Ushakov took place probably from the townspeople and, apparently, very early received thorough training for their specialty, because, being only 22 years old, was accepted into the Royal "charters" (that is, receiving constant content) the master of the Silver chamber at the Armoury of the order. Here his direct responsibilities was "to znamenit", that is, making drawings for different items of Church utensils and Palace implements, primarily for gold, silver and enameled products, paint banners, write patterns for needlework, drawing, maps, plans, etc. Diligently executing such work, he wrote, in addition, the image for the patio, churches, and individuals, and gained soon popularity in the best Moscow icon painter.
Translation Ushakov at the service of the Silver chamber in the Armory, in 1664, the range of his activities broadened, and the fame increased even more: he became the head of the other Royal masters, formed a school of icon painters, who enjoyed the favors of the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his successors on the throne, executed all their Commission for arts and until her death lived in prosperity and honor.
Ushakov, Simon Fedorovich (1626-26 IN 1688) - an outstanding artist-innovator who created a whole school of realistic direction in the Russian iconography of the XVII century, art theorist. He was a native of the townspeople. In 1648-1664 Ushakov S. F. worked as a "maker" (the draftsman, i.e., created the drawings for the Church and the Royal utensils, jewelry, painted banners) the Silver chamber of the weapon order (then Armory) of the Moscow Kremlin, a painter of the Armory, and from 1664 - head of its icon-painting workshop.
Ushakov, S. F., wrote the icons, Parsuna, miniatures, supervised the work on updating the icons and exterior frescoes of the assumption Cathedral (1660) in the Moscow Kremlin and other churches. Clearly marked with the breaking of the medieval world led to major changes in the understanding and interpretation of the iconographic image. Especially clearly these innovations were expressed in the work of craftsmen of the Armoury chamber. Emerged at the Imperial court in the settlement of the XVII century as a repository for weapons, she's already in a. century turned into a big art workshop, which receives the best painters from different cities of Russia, where next to them was a visiting foreign masters.
Here was done huge amount of works, ranging from paintings of temples and dwellings of the Kremlin and ending with the decoration of banners, coaches, and various household items. In the Armory for more than twenty years and worked Ushakov S. F. His performance and energy is amazing. He painted the walls of temples, painted icons and miniatures, draw maps, make drawings for banners, coins, jewelry to guns, prints and engraved himself. A lot I wrote for the churches of Moscow, Novgorod, Tver, Rostov, to the Trinity-Sergius monastery.
He often painted images of the Saviour and the virgin Mary, demonstrating its ability to simulate the soft face and neck to emphasize the roundness of the chin, swelling of the lips. In the icon "our lady of Vladimir (the Tree of the Muscovite state)," written in 1668, he portrayed the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, trying to convey his portrait features. The image of the interior or landscape on the icons he sometimes used the principles of linear perspective. As a sample for backgrounds icons the artist sometimes used the Western engraving. So, in the architectural landscape of the icon "Trinity" (1671) he repeated the image with engravings, executed by a painting by the Italian painter of the XVI century Paolo Veronese "Feast at Simon the Pharisee". As for the understanding of the iconographic image of the whole, the master remained in the medieval representations. (The dual nature inherent in his art, found an analogy in the works pozdnegrecheskih painters - such, e.g., Emmanuel tzanes.) Unlike the painters of the past, Ushakov S. F. often signed his works, stating the date of writing of the image and its name. In 1664-1686 he worked galbanum icon-painter of the Armoury chamber. Information about the "kind of icon painter Simon Ushakov son Fedorov" contained in the manuscript Synodikon of the Moscow Church of our lady of Georgia. From the extant heritage of its most famous icons, now kept in the Tretyakov gallery and the State Russian Museum. Among them - the repetition of the famous Russian shrines: images of the mother of God of Vladimir (1652, 1662), our lady of the don, our lady of Kykkos (both 1668), and others. also Known for his engravings on copper - "Fatherland", "Seven deadly sins"; prints to the "Life of Barlaam and Joasaph", "Psalter of Simeon of Polotsk". In the history of Russian painting of the second floor.XVII V. Ushakov S. F. remained as an artist-reformer. In his works he sought, so, to a realistic transfer of a human face. Using the traditional iconographic methods, he, at the same time, using chiaroscuro modeling of forms achieved three-dimensionality of faces, the impression that the painting depicts a living person. He likened the painting to a mirror reflecting life and all subjects. Ushakov S. F. believed that art possesses great power to influence, is the knowledge of beauty and spirituality. Realistic quest, the problem of the life likelihood of the characters in the works of iconography, the artist outlined in his treatise on painting. Among the most famous works Ushakova, S. F.: the icon of the "Great Pontiff" (1656-1657), "our lady of Vladimir (the Tree of the Muscovite state - the Praise of the mother of God of Vladimir)" (1668), "Trinity" (1671), "Vernicle" (1678), "Planting the tree of the Russian state", etc.
