“The Moods of Early Russian Art is intellectually distinguished, profoundly original, and extraordinarily interesting. Willson’s study of what he calls the ‘moods’ of early Russian art examines the evolution of attitudes toward icons across more than a century. Through a thoughtful introduction and four deeply researched chapters, Willson establishes a periodization of differing moods, capturing the changing ways of seeing, understanding, and appreciating icons from the late fifteenth to early seventeenth centuries.”

Valerie A. Kivelson, Thomas N. Tentler Collegiate Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, University of Michigan

“This vividly written, methodologically innovative book satisfyingly decenters the widely held paradigm of a European ‘Renaissance’ by positing an alternative trajectory in which image makers adapted Byzantine traditions to meet the shifting ‘moods’ of late medieval and early modern Rus’. Willson’s fluent account of how such images were transformed and instrumentalized to suit a changing Russian culture makes a salubrious contribution both to the field and to a wider disciplinary discourse.”

Pamela A. Patton, Princeton University

“Willson brings to life a complex, new world of art, a counter-Renaissance of the Slavic lands. Drawn deeply from the wells of Byzantium, this early modern world is Florence’s mirror image, a sophisticated culture of dynamic viewing, social formation, and spiritual aspiration. This elegant book is groundbreaking, revelatory, with lessons about the Russian past that also show us our present.”

Glenn Peers, Syracuse University