ELEMENTS OF ART STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL RESEARCH OF PETER BIZZILLI

The purpose of the article is to consider the Professor’s contribution at Odesa University, P. Bizzilli, to the domestic medieval studies formation. The reconstruction of the people’s spiritual universe of the past epoch, initiated by P. Bizzilli, is one of the important components of the methodology of humanitarian research, characteristic of many representatives in modern medieval studies. After the romantics of the nineteenth century, interest in the Middle Ages gained new development in the early twentieth century, which contributed to his research at European universities. During the century, M. Bloch (1973), J. Huizinga (1988), M. Barg (1987), J. Le Goff (2005, 2008), U. Eco (2003, 2004) addressed this topic, exploring in detail the features of medieval culture. L. Karsavin (1995), O. Dobiash-Rozhdestvenska (1987) and P. Bizzilli (1916, 1993a, 1993b, 1993c, 1995) should be singled out as active figures in the formation of medieval studies centres in Ukraine. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the medieval works of P. Bizzilli from the standpoint of art history were analysed. Conclusions. P. Bizzilli, considering the main elements that make up the medieval picture of the world, comes to conclusions that coincided with and preceded the creative discoveries of his contemporaries (I. Greaves, L. Karsavin, O. Dobiash-Rozhdestvenska). In particular, it applies to the features of medieval art, the nature of which P. Bizzilli associated with the characteristic of medieval man’s life concept. He considered universalism, symbolism and hierarchy to be the defining features of the medieval worldview, envisaging the formulation of relevant problems by the following authors. A comparative analysis of the medieval works of P. Bizzilli, his contemporaries and researchers in the next years allows us to conclude that among the fields of humanities in which his ideas remain relevant should be called art history. One of the important conclusions of P. Bizzilli was the statement that the formula of medieval culture was symbolism and hierarchy. Medieval fine art, rich in complex and finely designed symbolism, is reduced to understanding and revealing the symbolic meaning of the surrounding reality.