Etchings in the books by Lazar Baranovych: The communicative aspects ofcomposition

The paper addresses the compositional and communicative senses of the textual insertions to the etched frames of the title pages and the following pages with symbolic etchings in the books Mech dukhovny (The Spiritual Sword, 1666) and Truby sloves propovidnykh (The Trumpets of Preaching Words, 1674) by Chernihiv archbishop Lazar Baranovych. It was revealed that the textual insertions, which are the citations from the Bible that prevail on the stretched ribbons, were used as the key structural elements of the composition. The ribbons with citations functioned as the inner frames, dividing the composition to tiers or separate sections within the tier, simultaneously commenting the closest images. This was a practical and simple method of structuring the compositions, already oversaturated with characters and senses. The ribbons for a table ofsorts, the cells of which are filled with images. In addition, more complex variant ofstructuring the images with textual insertions was developed. The ribbons with citations placed symmetrically towards the vertical axis of the etching formed a separate fancy composition that resembled an ornamental vignette with an evident decorative function. Nevertheless, even in this case the ribbon composition structured the overall image, while the positioning of the depicted scenes was subordinated to the overall intricate design indicated with the ribbons of quotes. Both approaches to structuring the compositions of the first etching of the book with the textual insertions and forming an hierarchy for reading these insertions were based on the rhetorical principles of narration.