right hand, he touches the hand of the third, shown lying parallel to the lower edge of the frame of the composition.

The facial features and clothing of the second and third participants in the action are identical, which suggests that the same character is depicted in two different positions. The standing figure raises both hands to the right. Her pose looks dynamic due to the opposite vectors of movement: the head is slightly turned in the direction of the character with a tiara pulling him by the beard, and both hands are in the other.

In contrast, the pose of the third lying figure looks static. The right hand rests on the chest, the left hand connects to the character's right hand with a tiara. Thus, the key and most active participant in the action, giving impulses to the other two, is a character with a tiara on his head.

The only monument that shows an almost absolute similarity to the Sukhumi image is, oddly enough, in France [Ricard, 1992; http://sites.univ-provence.fr/pictura/GenerateurNotice.php?numnotice=A2450]. On the capitals of one of the choir columns in the church of Notre Dame du Port in Clermont-Ferrand (completed in 1185) is carved a scene that, judging by the inscription, depicts the dream of Joseph.

The poses and gestures of the angel and Joseph are very similar to the two standing figures on the relief from the Sukhumi Museum. The angel's facial features and hairstyle (hair parted in two halves, high forehead) are almost identical to the character in the relief. He is also dressed in a long tunic that falls down in expressive folds. However, the angel has wings on the capitals, which are absent on the Sukhumi relief.

This nuance, it seems, can be explained by the fact that on the capitals the angel is presented in full growth and in a more static pose, while on the relief from Abkhazia only the upper part of the torso is shown, and in the place where the wings could be, there is a chipped line. However, both the central character from Abkhazia and the angel from the church of Notre Dame du Port pull the pointed beard of the second character participating in the scene (presumably in both cases - Joseph) with the same left hand.

The facial features and pose of Joseph on the capitals and on the Sukhumi relief are similar. Both have pointed beards and high foreheads, both have their heads slightly turned in the direction of the angel, and their arms are raised with a turn in the opposite direction. Their outfit is somewhat different. Joseph has a belted shirt and trousers on the capitals, and the character in the relief has a long tunic. There is also a difference in the composition of the entire scene. On the relief from Sukhum there is a third figure, which is not present on the capitals from Clermont-Ferrand. However, as mentioned above, there is reason to assume that on the Sukhumi monument, the second character who is being pulled by the beard and the third one lying down are the same person (the facial features, pointed beard, right hand gesture, and attire are identical).

If we accept the version that the Sukhumi relief, like the capitals from Clermont-Ferrand, depicts the dream of Joseph, then the presence of a third lying figure is quite understandable. Probably this is Joseph, who is depicted twice, in a dream (lying on the ground)

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and at the moment of admonition (the angel pulls his beard). In this case, the Sukhumi relief shows a more complete version of the iconography of the plot depicted on the capitals from Clermont-Ferrand.

In stylistic parallels, an angel similar to Sukhumi is found on the altar plate with the image of the Crucifixion from Anukhva (XI century) [Shmerling, 1962, Tables 58, pp. 158, 159]. In the upper-left corner, his figure is depicted in a pose similar to that of the central character of the Sukhumi relief (head rotation, body shown at three-quarters of the length). The main difference, however, is that on the slab from Anukhva, as well as on the capitals from Clermont-Ferrand, the angel is shown with a halo and wings. Thus, if the proposed identification is correct, then the relief from Sukhum can be put in a number of works of medieval sculpture of the XI-XII centuries. Judging by its size and the thickness of the slab (which can only be roughly determined so far), as well as some stylistic analogies, it could have been part of the altar barrier of a certain temple. If we agree that the slab depicts the "Dream of Joseph", then the relief shows the full version of the rare iconography of this plot.

Another variant, which relates to the same type of pulling the beard of one character of another, when, however, there is no longer any doubt about the positive character of both figures, is found in the painting of the church of Sts. Forty Martyrs in Saranda (Southern Albania; ancient Onkhesm). This temple is one of the most unusual examples of early Byzantine art. It was preserved at the height of the walls even between the First and Second World Wars (see Muka, 2002, f. 7-40; Mitchell, 2003, p. 145-186; Vitaliotis, 2008, p.403-413). This is a large and long two-tiered hall building with an altar apse, where three more apses are located on both sides of the central hall. Such a unique scheme is reminiscent of the Constantinople Church of St. John the Baptist. Polyeuctae in the reconstruction of J. Bardill [Bardill, 2011, p. 77, 103, 155-158]; it is possible that the church in Saranda was domed.

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Another feature of the temple is the presence of two tiers of underground structures, which are mainly burial chambers-cubiculums, sometimes with apses. Many of these underground rooms are covered with paintings, sometimes in several layers (up to three). Among these is the rectangular cubiculum B18, covered with a box vault. The second layer of painting here includes a heavily destroyed image of a cross in the architectural wings on the end wall, and the third layer is represented by partially damaged compositions on the side walls.

