Chetyrina N. A. The mysteries of Erofeevs’ portraits

Abstract: The portraits of merchants Erofeevs from Sergiev Posad attract the attention with its unusual composition, the brightness of women’s images. The Erofeevs made a significant contribution to the development of a landmark for Posad’s doll craft. The appeal to the historical sources (registers, confessional statements, spiritual testament and contracts) has helped the author to establish the names of all family members, to clarify the time of the creation of portraits, to trace the history of the family. It is shown that demographic factors (high infant mortality, prolonged lack of a male heir, and then his death) led to suppression of the dynasty, that life dramas influenced value systems and stimulate charity activities of the head of the household - Alexey Yegorovich Erofeev.

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