The icons were respected and appreciated as before, but, nevertheless, there was a major influence of the lay art. In the 19th century the masters who decorated the new churches and cathedrals used modern painting techniques. The oral tradition, preserved and conveyed by the ancient iconographers, was almost lost. The Bessarabian icon of the 19th century is expanding the previous traditions suggesting a new method of approaching the preset canons. There are introduced changes in the utilization of the plastic means expression. The icon is less canonic but at the same time in its painting there appear elements of chiaroscuro, the form and the volume are expressed by means of light and shadow and that estranges the icon from its origins. It comes closer to lay art. In comparison with the past centuries in the 19th century there is an obvious increase of the role and importance of the painter. Many of the icons bear the signature of the author and the year of creation. Among the works from the end of the 18th-beginning of the 19th century there may be remarked the ones of painter Gherasim and sculptor Stefan – an excellent duo of skilful masters. They became famous for two important art works: the iconostases of the churches from Cogalniceni and Ghermanesti villages. The icon ‘‘Birth of Our Lady’’ is the most spectacular icon from the iconostasis of Cogalniceni church. From the stylistic point of view this icon may be considered one of the first attempts to apply the principles of the genre painting in the Bessarabian art. Nor art, neither theology, taken separately, could not create an icon. Their unity was necessary. The secular element penetrates more and more into the icons painting in the second half of the 19th century even if the iconography does not pass through essential changes. This trend is also remarked in the icons painted by monk Iezechiel in 1840-1841 for the reredos of the Saint Nicholas church of Capriana Monastery: ‘‘Prophets Aaron and Moses’’, ‘‘Prophets David and Ezekiel’’. The icons made in the 19th century from the museum collection represent a traditional model of a self-taught painter to combine the professional painting with the popular icon traditions. A special phenomenon in the religious art of Moldova in the 16th-19th centuries represents the popular icon. This phenomenon was strongly influenced by the rustic environment that generated the creation of real art works. From here comes the unusual expressiveness due to naïve and clumsy features of the image and coloring. Through its power of suggestion the image strongly influences man’s conscience and he does not even realize it. The image may dominate the thinking, ignite the passions and shape the behaviour.
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