Sacred Mural Studio

The Sacred Mural Studio specializes in creating unique icons and fresco murals. Our aim is to create icons and murals that have a concrete role in places of worship. We work with holy prayer and deep study, trying to transform simple architecture into a sacred space for worship. Sacred icons and frescos inspire the church interior with visible images of Our Lord and His saints, providing a focal point for common prayer and individual meditation. In fact, we try to work with the same creative approach to the old models as medieval Christian craftsmen had, and it is vitally important for us to follow not only the old Church canons of icon and fresco painting and traditional technique and materials, but to also follow the spirit of our predecessors. In frescoes and icon painting, we use only traditional technology, proven by the centuries. We use all natural and hand-made materials, because they have special qualities, are safe and resistant to the ravages of time.

Below are examples of our work available through Iconofile. To learn more about each icon, please click on the image.

Holy Virgin of Sign, 2004. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 40 cm x 40 cm (16 x 16 in.)	Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 21.5 cm x 27 cm (8.6 x 11.8 in.)
Savior Immanuel, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 23 cm x 25 cm (9.2 x 10 in.)	Deisis, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 25 cm x 50 cm (10 x 20 in.)
Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 30 cm x 40 cm (12 x 16 in.)	Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 32 cm x 44 cm (12.8 x 17.6 in.)
Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 21.5 cm x 27 cm (8.6 x 11.8 in.)	Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 17 cm x 20 cm (6.8 x 8 in.)
Christ the Savior, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 30 cm x 40 cm (12 x 16 in.)	St. George, 2004. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 30 cm x 43 cm (12 x 17.2 in.)
Christ the Savior, 2004. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 30 cm x 40 cm (12 x 16 in.)	Holy Virgin, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 30 cm x 40 cm (12 x 16 in.)
Christ the Savior, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 24 cm x 36 cm (9.6 x 14.4 in.)	The Holy Crucifixion, 2005. Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood panel. 105 cm x 62 cm (42 x 24.8 in.)

Artist's Statement

"In our time, icon painting has become more and more like photocopying famous venerated images. In the Sacred Murals Studio, we do not follow this tendency, because for us iconography is a creative and artistic work in accordance with Church canons.

In all our work, whether icon painting or mural decoration, we follow the principles of medieval iconographers, who never intended to paint exact copies from other sacred icons or frescoes. For example, we know of more then 100 old icons of the Mother of God of Vladimir, but none of them is an exact copy of the original icon, even if they all were taken from the same model -- the famous Byzantine icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir, now in Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. All icons and mural decorations created by the iconographers of our studio are always unique and never repeated, because every time we find individual solutions and create original artwork."

About the Artists

Iconography is a very old art of the Christian Church. For centuries, icons, mosaics, frescos, and miniatures were used for bringing Christianity to people. And for us it is very important that iconography for people of the Middle Ages was a real, living and true art, various and different in every époque. In our fresco and icon-painting studio we study the language of iconography and do everything to follow the tradition, while at the same time trying to do our best to work creatively. Icons for us are living images of sacral art, not dead models for exact copying. In the united Christian Church of medieval times, icons and frescoes were created to assist in the prayerful dialogue with God and the saints. Therefore, we attempt to comprehend the art of the Middle Ages as essential to human nature and our purpose is to enable our contemporaries to pray with sacred images of our époque.

Philip Davydov is the director of the Sacred Murals Studio. Philip is son of Rev. Andrey Davydov, world-renowned iconographer and Orthodox priest. For over 10 years, Fr. Andrey has served as the dean of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Pskov. Since an early age, Philip worked as iconographer and muralist in his father's icon-painting workshop and later founded the Sacred Murals Studio.

Works

Abridged list of works and tasks executed by Philip Davydov and the Sacred Murals Studio:

1991–2001: Collaboration with the Icon-Painting Laboratory of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Pskov,Russia.
1991–1997: Teaching assistant at the third senior class of icon-painting at Andrey Rublev Association (Trento, North Italy).
1998–2004: Teaching assistant at third senior class of icon-painting in Abbazia di Praglia (near Padova, Italy).
1997: Mercury gilding with fire heating at the New Valaam Monastery (Finland).
1997–Present: Study at the St. Petersburg State Academy of Fine Arts.
2000: Collaboration in fresco in St. John the Baptist cathedral in Pskov.
2001 July: Completion of a fresco above the southern entrance in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Pskov.
2001 September: Completion of a fresco above the entrance to St. John of Kronshtadt church in Saint Petersburg.
2002 September: Completion of a fresco in the house for guests in Valaam Monastery (on Lake Ladoga about 300 km to the north of Saint Petersburg).
2002 September: Completion of church-dedication icon for a church in Durham, Hatfield College Chapel, England.
2002 October: Completion of a fresco over the main entrance of St. Nicholas Church near Railway Depot (Saint Petersburg, Russia).
2002 December: Completion of icons for a church in Durham, England.
2003 April: Completion of icons for St. John the Evangelist church in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
2003 April: Completion of church-dedication icon for St. Michael's Chapel in Piscataway, NJ, USA.
2003 May: Completion of church-dedication icon of The Holy Virgin Iverskaya Portaitissa with chosen saints for a newly-built church in Maly' (near Izborsk, Pskov region, Russia).
2003 June: Completion of a fresco wall-painting "The Holy Virgin of the Sign with Christ Child" over the western entrance to the Assumption church in Lez'e village in the St. Petersburg region.
2003 November: Completion of a fresco on cupola of Assumption church in Lez'e-Sologubovka village in the St. Petersburg region, Russia.
2004 May: Completion of a fresco in the dome of St. John Evangelist church in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
2004 June: Teaching an iconography course at St. Bartolomeo al'isola church (Rome, Italy).

Exhibits

1997 July: Exhibition at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.
1999 December: “Orthodox Russia” Exhibit in St. Petersburg.
2001 March: Exhibition in a parish church in Sirmione, Italy.
2001 December: "Orthodox Icon North-West" Exhibit.
2002 April: Exhibition at Lion’s Club in Cremona, Italy.
2002 November: "Icon in the Sacral Space of the Church" Exhibit.