The left wall is occupied by one large scene: two men in light tunics without sleeves are talking in a boat under sail, and, judging by the nets, it is a fishing boat; to their right, on the shore, stands a man in a blue chiton and a burgundy himatia addressing them. This composition was identified by I. Vitaliotis as the vocation of John and James by Christ on Lake Genisaret [Vitaliotis, p. 410, figs. 12-13] (see below). On the right-hand wall of the cubiculum are four scenes that have not yet been identified. On the right, two figures can be distinguished, of which the left, bearded, is represented in white clothes and a halo (all halos in the cubiculum painting are blue). A white-clad male figure wearing a halo, accompanied by other characters without a halo, was leaning over what appeared to be a sarcophagus. In the center, a male figure in blue robes faces to the right toward an object that looks like a round box or well, and two bean-shaped objects above it. Finally, on the left is the most unusual scene: one bearded middle-aged man (face damaged), in a maroon chiton and blue himatiya, pulls on the black beard of another man in white clothes, rolling up his eyes and stretching out his hands.

Initially, the painting of the cubiculum was dated to the 9th century [Hodges, bg, p. 47], but then it was attributed to the end of the 6th century [Vitaliotis, p. 409-410, figs. 12-14].

Pulling the beard, an action that is essentially aggressive, hostile, is known in Byzantine painting. However, in Saranda, both figures have halos, which precludes interpretation of this kind. The above interpretation of the two figures as an angel and Joseph is also not suitable, since here the pulling character is bearded himself, and the one he pulls is not lying down, but standing. There is no reason to see here, like I. Vitaliotis, even with a certain assumption, the vocation of Matthew [Vitaliotis, p. 410, fig. 14].

It seems that this unique composition is explained in the 90th chapter of the apocryphal Acts of John, created in the second century and popular in the early Byzantine period: "And so I, because He loved me, secretly, while He does not see, approach Him and stand up, looking at Him from behind. And I see that He is not clothed in any clothes at all, but is naked from what we see, and is not even quite human, and His feet are whiter than snow, so that even the ground there glowed under His feet, but His head rests on the sky. So I was afraid and cried out, and He turned around and turned out to be a small man, and He grabbed me by the beard and pulled me to Him and said to me, " John, don't be unfaithful, but be faithful and don't be curious." I said to Him, " What have I done, sir?" But I tell you, brothers, that for thirty days that part of my beard by which He had seized me was so sore that I said to Him, " Sir, if You give me such pain by pulling at Me in jest, what would happen if you slapped me in the face?" And he said to me, 'So your job is not to tempt the untried' "(Acta Johannis, 1983).

This interpretation of the composition is also supported by the above-described scene from the same cubiculum-the vocation of John and James: the fact is that this plot is also reinterpreted in the same passage of the Acts of John (ch.88), dedicated to the polymorphism of Jesus. It should be noted that, contrary to later tradition, John is depicted in Saranda not as a young man or an old man, but as a middle-aged man with a black beard, as in the Acts of John. In this case, it is very likely that the other two scenes mentioned above are also taken from the Acts of John.

The purpose of depicting apocryphal scenes in the Sarand cubiculum is not entirely clear. On the one hand, the customer of the painting of the third stage could adhere to

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popular in early Christianity, but rejected by the church in the fourth century. teaching about the ghostly nature of the flesh of Jesus ("docetism") and the diversity of its phenomena ("polymorphism") (see: [Junod, 1982, p. 38-46]), which are devoted to some scenes from the"Acts of John". On the other hand, the right-hand scene on the right wall of the cubiculum, where John (?) leans over the bed of the deceased, may be related to the theme of resurrection and may be an illustration of Acts 73-80, where John resurrects Callimachus and Drusiana in the crypt.

Judging by the fact that John is depicted in white robes in the cubiculum painting, he is the protagonist in the right scene on the right wall, while Jesus is dressed here in blue and burgundy, which makes it possible to connect the second scene on the right wall from the left with him. This may be the usual multiplication of loaves and fishes in early Christian and Early Byzantine iconography, which gets its apocryphal interpretation in the same "polymorphic" passage of the Acts of John (ch. 93). In general, the entire iconographic program of the cubiculum can be read as follows: those who entered it saw on the left a large scene of the vocation of John and James, taken from the Acts of John. 88 The cycle of apocryphal scenes from there, connected with the theme of Jesus ' polymorphism, continued on the right stage with scenes of John pulling his beard (ch. 90) and the multiplication of loaves (ch. 93) and ended with scenes in the crypt of Drusiana and another unidentified one, apparently related to the theme of the resurrection of the dead.

Thus, we can distinguish three types of beard-pulling scenes in Christian medieval art. The first is a struggle between two secular characters: in one version, both actors, and negative ones, pull each other's beards; in the other, only one man pulls the beard, although the other also pulls the beard.

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behaves aggressively. The second type includes the scene of a positive character (the holy father) pulling the beard of a negative (heretic), and both figures are purely ecclesiastical, and not secular in nature. Finally, the third type should include a plot where a positive character pulls the beard, moreover, a sacred character, which illustrates the admonition of a lower being by a higher being: an angel instructs Joseph, and Jesus instructs John. Thus, the analysis shows how the beard - pulling scene, which is rare in itself in Christian art, can serve to convey completely different ideas and plots, which are almost never repeated.

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