Northern Schools

(in Russian, severnyepis’ma), a term conventionally used in art history to designate the origins of stylistically similar icon paintings produced by local masters of the Russian North in the 15th through 18th centuries. Initially the Northern schools constituted the most democratic branch of the Novgorod school of painting. In the 16th century, along with a certain influence from the Moscow school, local artistic traditions emerged, including the Obonezhskie, Karelian, Us-tiuzhskie, and other schools. In the 17th century the democratic bases of the Northern schools grew stronger under the influence of folk painting on wood. The Northern schools as a group are characterized by frequent use of Apocrypha, naïve clarity of images, and decorative, simple techniques.